337: Uncle Sam (1996)

SPEAKER_04 0:04

I'm getting a little piece of that action before I leave here.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Don't be afraid. It's only friendly fire. 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 slash.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a 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, and this week I'm joined by the Superflight Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

I hope you got an eyeful.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

And the classic horror connoisseur, Sean.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Is it alright if I touch it?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

This week we're gearing up for the holiday by checking out a film that blends patriotic fervor with supernatural vengeance. This week's film emerged in the mid-90s when the horror genre was wrestling with its identity amidst a landscape of evolving American values. The story was told during a time of reflective American patriotism, the consideration of what it means to be patriotic, the questioning of values that should be upheld by the nation, and how current events shaped the understanding of national pride. The film begins at the demise of a desert storm veteran and carries us through his undead cleanse of a hometown filled with those he deems unworthy of citizenship. The end result, though, is a film that pairs thematic depth and B movie camp in a dance that challenges the viewer's sense of right, wrong, and allegiance. This week, we're talking about Uncle Sam. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_05 1:39

Definitely not me. I didn't even realize that this existed until I saw it in the list. Like the not the title, it makes sense, right? But like the fact that somebody turned this into a movie, one is absolutely not surprising, but two caught me off guard absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Yeah, I gotta admit, this one is one that has feel like has eluded me for many, many years. Because, you know, here's the thing when you grow up, you kind of go through this phase in your childhood or teenage years, this kind of phase of being like really into these super outrageous, kind of campy horror films. And who am I kidding? It's probably I'm still that kid deep down, and I know that this is in that realm, but it is a movie that I just have never gotten around to seeing in all these years.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Dude, I never knew this shit even existed. I looked up Fourth of July horror movies, saw this on Google, and thought, where has this been? This movie came out when I was six years old. Why didn't I see this? Why didn't I know about this? Why haven't I heard about this? And honestly, I'm really glad that I didn't because going into this, I carried the expectation of schlocky bee horror loaded to the grim with Camp.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

I can tell you, I was expecting Jack Frost, but on the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Oh, that's such a great fucking example, Mac.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

A hundred percent. I knew that this was a Lustig film. It was written by Larry Cohen. I knew all of that. And if you know Lustig, if you know Cohen, given their track record, you have to be expecting this one to be over-the-top reactions matched by almost terrible acting with probably a bunch of really fun kills. You know, it's gonna be one of those really is it shitty B movie, or is it shitty fun B movie? You know what I mean? That's what the track record is given here.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Okay, that's fascinating because I know neither of this gentleman. Maybe I know some of their work without realizing it, but I did look up Larry Cohen and I did not recognize a single movie on that list.

SPEAKER_04 3:33

Maniac Cop?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

I never watched it. I've heard of it, but I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, no, I'm missing that.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

I know. We got some bullshit for later this year.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

We definitely do. Oh no, we definitely do.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Let me tell you how I was feeling though. I want to circle back to the beginning of this episode with we believe horror is for everyone as such. We rate movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. I want to set the stage for this because the idea of this podcast, our conversations are catalysts for enriching connections, and those connections are built on the way that our lived experiences shape how we receive films. And listen, I'm hearing you, I'm hearing Mac. I've read some comments in the chat. I read some comments when we did a watch party of this movie, but based on my own lived experiences, I felt a lot watching this movie. It dug up a lot of feelings for me. I was amused by the dialogue, some of it's hilarious, but I was also disgusted, shocked, and intrigued.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

That's interesting. There are like surprises along the way, that's for sure. There's things where they completely just pull stuff out of nowhere where you're like, I didn't know that you were gonna go to that depth. But I think for the most part, while watching, I just felt the budget the entire time. That that comes down to the kills, is a big one where you really feel the budget. And uh and it's not a horrible thing. I'll say that. Don't waste money where you need to spend it elsewhere. But yet you felt the low budget. And sometimes that's a good thing. It it adds to the schlockiness, honestly. If if you have too big of a budget, it's not even that fun anymore. It's like a rich kid trying to pretend that they're cool. But no, I mean you're aware of it the entire time from start to finish, I think.

SPEAKER_04 5:15

It's definitely true. The budget shows, but sometimes the budget just works and it makes it for a fun watch. And I think, yes, there is there is some things in here that is there's straight camp that are funny moments, funny lines, shitty dialogue, what have you. There are some things that this movie explores that when you look a little deeper are a little bit disturbing. For sure. There are some things there, but I think overall, what this movie is trying to be, I think this movie is really just trying to be a fun movie to watch. And I think I don't know, it could be a hot take, but I just had a good time while watching this movie. I know it's not going to be for everybody. This is definitely it has its own certain type of charm to it. It almost feels like it's laughing at itself and it's very self-aware in that way. But I think it was just a silly and fun movie to watch. There's a lot of interesting things that this movie does. You can pull a lot of really interesting things that might, I don't know, might trigger you in some ways, right? It explores some topics that are a lot more sensitive nowadays than I guess they probably were in 1996. But overall, what this movie is trying to do, I think it's just trying to have a fun time.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

It's interesting because yes, I see the silly, I see the doses of silly. When you say the words, it's laughing at itself. There are two moments that I can imagine where, oh yeah, for sure. With the fucking writing in this movie, they're definitely laughing at themselves. However, one of the things that surprised me most about this story is how real it is, is how heavy it is. And it's the discussion of war, it's conscientious objection, it's idolizing alleged heroes, it's government corruption. And it's a really interesting, really fascinating exploration of patriotism as a concept. And that is something that I think growing up in the military, from being a very sheltered kid who had never left my family, to then growing up in that environment and then getting separation from that. Now it's been 10 years since I've been out. It is a really fascinating thing to see explored in a fucking shitty 90s horror movie. It's wild to see. Yeah, I can see the fun for sure, but I think my own experiences have really shaped this to where like I took it seriously in some moments. Not like in a bad way at all, but like in a I am impressed that this is happening right now kind of way.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

I think it's ahead of its time in that regard because it is something where on the surface, I think that's what surprised me most about the film, because it does have this interesting message kind of woven into it. It is on the surface this ridiculous movie about this overly patriotic killer, right? But you also have this deeper underlying message about toxic nationalism, and it is very interesting to see in 1996. That it seems like something that you would more so see in a movie made today versus a movie made in '96. But I do think that was it was surprising. It didn't make it a bad movie. I was also surprised to see that this film was dedicated to the great Lucio Fulci, the Italian director behind Zombie, which is why I'm wearing my zombie shirt tonight. And voices from beyond and and some other great films. But you love when a movie is dedicated to a great filmmaker, you know?

SPEAKER_05 8:34

You do love it. I think you you're both right. And that is the most kind of shocking part of this movie because you go into it expecting pure camp and silliness and really surface-level stuff, and it goes deeper. And I think it's able to hold kind of two voices in its head at once. With I'm watching this thinking, is this kind of propaganda? Is it anti-propaganda? It's kind of presenting a lot of different arguments and and smashing it all together for you. But I think when you go to the when you go to the depths of the family dynamics here, it went so much deeper than I thought it would. And not purely for shock. I mean, there's there's things left unsaid in this film that the viewer gets that that some of the characters don't quite process. Uh, so that that part was really interesting for them to throw that dynamic in here to have a character go from being, well, okay, they're evil to oh my gosh, they're pure evil. It really nailed that part.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

That's the thing that I really enjoyed though. And so many times when we watch these horror movies, we have a killer that we can either I wouldn't say relate to, but that you root for in some fashion. And this one gave me a killer that I love to hate, but in a very different way than we love to hate Freddie or we love to hate Ghostface or anything like that. This was just a very different tone altogether. I wouldn't say that there's really any fear in that, but what I would say is the themes that are explored in this movie, the things that you see in humanity that you find traces of in this killer, that's the shit that's disturbing.

SPEAKER_05 10:09

Oh, a hundred percent. The idea that this killer's personality exists in real humans right now.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

In so many humans, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_05 10:17

Yes, just the just how extreme his brain works. Yeah, I mean, the movie itself, not scary whatsoever. It's really not a scary film. But yeah, that that idea that like you're watching this thinking, like, ah crap, we all know that people think like this, uh, and that and that's bothersome.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Yeah, for sure. I don't think this is the type of horror movie that's trying to get you scared, right? In a traditional sense. I don't think you're putting this movie on to get scared. I think this is really the type of horror movie that you're probably gonna put on when you're drinking with some friends or it's on in the background during game night or something like that. It's really just meant to be something that you don't take too seriously, even though it has kind of a serious undertone or serious message to it. I also don't think it really wants you to live in that space and dwell on it for too long. I think it's just trying to be clever, maybe political, but also here's a shitty movie that we want you to like.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Which mad props to. I give it points for that. I give it points for being bold in several different directions.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

It's very bold.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

So at the surface level, we have a Fourth of July themed horror movie. We get it. We've seen I Know What You Did Last Summer, we've seen other holiday horror movies. At first glance, this may seem like some dumb bullshit that you've already seen. But when I tell you that this movie opens up with a certain tone that already is different, and then it continues on in the layers that it peels back, it reveals there's so much more than just a mass killer walking around cutting up bodies. And that's where I think this is so original in a fascinating way that I'm having a really difficult time understanding how I've never seen this movie. Again, I'm glad that I hadn't up until this point. I think I'm receiving this very differently now as a 34-year-old veteran than I would have when I was younger. Holy shit. Like, I'm actually pleasantly surprised how different this feels.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

I think it feels different, yeah, probably because of some of the statements it tries to make and some of the angles that it does take, because overall the formula and the things that you get throughout the movie are probably about as predictable as it gets with B-movie slashers, it's in and of itself, but it does have that patriotic angle that's not something we typically see. It's almost like they were like, hmm, we don't have a 4th of July horror movie. Well, let's give you a 4th of July horror movie and flip that shit upside down, throw it in your face, can make it a complete 180 from what you think you might be seeing, right? And you find yourself rooting for something a little bit different than you would think going into a patriotic movie like this.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Think about the fact that we got Thanksgiving last year.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

And that's a movie that takes the holiday, turns it on its head, and goes for really specific, really different angles. It was fun too. Yeah, it's fun, but even that is fun in a different way. Slacks, dumb bullshit movie with a very heavy, very big message. There are a lot of movies that do dumb bullshit with heavy messaging, and it doesn't feel quite the same as this.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

Yes, but uh that's what I gotta throw out here, right? I don't think you're necessarily wrong, but the formula of this movie, the baseline is there to where my comparison to Jack Frost still lines up. To where I think there's a lot of movies where an undead thing or an inanimate thing comes to life and tries to get revenge or just simply goes on a killing spree. That formula, yeah, it's there. We've seen it in a bazillion other movies ranging from the 80s through the 90s, honestly, probably into the early 2000s. So I think, yeah, on a low level, you know, we've seen it. But I think when it comes to the tones that it's able to kind of play with at the level it's at, like this is B movie straight to VHS 100%, but it's able to dive deeper. And that fact I think is where it it gains originality points. The fact that like it rises beyond what it should be able to achieve.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

I kind of wish I had this on VHS.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

That's also though where I think it helps redeem its ending. At first glance, the ending is just alright, it's okay, it's fine. It was giving some moment of like creep show for a second there. And it does one thing where I was actually surprised by a specific action that's taken and the success of that action, but it's the tone and the taste in your mouth that's left with the end of this movie where I think it earns a lot of my respect. Because at a technical functional execution level, it's alright. I mean, it's about what you would expect. But again, it's like the ellipses, it's the subtext of what's with what comes next and what's changed, what's different now.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

I think this movie really goes out with a bang in a really hilarious and absurd way. I'm not mad at this ending at all. I think it was kind of fun. The end of the movie we're left with is a reference to the ending of Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead, 1980. Love that reference. I was kind of unsure about it as I was watching it, but then it was confirmed literally right before we get to the ending credits by dedicating the film to him. So I was like, oh fuck yes. I love this movie even more now just for that moment.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Once again, yes, but because the very end of the movie, I feel like they dropped the ball. The execution, you know, they said, Can we aim for Sleepway Camp and just kind of land anywhere? And that's where I think they succeeded. They landed somewhere, just anywhere. It didn't have to be good. The very, very end, I was not a fan of. The climax I was okay with, and right up until the final moments of the movie, even the final scene wasn't bad. And then we get to the final moments and it fell apart for me.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Well, I am so anxious to see how the ending falling apart affects your overall rating. But before we start scoring this movie, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_04 16:02

You know, I think Uncle Sam from 1996, a B horror movie, low budget. I think it has some decent gore for what it's working with. It has some good moments. I think it plays with some really fun practical effects. I think it delivers some good campy gore. It's not over the top by any means. I wish they did a little bit more. It doesn't necessarily have to be evil dead level campy gore, but you can find a happy medium somewhere, right? You know what I mean? So either way, I think this one is giving probably a medium gore score because it's not taking itself too seriously to really elevate it any higher than that.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_05 16:41

We are clean in this one.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

All right, well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Uncle Sam from 1996. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_04 16:49

I'll kick it off. Here's the thing: this is not a great movie by any means. I don't want anyone to get it twisted any which way. This isn't winning any Oscars. It's not gonna be in the top hundred horror movies of all time or anything like that. But truth be told, there are some plot holes. The acting is bad, the reactions, they are over the top, but I think that's the point, and the kills are really fun. This is a movie that isn't afraid to be what it wants to be, and I kind of like that. I kind of like that. It is bold. I think we said that earlier. You can have this silly concept and story, but deliver a message that is somehow very real and relevant today. It's very interesting. I know I've dogged on movies arguably better than this movie, and maybe I'm just in this mood lately where I'm just vibing with shitty movies or B movies, especially in horror right now. And I don't know. I think if I had to think about it, I think the difference is that other movies are trying to be good, but they're just bad. And this movie isn't really trying to be anything other than what it needs to be, and maybe it is just trying to be bad. I don't know. I think it works, I think it feels fun, it makes for a tougher choice when rating the film because it isn't a movie you absolutely have to watch before you die. It's not a bucketless movie, so it definitely could be a hack, but it is also a movie that kept me watching. It it's a movie that I was laughing with, I was laughing at it. It just doesn't really matter. I enjoyed the silly campiness of it all. I enjoyed the lore despite how absurd it is and how many questions are left unanswered. But I think overall, it deserves a patriotic slash.

SPEAKER_05 18:31

Oh, well, I'm I'm gonna jump in here after Sean because this is kind of tough for me to weigh out. Just like this movie, it goes back and forth a lot while you're watching it. And it's a movie full of caricatures. We don't get a lot of gore in this movie. We don't really see the kills as they happen, which is a bummer because I'd hope with something at this level, at a B movie level, you want to see them attempt it, right? Uh but at the same time, you can feel the budget and you know it's low. So you know they don't even have the budget to show the kills happening on screen. So they made do with what they had to really achieve a film here. This is the craziest part here is that this is actually like a movie. It's not just 10 kills in a row and then they off the bad guy and we're done. There's a story, there's a story behind the story. The story itself, as we dive in and learn more about our characters, can keep you going when the antagonist doesn't. Because sometimes the antagonist is fun, other times it's like, whatever. I think I've seen that kill before. Can we move along? And then they really back in with the story a little bit, just to keep things somewhat interesting. So it's tough. It's a bad movie. It's not a it's not a good movie, but you watch it and you get to the end and you're like, honestly, even though it's bad, it's not that it's great, but you're like, but I'm okay. I'm okay with the fact that it's a bad movie because I liked aspects of it the entire time. And a lot of it I laughed at, and a lot of it you're supposed to laugh at. Sometimes you laugh at things they didn't want you to laugh at, and that's all right as well, because all in all, as a package, I'm gonna give it, you know, a patriotic slash as well, but let's just say less enthusiastically.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

All right. Well, this movie gives you a lot to chew on, and I want to be clear that there are moments in here that are wildly inappropriate, laughably bad, and actually gave me moments of genuine pause and discomfort. But there's a quote from Larry Cohen. I actually want to refer back to this, and I want I want to read this for you now. He says, Life has been good to me. I keep making pictures every year. I make something. As long as I keep working, I have nothing to complain about. Alright, so let's prefer let's let's just pause right there and look. This is a guy doing what he loves, yeah, riding movies, he has nothing to complain about, he's living a good life. And then he says, and the films I've made have all had some point to them. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt they were worth doing. You have to have some direction in which you're headed and a destination which you have to arrive at by the end of the film so that you feel it was a satisfactory trip. Some kind of personal statement has to be made. It's that statement, that Larry Cohen quote that makes this movie on so many levels inconsistent but ultimately redeemed. His personal statement and what he says in this movie is what carries this movie. And I want to summarize it in this way. I struggle when people tell me or have these conversations about like, oh, the military must have been so great, or that's so cool, or you know, I'll be honest. Like, my mom constantly tells me, You should be really proud. Thank you for your service. I'm like, oh God, I struggle with that so much. It's like, do you really understand what you're saying? And this happens like even Veterans Day at work. I'd rather just like stay home and just avoid all of that. But this is the first horror movie that's made me feel like I'm not alone in that feeling. The conversations that we get from so many characters in this movie at so many different levels and in so many different contexts, it's a really fascinating package. And I honestly would love to see this script take. Taken and remade with a little bit more polish because I think it'd be really fun. But even as it is right now, it's still a slash. And with that, Uncle Sam from 1996 has earned a universal slash. Now you can find this movie streaming for free online. You can check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it right now. Check it out and then go join us in the second half so we can dive into this Star Spangled Banner together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Introduced to Uncle Sam's Fireworks, where our motto is lighting up your life with a bang and a bone. We've got everything from dainty sparklers that might just whisper sweet puffins into your ear to the kind of ground stickers that make you feel like you've just sent a cannonball through history. Looking to recreate the battle of your tent? Or simply start your barbecue with a bang. Uncle Sam's got you covered. You can find us right off the turnpike. We're that little tent that looks like it's inhabited by homos or some kind of makeshift crack tent. But inside, it's an explosive paradise. And let's just say, our products are so good, they're almost criminal. Remember Jerry? Oh, you don't? Well, let's just say he's a little short-handed these days. Thanks to our big fataboo! Read the safety instructions, folks. So swing my uncle Sam's fireworks. We're the shady little setup that looks like a random vagrant's tent. But trust me, inside it's the 4th of July every day! And remember, if anyone asks where you got your fireworks, maybe just keep that little tidbit to yourself. Wink wink.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Uncle Sam from 1996, which has, surprise, surprise, earned a universal slash. And we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_04 24:04

Hell yeah, this movie delivers a very healthy kill count in true slasher fashion with 15 kills in total, which is great. We love that. There are a ton of fun kills here, including some patriotic ones as well. And I personally cannot wait to hear which ones you all dug the most. So I gotta know which ones were your favorite kills.

SPEAKER_05 24:25

Well, mine is kind of a combination. I love the linkage of two kills, and that is the congressman getting blown up, right? While the deputy goes up to try to rescue him, rolls down the hill, and then gets impaled by a flagpole. That whole sequence, those two kills back to back, if it was just one, it wouldn't have been as good. The fact that they happened together, that's what made it amazing.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

It's so great because it's giving Star Spangled Banner.

SPEAKER_05 24:48

Oh, you love it.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

It was super good. Man, just this dude has just got fireworks going off all over him. He fucking blows up, catches on fire. This dude's getting impaled by a flagpole. Man, if that doesn't scream fucking 4th of July, I don't know what does.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, it's giving and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof of the night that our flag was still there, straight through that man's abdomen.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Right there. Right there.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

It's fucking phenomenal. Best looking kill of the whole movie, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

It was.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

So many great kills to discuss here, but I want to take I want to highlight one that I take Umbridge with because Willie. We need to unpack Willie. Willie, who was getting a little excited about his own Willy, peeping through windows, a little fucking perv. Sam, his whole agenda, he goes after people who are uh seemingly unpatriotic, right? We know that Sam is abusive, potentially even sexually abusive, to his wife, to his sister, etc. So what's his beef with Willy? And then he goes and just steals a shitty costume from him. Sam, your dress uniform looks so much better, bud.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Yeah. Well, see, here's the thing. This is where the movie kind of, you know, the lore of it all doesn't always line up really well. You know that the movie is generally trying to say that this dude is coming back to seek revenge on people that are like anti-patriotic or what have you, but then it kind of eventually gets to this point where he's like, I'm kind of like going for whoever the fuck I want at this point. It becomes less about that and more about just straight killing.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

Yeah, a couple of these kills were like based on his morality, and a couple of the other kills bothered me. I actually have a least favorite kill, and that's the barbecue girl. No, least favorite because I just don't think she deserved it, and because I am someone who has burned myself on a barbecue. Not like I got a little 30-degree burn on my pinky. As a child, I burned both of my palms on a barbecue lid to the point where they thought my hands were gonna have to be removed.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 26:51

You would never know. Look at him now, they healed up perfectly. But the fact that he slammed her face right into it, oh my goodness, that just insulted me. What did she do? She was just trying to lighten the mental load.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Bro, she stole a rib.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

She stole a rib. Well, you know, that's the tax. If you're someone, this is the rule. If you're barbecuing, okay, it's your tax to assess.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

That's true.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

If you're barbecuing and you want to take a rib, that's your rib. All right. That's just how as somebody who likes to barbecue. I just barbecued today, actually. I made some burgers, I made some chicken. Nice, made some squash, I made some sweet potato as well. But as I'm making that, if I wanted to eat one of those burgers, that's my right.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

She is not backyard grilling. She is at an event, she's working the food services.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I feel like she stole a rib.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

She's got a job to do. Maybe that's what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

She got a job to do, wandering off in the woods.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

Abandoned her post. Maybe that's what it is. She abandoned her fucking post to go smoke that joint. There it is.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

She did not stand at her post until properly relieved.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Yeah, she did not know her general orders whatsoever. That's what it is. That's so sad though.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

But okay, so I could see your point of that. But here's the thing: one of my top favorite kills leads into that, and that's Jesse getting decapitated with the meat cleaver. Fantastic. And then you've got the head getting put on the grill for Barbecue Girl to open up and see charring on the fucking grill. Flame broiled. That's fantastic. Come on, that's great. Now, did she deserve to die? We can argue that all day long. But the fact that she opened the grill only to find her ribs substituted with a human head, that is fantastic. It's campy, it's gory, it's wonderful, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Artha Clown would be proud.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

Artha Clown would be proud. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

He would have done the same shit. I want to highlight a death that I was actually so pleased by, but I'm devastated we didn't get to see on screen. And that's our final sergeant, the one who delivered the news that Salman passed away. And he talked in the hotel room about how this guy was so disgusting. I must be betting 750 with the bereaved. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 29:06

What the hell?

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah, this man is a predator.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

I'm getting a little piece of that action before I leave here.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, it's absolutely ridiculous. But it's a highlight, like you look at this guy, he's decorated, he's going to homes, he's delivering this terrible news to people, he's appearing to be allegedly supportive. And so you have the picture painted that he's some kind of hero, but then no. Because the people who wear these uniforms are regular ass people. And that's why I fucking adore what this movie does. It pulls the curtain back. Granted, not all of them are fucking predators like this asshole, but that is not uncommon.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

Oh, a hundred percent. It's very real in an area where especially you know in film and cinema where they are, you know, widely just made to be all heroes no matter what. You know what I mean? So I definitely do appreciate that side that we get for sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Absolutely. Hold on a second. I also need to highlight our guy, Jody's teacher. This guy had a bad rap that whole movie. Imagine teaching your class, minding your own fucking business, and then a kid just interrupts to say, My uncle's dead. Here's an ammo can of his medals. You want to see him? And then you have to what accommodate a show and tell and then get questioned about why you fucking conscientiously objected to the war? This poor guy. I think he handled it with grace.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

He handled it very well. Kudos to him for sure. But yeah, absolutely. What about Rick though? Man, Rick getting buried alive. You know, anytime you get buried alive, that's a fucked kill. It's not like the greatest thing to see, but uh, it's the it's one of the toughest things to imagine being in. You know what I mean? Your leg is broken, you can't get out, you're getting buried alive. I think what I thought was hilarious though, was the fact that when we got to the point where the grave was completely filled in with dirt, there was a moment where you see what, like a finger popping up or something like that. And I'm like, out of nowhere, you were trying to like barely reach to get to the lip of the top of the ground in there, and all of a sudden your whole hand can reach to the top and stick through a giant mound of dirt. Man, come on.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

But either way, either way.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

It's weird. I loved though that he was sprayed in the face with spray paint.

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Red, white, and blue.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

I love that. The bamboozlement, it was honestly points for dramatic flair.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

It was. You can't just go around vandalizing stuff, especially with a killer, Uncle Sam on the loose. I I love that some of the kills do go with what he considers the crime, because if you have a morality-based killer, you gotta link that up. You gotta make it seven at an accessible level.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

We get another patriotic kill. Cleat getting hung from the flagpole. Man, hang him up, half mass, you know what I mean? Because this motherfucker went down. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

I'm definitely getting salute your shorts.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Yeah. Oh man, salute your shorts. What a time.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Can we also talk though about Sam Harper's kill at the end of the movie? Not his initial death, not with the helicopter going down from friendly fire. But at the end of the movie, I want to talk about the moment that surprised me. Louise has a gun, and you think, oh, no fucking way she's gonna make this shot. She makes the shot. She fires off. She hits center mass. Yeah. I was like, damn, girl, do your thing. Go off, Queen.

SPEAKER_05 32:31

I literally made that same comment while she's firing at him. I was like, oh my god, center mass. She does a perfect ring. Like her shot grouping is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Mm-hmm. I absolutely loved it. It was terrific. Also, though, his death was very Halloween too. It was very Michael getting blown up and then walking out through the fire.

SPEAKER_04 32:50

It was for sure. It was good. I think it was really hilarious. He's getting shot at the end there with the cannonballs, which I don't even think those cannonballs from that time would have actually exploded in that way. So it's uh even more hilarious that it turned into this massive explosion that ensued. But I guess that just adds to the charm of this other otherwise ridiculous film. But very good.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Can we talk about how poor this movie looks? Just how no, I don't mean like poor as in badly, but like it just looks it looks broke. You can feel it. But somehow they just blew their entire load on making this zombie Sam.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

They did.

SPEAKER_05 33:28

Uncle Sam wears a freaking mask for most of the movie, but has better makeup hidden underneath. And it's perfect for the movie poster. We get a couple shots here and there, but it's crazy that they went through that length to make that prosthetic and you barely see it. But it looks great.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

He's gotta be tactical. That's his camo. He's gotta blend in. You can't see me.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

That's true. Yeah, you can't have this zombie dude walking around willy-nilly, man. You gotta blend into the 4th of July festivities.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

He knows what's up. Yeah, that's a regular dagular Jason Voorhees over here, my friend.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Gosh. It's so true.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

His Uncle Sam uniform did look better on him than it did on the stilts. And I was so pleased to see that it was a stilt guy, but he at least cut the pant legs properly. That's good stuff. Lucky for him being the same size in zombie.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

You know, I agree with you. I do that is actually one of the things that I feel like I do enjoy the most out of the film is the makeup and the practical effects. And maybe to your point, Mac, that it's not the fact that it's just so incredible. And some parts actually look pretty good for 1996. There are some moments that look pretty good, but I think that the way they're done with the budget they had, obviously we're not gonna be able to get all of these kills head on and be able to see every little bit of them in some of these slashers nowadays that we've been spoiled with, you know what I mean? But I think what they do give you is just good enough, just fun enough to you to really kind of like enjoy the film for what it's giving you. And I had a good time. It brought me back to a very specific time in my life when I was a kid and watching slashers like these and just looking for eating up any kind of out there off-the-wall horror movies that you wouldn't normally see. No blockbuster shit, like movie theater shit. This was the kind of movie that you want to see. It is like Maniac Cop. It is like all of those campy horror movies, early evil dead, and things like that that you and your friends just really have a good time with. It just brought me back to that time.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yeah. You know, there wasn't much in this movie that offended me visually except for the absolutely horrific, and by horrific I mean poor quality burn marks on Barry.

SPEAKER_05 35:43

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

If you recall one of the last Halloween movies that we did, Dr. Loomis has a burn that looks like an egg yolk, and it changes places on his face throughout. This was like that level of bad. Ooh, it was so awful. However, aside from that, honestly, Sam looked great. What I did not like though was the sound. Did either of you have issues with the sound kind of going up and down, up and down, up and down?

SPEAKER_04 36:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

It was like almost choppy a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 36:11

There was some choppiness to it for sure. I don't know if that's in every version we get or just in the streaming service that we may have used. But I get it. Yeah, it was a little bit interesting. I think what's kind of cool though that I read about this film is that this movie has a very rare movie poster in circulation, one that I dare say would probably tantalize anybody that's looking to probably collect some of this, these rare kind of movie posters, especially in horror, because they made this really cool lenticular movie poster in 3D showing versions of Uncle Sam changing from like an old man to some sort of like ghoulish monster. And and it was pretty cool from what I can see. Obviously, I haven't seen it in person, but I was looking it up and I can see like the different versions at different angles, so that's kind of cool. But only ten were ever really issued. Oh. So that's a really low number. I tried to do like a search on it, like if you can even find one for sale, and I, in the couple minutes that I looked it up, could not find one for sale. So I'm assuming that it's really hard to find, but I also didn't really try very hard to find it.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Alright, sounds like we gotta put in ten minutes of effort and see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Let me tell you though, where they put in some actual effort on this movie, and that was in my absolute favorite scene. And this might surprise you, because it's nothing that's super gory, it's nothing super brutal, it's nothing violent, but it absolutely is Jed's lecture about being a hero to Jody on the front porch. This is the scene that defined the movie. This is the scene of a little brat who has not been disillusioned yet. He's still under this level of enchantment. Also, I fucking hate Jody, but we'll get there. He's under this impression that his uncle is a hero. And so he has this idea of what it means to be a patriot, what it means to be American, and he knows better. He knows so much better that he will look Jed straight in the eye and doubt him. Jed who lost a leg in war. Jed who talks about the reality of how things are and what you do want to do and what you don't want to do, and how you know people at one point knew what they were doing, and granted, politics complicates things, agendas complicate things. I absolutely loved this conversation because it also reminded me of so many different conversations that I've had with people who keep saying, Oh, I think I'm gonna go in, I think I'm gonna go in, I can go do the military. Listen, you can do the military, but you have to also understand what it is that you're getting into. And you have to understand what it is, and you have to understand what it isn't. If you have this illusion that everybody in there is heroic and not a scumbag, then sorry, buddy. Reset your expectations and just understand that you are getting more of the same that you're surrounded by now, just with different responsibilities and different geographic requirements. Extra added layers of risk and danger to your job. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Absolutely. My favorite scene, I think, in this movie, aside from the kills, because if we go through the kills, those are arguably some of the the better scenes in the film. But I also thought, for what it's worth, the peeping Uncle Sam scene on the stilts was kind of funny. It was maybe not the fact that he's peeping, but I think it was funny that he's up there on stilts trying to look through the window, and he's looking at the girl coming out of the shower. You get this whole thing where he's like falling back, and that whole I don't know, it just kind of reminded me of B movie horror, right? But also maybe 70s, 80s slasher type shit, but also kind of Animal House in the same vein of like Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds or some kind of movie like that. And it was just kind of a fun scene to have in the middle of the movie that just kind of worked for it, and I think it was just fun enough. It didn't really do anything. I think what's kind of interesting is the girl that does that scene agreed to do her brief nude scene only if she could get one of the Uncle Sam masks after filming was done. That's all that's what it took. She was like, I'll do it for the mask. Now it's her price. I'll do it for I'll show some nip for the mask. And that's that's what it was, and that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Wow. I wonder what she did with it. How long did that last?

SPEAKER_04 40:31

I know. I don't know. Did she sell it? Did she have it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 40:34

Was it worth it? That's what I want to know about that.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

After all these years, looking back on it, was it worth it?

SPEAKER_05 40:39

I want to go in the same vein as Chris on my favorite scene here. My favorite scene was related to the characters and to the actual story. That was our our little young one learning that this is what was implied to me was that his uncle was probably his dad. That's what I took away here, is that he was a child of because it's mentioned early in the film that his mom won't tell him anything about his father.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

Oh my gosh, that's heavy.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

And now it's mentioned that from when she was a child that Sam was abusing her. So it's I don't know, that's what I took away. That's probably a little bit deeper than maybe they they meant to go, but to me it seemed very obvious. But aside from that, he just learned that, and we learned, that Sam was a really bad dude. And not just like he got a little drunk every now and then and yelled and deserved to be divorced. No, he was a total piece of crap. And we have no, there's no point in rooting for him. You shouldn't. You should really want him to be taken out. And it was nice because I think a lot of movies dress up these killers to be either empathetic or just to be so silly and zany that like you're like, yeah, do another one, kill somebody else. And I think at this point you're just like, I really don't like this guy, and he should not be walking around anymore. And I can't wait for them to take him out.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Yeah, I absolutely loved that scene as well, Mac. And it's one of those where you really struggle. I didn't pick up on Sam being his father because I could have sworn that there was a father in the picture who's just no longer in the picture.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

I could see it though.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Yeah, for sure. Like it's an interesting thing to go back on and watch the movie back and have that subtext in your brain. But looking in on this moment, you have a child who is idolizing his uncle so much that he is at odds with the women in his life who are actually present with him and care for him every day. The ones who are actually genuinely raising him. And yet, you know, Uncle Sam has had his hooks in this kid. It also has this fascinating layer on how the military-industrial complex and how it has his hooks in on kids and promises a better future and promises this allure and this glory of things, and you grow up and you're basically groomed for military service, and you really know what you're doing and what you're getting into. So there's that component of it. But then B, this is a such a defining moment for Jody because you get to see will he believe the women who have raised him? Is he going to actually understand what's happening here?

SPEAKER_02 42:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

This movie could have done a lot of things, it could have handled that one moment very badly, but they didn't. And I love that. I love that we got to see his processing of that and for him to understand what like empathy looks like.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's definitely this whole toxic nationalism message for sure. You know what I mean? Like, it definitely really goes out of its way to really highlight the fact that we are transitioning from this era of like war that to a lot of people felt like there was a lot of meaning for it. Like we we had something we were standing up for to transitioning into wars that we feel like we shouldn't even be in, kind of thing. And it's just that whole, I'm an American and I gotta save the fucking world, and whether they like it or not, we're gonna bring democracy to the land. You know what I mean? And I think it definitely goes down that path. I also think it has a very similar parallel to this message that American History X was giving you, right? Like you're just like following in someone. Someone's like ideology, someone that you look up to, and things like that, right? Kind of a slightly different turn of events for sure, but also kind of similar in the behaviors and the actions that are unfolding in these two movies.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

Yeah, it's like that famous phrase, don't meet your heroes. Sometimes your heroes are just shitty people, and that's the reality.

SPEAKER_04 44:21

Your heroes are just assholes.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Completely. But man, even diving more into that scene, you have that moment where Louise admits that Sam was a very particular way, and that's what attracted her to him. It's like, oh girl, you love toxicity, you love toxic men, you love toxic boys. But then we have Jody's mom's admission that she could have warned Louise about what she was getting into, about what kind of person he was. To have this really vulnerable take between these women, this was such a fucking phenomenal moment. As uncomfortable as it is, and how out of place it is in this movie, I was really pleased to see that even a movie written by a man can have this kind of gravity.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

It is surprising. And I think the fact that they were able to give some of these characters more depth than the movie really required was impressive. There's some characters, you've already mentioned one of them, that you just don't enjoy, and you wouldn't be bothered if they were to get got. And there's some other ones here, like I felt this way about the barbecue girl, that you want to see protected, that you think are decent humans and and should survive all the way to the end. And for a movie like this to make me care even a little bit about any of them was was impressive.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

Very true, very true. I just want to know how this Uncle Sam dude was even I want to know, like he was brought back to life because some some kids were burning the flag and the embers fell into his grave, but he wasn't even in the grave, but he re got resurrected because of that. Is that what they were trying to hint at? Did they how's this motherfucker coming back to life? That's what I want to know.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

He smelled something real un-American.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

Yeah, I smell I smelled injustice. I'm coming back. This guy right here. Man, if that's he's not even in the grave. That's the thing that killed me, man. That's he's sitting in a coffin in somebody's living room. These kids are dancing around the graveyard, all of a sudden this guy's coming back in the city.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

He felt that shit in the force. He felt that shit in the force. He sensed the disturbance.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Oh my god. Hey, we got PJ Souls in the movie, though.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

Fucking wild.

SPEAKER_04 46:26

That's great. And she's wearing a red cap like she does in Carrie. It's cute.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

I love it.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

You love those little Easter eggs. Those are fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

Yeah, the casting on this one was actually very surprising. To see like Isaac Hayes in this was what is that? What was going on back then?

SPEAKER_04 46:45

Man. People were just coming together, you know? Let's make this movie.

SPEAKER_05 46:49

And I like that they had him play somebody that he actually enjoyed listening to and enjoyed being on screen. That was one of the best parts. It's like, oh, that guy's not a total douche. Thank you for giving Isaac Hayes a great not, I wouldn't say great role, but a good role.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

Yeah, for sure. What about Barry? What he was supposed to be blind because Larry Bell looked like he took the food out of his mom's hands pretty easily. Like he knew it was fucking right there.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Listen, okay, first off, the audacity of Barry's parents to take a child who was injured by fireworks to a major fireworks demonstration just one year later. That boy is translucent, and that boy hasn't seen the light of day. And then what the fuck is this moment with Sam caressing Barry? He didn't need to touch him that way.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

Right?

SPEAKER_05 47:35

And he described it in a perfect way where he touched me.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_05 47:40

You know?

SPEAKER_01 47:40

This is the moment. I was like, oh geez, this is wildly inappropriate. It's terrible. I don't like the caressing here.

SPEAKER_04 47:48

But what was with that, man?

SPEAKER_01 47:50

It was so weird. It was so weird.

SPEAKER_04 47:53

Awkward. So awkward to watch.

SPEAKER_05 47:55

They really treated Barry very poorly in many scenes in this movie. His parents just literally left him so they could go do something else over the other way. And then they were like, what man? What are you talking about? I don't know. We just left our kid hanging out. Our kid who can't literally can't see.

SPEAKER_04 48:08

This is exactly why Barry got fucked up in the first place. Bad parenting.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

But you know what? Barry got his ass left outside anyway in the fucking second half of the third act. Yeah. Because this kid was chilling parked on the sidewalk. Parked on the fucking sidewalk.

SPEAKER_05 48:24

They legit were like, it's too much work. You'll be fine. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

And then he was giving commands. Jed was listening to this kid. Jed, what are you doing, bro?

SPEAKER_04 48:35

I don't know what's happening here. This fucking wannabe Professor X motherfucker. Come on, dude. No way. Not calling the shots.

SPEAKER_05 48:43

They had their man in a chair, you know? He just didn't have screens in front of him.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Can we highlight though how stellar the dialogue was? And for as much as I could not stand Jody, 99% of this fucking movie, one of his best lines, I'm not gonna watch TV, I'm in mourning.

SPEAKER_05 48:59

Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

Or from his mother, not now, Ralph. There's a dead body in the house.

SPEAKER_05 49:05

Classic.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

Again, I don't deliver them quite as funny as in what I say quite. I mean I fail to deliver this to the level of humor with which these actors delivered it, but those were two moments that just made me absolutely erupt in laughter watching this movie.

SPEAKER_05 49:20

Those were the moments where you could really feel the camp. It wasn't even like the effect or anything like that. It was like somebody's here with a sense of humor and they're letting it shine just a little bit. It's just peeking through. And I think this movie had like several of those, several of those moments were just kind of like, I'm actually lolling, not just writing it.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

You know, the more I sit here and think though, the more I think that the caressing of Barry is absolutely the worst part of this movie.

SPEAKER_05 49:41

I I like the idea that that's the worst part of the movie because to me it was missing out on the kills. And I think I expected to see really poorly executed kills and I didn't get them. I was hoping that would add, it would add to the feeling, right? It would add to like how schlocky, how cheesy, how campy it all felt. And everything was pretty much off-screen or was a cutaway. And that was a little bit of a letdown for me.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Oh, for sure it was. And again, I go back to even we have the sergeant who we find to be sitting and chilling in Sam's casket. It's absolutely wild to me that we didn't get to see that death.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

All right. I think the worst part for me, for sure, was actually those weird random flashbacks that felt super strangely placed in the film. And especially, it was especially that first one that we got because it was like super sudden. It was like one of those loud like noise spikes, those audio spikes, and it felt like super unnecessary. I don't understand the placement of that flashback. It doesn't feel like it was well timed for us to be like ready to maybe get something else that was just a and it was so fast that it just felt really strange. I don't think it added any value. I don't think it needed to be there at all. I don't even know why it was there. It may have very well been a fucking mistake. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 51:03

Yeah, it seems like they had several flashes that weren't even flashbacks throughout the film, like flashes to a kill in progress, but it was like for 0.5 seconds. Right. And that was way too fast because if you're gonna do a flashback one, you need to like, I don't know, do that little vignette around it or something and give us a full 30 seconds. But this wasn't even that. That's just like, hey, cut to that for as little time as possible and then go right back to the thing we were watching, and then in three seconds, do it again. Yeah. And it just keep progressing half a second at a time. And it was just like a flash punch to the face.

SPEAKER_04 51:34

Yeah. I mean, it's either that or the fact that this poor town must have school a year rocking round because it's supposed to be around the 4th of July, and these motherfuckers are still in school, man.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Bro, that is such a great point. I hadn't even considered, and it looked too full to be summer school.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

That's what I'm saying. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

Yo, respect to this teacher getting murdered by a zombie even though he was working and didn't even get a break. I think he deserved a pass to the end of the movie just for dealing with Jody's wild ass.

SPEAKER_05 52:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

I would not want that kid in my classroom.

SPEAKER_05 52:06

For sure. That that kid would get on like a watch list the second I interacted with him. I am talking to somebody.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

Yeah, no, 100%. Super sus. You're bringing an ammo can to school. Come on, kid.

SPEAKER_05 52:18

Expelled. But I don't know. This movie we've talked about, it goes back and forth and up and down, and there's bad parts and then there's good parts. And I just don't I don't know that I could watch it again. I think if it were on and I was in the room and I was watching it, I'd be fine. But I don't know that I could seek it out to watch it again on purpose.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Yeah, I think that's where I struggle as well. I don't think I'll watch this again anytime soon, just because of how heavy it is. I am so happy I watched it. There's a lot to tube on here, but I think I would need to be in a very particular state of mind to revisit the themes that are in this, maybe after I do a little bit of my own therapy. But what I will absolutely do is watch Maniac Hop and more of Larry Cohen's work.

SPEAKER_04 52:58

Yes, for sure. Yeah, no, I I said it earlier. I think this is definitely one that I can put on, you know, at any time really, but more so kind of a background movie. If I'm just having fun, we want to put something campy on that we're drinking to that we can laugh at, that kind of thing. But it also does have that heavier message to where it's like, do I really want to take this in right now? kind of thing. And I think that's the thing is it kind of has to be in a headspace where you're just able to have fun with it and not really looking at what it's all trying to give you as far as the message goes. But it does have this kind of feel to it like we get from Maniac Cop, like we get from the Toxic Avenger. And I feel like for that, it's definitely something that I feel like I'm gonna revisit again. I think there's some rewatch value there. I think there's some Easter eggs. When and how will I watch it? I'm not sure, but this is the first time I've seen it, and it's been out for how many years? Holy shit, I definitely have to rewatch it at least one more time.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Well, we'll see how much rewatch value you get out of it and what our listeners get as well. But for now, there you have it, folks. Uncle Sam from 1996 has earned a shocking universal slash. Now we've certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_04 54:14

We want to know what you think. Is this campy B movie horror slasher your jam? 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_05 54:25

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, 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_01 54:34

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, you'll get over this in time.

SPEAKER_04 54:38

This is gonna be a 4th of July we'll never forget.