352: When Evil Lurks (2023)

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Here we go! We're making a children's book.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Spooky season, greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. You have no idea what you're dealing with. 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. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our variant 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 Superfly Space Guy Mac.

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You are scaring my family.

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And the paranormal paramour Binx.

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And if you're a patron or Apple Podcast subscriber, you'll also get to hear our B-side at the end of the episode where we learn how horrid nursery rhymes are around the world.

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Now, before his latest film debuted on the festival circuit, writer director and Demian Rugna saw reports surfacing about farm pesticides causing widespread health issues in Argentina. What caught his attention was how these incidents took place in isolated areas far removed from the city. These were places where the impact of corporate negligence could easily be ignored by those profiting from it. He began thinking about the ideas of hidden dangers, evils lurking in the shadows, and how disastrous it could be were they given the freedom to spread unchecked. His film centers on a remote village where two brothers stumble upon a man infected with a demonic presence just as it's about to give birth to something sinister. Their attempt to deal with the situation themselves sets off a chain of unintended consequences, leading to a spread of chaos they hadn't anticipated. This week we're talking about When Evil Lurks. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_03 2:03

I most definitely have seen this one before. I've been looking forward to us reviewing this film for some time. It actually was my favorite horror film of last year. I mentioned it at our end of year episode, so I know. Shocking.

SPEAKER_06 2:17

I have not seen this before. I had not heard of it, aside from you and aside from it being lined up for the pod. And so yeah, this was brand new to me.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yeah, I've never seen this movie. I also don't really remember you talking about it on the end of year episode, but that's just how distant this is in my mind. I remember Veto talking about this movie a lot last year, and I actually have a coworker of mine who constantly insisted I needed to watch this film. And really, from what I heard, I expected it to be brutal. But then I almost watched this with Allie the other day. She starts watching the trailer to see what it's like because I don't know what it's about. We saw the opening moments of animal violence in the trailer, and I knew I was not expecting nearly enough brutality. And the title alone, right, it should tell you everything you need to know about this movie, but I readjusted my expectations to be more mentally prepared for a really bad time in terms of violence. And apart from that, I carried no expectations into this one.

SPEAKER_06 3:16

Yeah, you know, I briefly fired up the trailer to see kind of what I was getting into, but I stopped watching after seeing it, you know, that it appeared to be a dark possession movie affecting a town and not just a single person locked in a bedroom. I said, okay, that's enough for me to know. I'm ready to jump in.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Yeah, when I first watched this film, it was at 9 30 in the morning. I had seen that a couple of people that I follow that review films here and there, just in general, not specific to horror, had recommended this film. And so I was like, well, let me throw it on, see what it's about. And I was in for quite the motherfucking ride. And so re-watching this, I feel like this film is best described and summarized as the word lawless. Runa said, No one is safe and doesn't stop proving that to you from start to finish. And I mean, obviously, I'm a big paranormal and supernatural horror film lover, and we've had our fair share of demon-related films, of course. But this one in particular, I felt like I had a hard time stomaching a lot of the decisions that were made by characters, but also the kills in this film. So it's no surprise to me that you mentioned that violence and that brutality part, Chris. I did think of you while I was watching this. I was like, oh boy, this is gonna be a toughie. Because it just never stops pushing that boundary. It really doesn't.

SPEAKER_06 4:35

Gosh, I felt so many things watching it. You know, it's very intense, which makes it incredibly interesting for a subgenre that typically kind of bores me. And it's also somewhat confusing at first because I feel like there's an important piece of context I missed out on. But then you just kind of go with it and it all makes sense in the end. But there's so many feelings as you're getting into it. It is very brutal. Brutal is the right word, and yes, nobody is safe. And so while you're watching this, you're learning that along the way. You can't assume anything. Every step of the way, anything could happen, and crazy stuff does happen.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Crazy stuff is such an understatement, and that's wild to consider for this movie. The brutality in this movie managed to exceed my own expectations, which I felt would be really hard to do, given that I felt like I was adequately prepared for it. But let me tell you, I felt so much disgust watching this movie. And I really want to take a moment to pause and consider what levels of disgust we have. This isn't terrifier to disgust. This isn't terrifier disgust. But this also isn't dead alive disgust. Although I think it'd be closer in that direction, but nowhere near as campy and silly and just goofy and off the wall unhinged and zany. I felt a lot of tension. I also felt a lot of sadness, and I really didn't want to have anything to do with that. This movie is a train wreck that you cannot look away from. And typically when we say that, right, it's because a movie is terrible. But this isn't. This is not a terrible movie, but it's so brutal, it's so evil, it's so sinister, it's overwhelming and it's difficult to be distracted from it.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

Yeah, I think that the biggest surprise for me is that this felt like an entry for foreign horror films that dared to be ruthless. Like this was the Argentinian entry, if not the Spanish entry, into that category. And the biggest thing about it is with it being so ruthless that despite it being demon-related, it's not a religious film at all. And it isn't at any point in time trying to be a film where it's just trying to discover the source and attack and, you know, all of these things that we see in typical paranormal or like possession films. The world already knows about the possessions. It has actually some bureaucratic solutions, but they simply don't care, which is even crazier and a lot to unpack even and of itself. There are rules that are involved and stated about this possession or the exorcism and things like that. It just goes against like human nature's struggle with discipline and patience and how they are, you know, and humans in general, just how they are when they are faced with self-preservation. Those kinds of things I think are so surprising when it's mixed into this pot of extreme brutality to say all of those things while giving you the most insane kills and it not being terrifier level, like you're mentioning, right? It it's more like, oh wow, they really just said fuck it. We're going for it.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Seriously, because this movie also, surprise, surprise, it has real big fuck them kids energy. We're back at it. They went for a lot of things in this movie, and you know what? Here we are at the end of 2024, really getting back to our 2023 roots. The violence in this movie was expected, but what surprised me was how complete the emotional range of this movie felt. And I want to go back into the fuck them kids energy of it because there are moments in here that shocked me, but there were a lot of ones that, you know, even gave me little moments of laughter. Maybe it was nervous laughter, but it gave me this sense of ah, I don't know what I would do in this situation, presented with this level of circumstance. I've always thought, wow, how terrible it would be to survive a zombie apocalypse because I know about my family. And the older you get, the older your loved ones are, and the less likely they'd be able to handle a situation like that. And when you talk about the styling of this movie, this is a possession movie that feels kind of like a zombie movie, which is really fun. And that was like really surprising and refreshing for me.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

It's so interesting that you bring that up because when I was just talking to a close friend of mine about this film, he mentioned a lot of similarities to other zombie films when this isn't necessarily a zombie film and you know, like the 28 days later of it all. I guess maybe it's the infection piece, right? But I think that's very interesting you mentioned that. But to take it back to that, ah, I don't know what I would do. That is a visceral reaction that I think the director is trying to tap into the idea of visceral reactions, like what human nature is and the visceral reactions we would have if we were opposed in certain situations, like the main characters are in this one. And when it comes to those kids, man, it's so funny. I was reading up that the parents had to be obviously extremely involved. There's so many rules when filming, and obviously child labor laws and all and all that. The parents were super involved, certain things they couldn't have blood on the kids, anything like that. But the parents had to be given the entire script, and the parents were all about it. They were like, Oh, this is this sounds fun. And folks, if you haven't seen this movie yet, right? Like, wait until you do and then come back to the specific part when I tell you that the parents thought that it would be a fun time for their kid to be a part of this movie, because that's fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_06 10:21

It doesn't mean that they were allowed to watch it afterwards, just that they were allowed to be part of it because they should definitely not be watching this.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah, they shouldn't, and quite frankly, I don't know that most people should. This movie is fucked up. It's again a really good movie, but this is one of those that you cannot just watch with anyone. This is not starter pack horror. This is the shit for the season vets.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Absolutely. It's disturbing. And both times that I've seen this film now, I somehow have done it while eating food. The first time was at 9 30 in the morning, I was having cereal. That was a terrible, terrible idea, considering some of the practical effects and makeup. And then just now I watched it again with mac and cheese. Again, terrible idea. I only made it two bites in. So I wouldn't recommend watching it while you're eating.

SPEAKER_06 11:16

Yeah, that's not something you'd want to do. I mean, it's not something that particularly scares me because it is something that is set kind of outside of normal reality. So I'm not worried that this is gonna happen, but it is a lot to look at. You know, that was probably the most surprising part for me as well, is like when people get got, ooh, they get got very graphically as well. And I don't want to spoil it for later, but not just people, anybody and anything that gets got in this movie is it's brutal. You know, there's stuff that we'll talk about that I didn't think I would be talking about until we got to another Terra Fire film. And I really petitioned against me ever being involved with one of those. So it's surprising that I made it all the way through this. I don't think it was necessarily scary though, because I think it felt really humanly grounded in a lot of parts, and the parts that didn't, they're, you know, supernatural, and I'm not worried about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

But that is what part it's part of what makes this movie feel so different and so unique. We've again seen possession movies, we've seen zombie movies, we've seen infection movies, we've seen movies where imperfect people are put into extreme circumstances and having to, you know, face all manner of horror to save the people they love. There's a lot in this movie that, yes, we've technically seen in other movies, but holy shit, I've never felt something like this movie.

SPEAKER_06 12:40

It's literally my notes right here. Just say, I can't say that I've felt anything else like this movie. And so you you took the words literally out of my mouth and out of out of my notes. There's parts of this that feel like other films, like you mentioned, Binks, that this feels like a zombie movie in parts. I think my wife walked in while I'm watching it and is, oh, now it's a zombie film. And I was like, well, not exactly, but it has moments from zombie films. It also has moments from, to me, the Exorcist TV show, just in the scope of things and the fact that we're outside of the one bedroom or the one hospital room. But it doesn't seem like they just sat down and watched a movie or two and thought, let's make our own version of that.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

Yeah, for me, I think it's the concept of possession and its transference that's pretty interesting. And in general, I mean, we mentioned it in the movie introduction, right? Like the inspiration for this film. The overall idea of what if there was a possession in a town where it was in the middle of nowhere and an exorcist can't be easily summoned, you know, and people had to take things into their own hands. I think on a technical level it's very lawless, but maybe in terms of the plot, it reminded me a lot of Martyrs, which is a French film, very intense and brutal. It reminded me of Smile a lot in terms of its tactics. And then The Exorcist, of course, except again in the middle of nowhere. And I think in general, like you don't have to think too hard about what's going on with the plot. Just I would recommend really listening at the beginning and like making sure that you're catching what's being told to you so that you can enjoy the rest of the film because there is a fair share of foreshadowing. But once you've kind of understood certain things that are told to you and the seeds that are being planted at the beginning, you can kind of then understand. And that's something that isn't very like unoriginal. I think we've got plenty of films that are like that. But plant the seeds at the very beginning to then give you that plot twist at the end or that surprise ending that isn't too shocking, but just enough to feel like, oh shit, what an ending. Because this one it can get lost on you if you weren't picking up those small pieces, right? And the lore and the local folklore dialogue is a big part of that. I think the ending for me feels like the most fitting for its main character and a disastrous culmination of his character arc in particular, but it's very reminiscent of a famous story that I can't allude to just yet. But this ending for me is is definitely like those small seeds that I was talking about, they're gonna grow in one particular way.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Yeah, it it blossoms into some bullshit. And I don't mean that again in a negative way, but man, does shit hit the fan in this ending. And listen, it's a good technical ending, but boy did I not like it. I don't want to discourage you from watching it because again, this is I think the only natural way this movie can conclude. Ooh, it's a doozy. But I think I just I hated the way I felt after watching this. And it makes perfect sense for the movie. So it's one of those that's like you love to hate it almost. But man, it was a wild ride.

SPEAKER_06 15:54

I've seen a lot of people use the word disturbing to describe the ending. And I think that alone is a pretty accurate description of many parts of the end, but the actual start-to-finish character movement and what's going on with them, and not just the stuff we get to look at on screen, which is gory and disgusting. But the actual resolution here is also not what I had wanted or what I'd hoped for, but that's what the entire film did was try to ground things in in the human nature of it all, and so it's not surprising that this is where we are, but it didn't give me any like positive vibes.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Oh, and let me tell you what kind of vibes it did give me. I'm gonna be real honest here, and I'm about to sound like a little bitch, and I fully embrace that. I recognize it. This is a safe space for me to admit this. I had to mute this movie and put something else over the window of the movie. Like I had my notes on my computer and I had this movie on shutter in my browser, and I had to cover it up. It was triggering my gag reflex.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Oh, I know now.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Yeah, it was pretty rough. But considering how rough parts of this movie are, Mac, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_06 17:06

You know, most of the gore here isn't anything too crazy, although we do get a pretty gnarly rotting dude that'll surely make you hit pause on the popcorn. But be warned, this movie includes violence towards children, and there is one scene in particular that has a shocking high gore moment involving a child, and that alone bumps us up to a high gore score.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

What about the animal report?

SPEAKER_03 17:27

Oh boy. The animal report is absolutely the furthest from safe because, like we've reiterated, no one is safe, and that does include animals, and I cannot emphasize that enough. I really can't. I'm talking your pets and I'm talking about your cattle. Both are screwed, okay? The directors and writers will be hearing from PETA. That is for certain.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. When evil lurks from 2023, was it a hack or a slash? And I think I'll just kick things off here because I don't have a lot to say. This movie is a slash, but fuck am I mad about it? I don't know that it's one I can ever stomach experiencing again. But as gross as it is, as violent as it is, as somber as it is, as much of a bummer as it is, holy shit, this is just great storytelling through and through. From the moment it starts to the moment it ends, it has characters that portray such real pain and horror on their faces. This is a movie where there are no clean-cut heroes. There are just regular ass people trying to do regular ass things and very irregular circumstances. And you've put similar situations together in zombie movies or possession movies in the past, but this is such a great take on a horror trope that really sticks it to this idea of what happens when there's a lack of government oversight or really just negligence. And what is the price that maybe folks in rural communities pay? And I think there's long-lasting implications from the type of story that this movie is telling, but I think it's a story worth telling. And man, for the horrific manner it's told in kudos to y'all, because that shit was fucking wild.

SPEAKER_06 19:23

Gosh, I was really unsure how I felt about this movie like halfway through. You know, we had had some intense moments. It didn't put me to sleep, but it was holding something back. And then as we got into the final acts of the film, things explode in intensity, in gore, and just absolute insanity. It truly did save the best for last. It's a film that's designed to punch you in the gut, and it does so quite effectively. Even though the director originally didn't set out to make a story with meaning, there was so much meaning in his world that it had to come out through his art. And the rural setting here makes things feel kind of removed from time. The effects we get are bloody disgusting. Actors of every age deliver solid performances, and the story, while all at first is executed really well, overall this is just a disgusting slash.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Like I started off saying, this film was my favorite horror of 2023 because it absolutely outshined any and all expectations I could have had in terms of entertainment and shock for a horror film. There is no limit to which Rune will go to portray extreme acts of evil. I think this film has a plethora of frustrations and head scratchers in terms of the decisions of our main characters. And to me, though, it speaks to this idea of visceral reactions like I've been talking about in humans and this idea of self-preservation, what they'll do for their family, etc. And I also feel I'm so wrapped up in the world of this film. We're talking a small Spanish town that is unraveling quickly over a cautionary tale that people have always heard, but never took seriously, not even the authorities. It feels like there are consequences for those that take matters into their own own hands, which is a daring choice to make in terms of storytelling. The entertainment factor, of course, is off the charts, and a lot of what happens is jaw dropping, for good or for bad. And there's just a lot of things I think that can lead people in either direction for this film. Chris, you mentioned it yourself. It's one of those, like it's a slash, but boy oh boy, it's a tough one to stomach. And I think that for me, it's an absolute slash because it dares to go there in horror in a bloody way. It pushes people's limits, it gets people talking, it gets people upset, and I feel like we haven't had a lot of that lately. Few here and there sprinkled around. But this one in 2023 really stood out to me and it will continue to do so.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

And with that, when evil lurks is earned a universal slash, but there's a lot more to discuss and unpack about this movie when we return from our break. Now, if you've already seen this one before. What would you rate it? Let us know. You can join that conversation for free in our Discord server, and you can find the link to join that conversation in our show notes. But if you haven't seen it yet, you're clearly in for quite the ride. You can follow the link in our show notes to see where you can watch it right now. When we return from our break, we'll dive deep into the spoilers on territory and really explore just how brutal this movie is. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

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SPEAKER_02 23:56

And one of them is a 0.5.

SPEAKER_06 23:58

That's true. So we we're at at least 15.5 to 20.5. We also end with at least eight possessed children, but who knows if they're actually alive or undead. We don't know. So let's talk about all of it. Which are your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

For me, it's Mrs. Ruiz. It's the cover of the movie for a reason. It's absolutely horrific, especially if we want to call it a double homicide, since she was with child. Triple homicide. Triple homicide, really. The fact that she continues to axe herself in the face, despite slowly dying, is one of the most horrific and hardest things to watch. Aside from the goat being shot, obviously, because holy shit. I love the whole scene in general because it's literally a chronological order. It's like all three of them at once. It's the goat, and then the husband, and then her. It's just fucked. That whole scene is fucked. But just to watch her axe herself in the face, keep going, even as she's slowly falling to the side and gives it one last little whack as much as she can.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Yeah. It's absolutely horrific. And really the first sequence there, you mentioned it, the go Armando, and then Jimena, it's shocking. I do want to say though, there is something about the practical effects in this movie that seem a little weird. Like, not enough for me to really discredit it, but there's something about some of the other moments that we see later in the movie where it feels a little off. It feels like impractical effects, really. But aside from that, favorite kill has to be the absolutely fucked up kill non-kill of Vicky. Because Roger the dog and the constant cutting back to Roger while Vicky is petting him. Pedro's arguing with Sabrina and Leonardo. Fuck. The tension was building. But then he grabbed her like a rag doll. And obviously, you know, like you can tell how apparent it was that it really was a doll. But how terrifying must that be? And I think I maybe have just heard so many stories lately of packs of dogs getting into huge fights and like also attacking children. It seems just so scary. But it was the horror of that moment, how oblivious all the adults in the room were. And to know that little Santino saw it and dropped his toy in such shock. Terrifying.

SPEAKER_06 26:23

Gosh, him watching as it's about to begin and then as it begins is so messed up. And it's a bummer because we're adults and we would have immediately run up to stop it. But the kid doesn't know what's happening or what's going to happen. Then when it starts, he doesn't know what to do, aside from yell for help. And her getting thrashed around like that is horrifying. That is something where, as a dog owner myself, you would be so mortified if they just bit somebody a little bit too hard. But you can't even imagine one that has so far been loving, like getting her switch flipped and then suddenly latching onto a child's throat. It's messed up.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

It reminds me of the time that I walked outside of my house and I saw my husky doing that exact motion with a young possum. I was like, oh my god, this is disgusting.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Well, and it's so sad because of course it's a large dog, but you know, I feel like there's already like stereotypes about bulldogs and pit bulls and those larger builds and breeds, but I was watching it and I was obviously seeing it with Cullen. He was barking up a storm because he always does when there's animals on TV, or when there's someone about to get hurt. You could only imagine his reaction in this particular case when we first saw it, because he for sure lost his shit. I almost dropped my bowl of cereal. It was a whole thing because I wasn't prepared for it. And it's so sweet because it's an endearing moment. Everyone's fighting, the girl's playing with the dog, just trying to like lollygag around, and the next thing you know, the dog is having a great time.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Family dog.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Just vibing, truly just vibing. And the next from one second to the next, a goner. Tossed and turned, left and right.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

For a brief moment there. I mean, obviously, Roger is possessed because he licked Pedro's clothes. Yes. But in my head cannon, I want to just know that this motherfucker knew Vicky was possessed and was just trying to protect the family. Again, that's not correct. It's not accurate at all. But R.I.P. Roger, you were a good boy. Mostly. Until you killed that kid.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Mostly. Until well.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

That was pretty fucked up, Roger. Who frightened Roger the dog? Pedro.

SPEAKER_06 28:33

These are some great kills so far. There's a couple that I really want to talk about. One is Uriel. And that was honestly kind of funny because this entire time he's this big bag of pus and really disgusting and don't love seeing him on screen. But when he gets hit with that metallic object, that grape just smooshes right in. Like it's nothing. Like that noggin just caves in. He takes almost ten thrashes to the head basically his whole head to just melt inwards and to be taken out and to birth this demon that he's been harboring him inside of him for the last year.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Okay, no bullshit. And this is not really an accurate comparison, but the way that his head was caving in was reminding me of some of the soul sucking we saw in Beetlejuice. Yes. That's fair. It was the shrinking and the you know consolidation space.

SPEAKER_06 29:27

Yeah. That was the first one I really wanted to mention because it was very graphic. The next one I want to mention is probably my least favorite kill of the movie. And the point at which I paused the movie and I had to go run some errands. And I remember Chris asking where I had stopped, and I was like, you know, I don't even need to know the time because I know the scene, because the scene is so absolutely memorable and horrific to look at. And that is Santino.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Oh, I knew it.

SPEAKER_06 29:55

Right?

SPEAKER_04 29:56

I knew you were gonna say it. I'm sorry. I just out loud was like, oh my god, he's gonna say Santino.

SPEAKER_06 30:01

This is what I warned everybody about in the first half of this episode is Santino's Kill. And this, for a lot of folks, is gonna make them not able to finish the film because it's a kid, and the kid so far has been lively and very involved, and lots of talking with his father and his grandmother and everything, right? And then his possessed, I guess, mother comes and steals him and takes him away and runs away. And you imagine we're gonna come upon her and she's gonna be sitting and trying to get him turned into possessed or something as well. No. She popped the top of that dude's head open and was scooping it out like ice cream with her hand and smooshing it down her throat, and they showed it a kid's head.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

It was giving a few different things, but it was also giving the trick-or-treat head candy bowl from Terrifier 2.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Oh, a good time.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

So fucked up. Little Santino, R.I.P., you deserve better. How horrific to go from him so desperately wanting to talk to his mother, Pedro having to say this is not your mother, and then all of a sudden he's dead in the arms of his mother's corpse.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

Because you think that the mom is going to maybe take care of her son. That's typically what we see, right? Like a mother's love is going to somehow overcome this possession, the demon. Nah. Not in this film.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Yeah, or even harbor him on her side of the evil. Like to be possessed along with her. But no, she's just snacking on him.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Relentless.

SPEAKER_06 31:32

She had to go for the brains, you know, really. That's I think it would have been easier to look at if she were like gnawing on his arm or something, but to see her just like scooping it out like it were actually a serving vessel was disturbing. It was the moment in a film, it just reminds me of like other films that have that shock moment, like uh Suspiria, for instance, Jaws. I think there's that one kill where it's that wide angle shot, and we can see everything, everybody's happy, and then we get the shark kill in the background, whatever. This one here just was so unexpected because it's a kid.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yeah. I mean, it's also the same kind of shock level that I think you get in even hereditary.

SPEAKER_06 32:08

100%.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Yeah. But also Sabrina. I mean, listen, poor you. You really got fucked up and hit by two different cars.

SPEAKER_06 32:17

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

In one movie. Not one but two. Traumatic brain injury, at the very least.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

Not one but two vehicles. She's not a fan of driving whatsoever. I wouldn't be either. I want to also mention we can't go without mentioning this person, Mirta, the other cleaner that they get. That was a kill by the hands of children, and that was also a little fun time. I think that's what the parents were probably like, oh, this could be a good little thing, you know, not in Santino's case. Santino's parents, I don't think they were very fond of what happened to their kid in this film. No, no. That lady definitely got caught by a ton of children. And by the stupidity of this man, but we can unpack that in a second. To leave her after it being very abundantly clear that these kids cannot be trusted, not once, not twice, but as many times as they'd like to prove to you that they are not actually children, you dumb fuck. I can't, whatever, but it's different.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yes, sir. You already set out if you're punching a child. You're gonna take this same child's advice now?

SPEAKER_03 33:22

We'll unpack, I'm sure, in just a moment, but I needed to talk about that particular kill because it was just so unnecessary. It was unnecessary, it was stupid, and another cleaner gone.

SPEAKER_06 33:36

Just can't keep these cleaners, you know? They we keep losing them. It was very gangster of those kids though to use a hammer and then like repeatedly thwack with the softest hammer swings on earth, of course, because they're kids and they can't really drive a hammer into a nail, but to see them try and then the head just popped, and it was a little bit of blood. It wasn't super gory though. That was nice of them.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

And I and I think because they're technically not allowed to have blood on these kids, that's one of the rules where they were filming in I think it was in Spain or Argentina. I'd read an article that was kind of like one of the stipulations with these child actors, they couldn't have blood on their bodies except for the one kid, obviously, who plays the demon, right? But it's just kind of one of those rules like omit that part of it, because of course, if they were being, you know, if they're actually bludgeoning her with a hammer, blood would obviously be flying all over the place. But that can't be the case in terms of the government rules. The other one that's not necessarily on screen entirely is Chris's favorite scene, I'm sure. Just kidding. That's not true. It's the Awila that got devoured by my boy and literally choked and spit him out and gagged her out.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Listen.

SPEAKER_03 34:45

No way! Unnecessary, hated it. It was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

I have a lot to say about that scene later, but continue.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

It's just so sad because the whole thing is like the final cherry on top of this dreadful Sunday, because it's not a quick, you know, spitting out of the necklace. No, it's like an ongoing process of him throwing up his grandmother. It's not a little piece of hair, because at that point it's already revealed like, wait a minute. No, it's several pieces of hair, and then a whole glob of hair, and then the necklace and the audacity of this frickin' kid and the look on his face. Again, I know that you said you were gonna mention it later, but it's that whole in insinuation of what he's done, and obviously the grandmother having been killed is rough.

SPEAKER_06 35:36

Goodness, it gave me neon demon energy a hundred percent. Didn't enjoy it. The kill was disgusting, even though it was off-screen. We saw too much.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

It's absolutely excessive. It is the moment where I had to pause and look away and and mute. It was just fucking awful. And you know what? Here's the real problem. It was too visceral, it was too much, it was excessive. Much like most of the effects in this movie being excessive, but I gotta give it to them because the very beginning of the movie we find a severed hand, a dead body. Well, the body's been bisected, it's just intestines and a bottom. That is the first level of high quality gore that we get, but then Uriel being so fucking bloated and disgusting. Again, he looks real weird and gross, but then the longer you look at him, oh my god, I feel like I'm gonna gag just thinking about this line that comes out of his mouth. This was a movie where I could smell the movie. The parallels that we have from such disgust to then such beauty when we have just the establishing shots in this film and the way that it's filmed. Man, this shit has got range.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

You know, I've never really given much thought about a film's smell, but for some reason when you said that, I did smell something putrid and it wasn't a good time. His design is incredible, without a doubt, incredible. And even from beginning to end, right? Because we talked about his kill and even his balloon head being popped, essentially in like the Beetlejuice of it all, was just disgusting, but incredible. I'm so glad that they did practical effects. I'm so glad that they took the time to incorporate this. It could have been so easy, especially in 2023. Are you kidding? So easy to just put a little CGI on it and call it a fucking day. But the practical effects is what makes it so intense, these visceral reactions that we're having to watching these kills and all of that. The blood in the pus is out of hand, dude. Hence why I really gotta tell you don't have any dairy foods when you're watching this film. It won't be a good time. It really won't.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

I feel like it's against my religion that I don't have to fucking see something this disgusting again.

SPEAKER_06 38:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Churches are dead in this movie, and so is my fucking tolerance for gore, because this shit ruined me.

SPEAKER_06 38:07

This is how I felt watching Young Demon. This is how I felt watching Terrifier. This one I feel like was easier for me to stomach than those two, especially Terrifier. Maybe that was just some moral qualms with the movie, but I think the effects here really do deserve praise. They're impressive. And even when you can tell that there's been a switch out, like when the dog is running around with the kid, even when the other kid is getting his brain scooped out, like the ape head in Indiana Jones. Even when you know it's fake, it still looks good. And I think that's something that I enjoy about 80s movies that make use of real effects, versus when we start getting into the late 90s overuse of CGI, it's like it's fake and it looks bad. And we've kind of been there since then for most stuff that's CGI. But I think there's a lot of other stuff going on here that's great. Audio-wise, that didn't really apply to me here. I had to use subtitles, so I wasn't super worried about it. It was quiet. And I think if you took Spanish in college, that is not how people speak in Argentina. That is not how people speak generally anywhere. And so you're gonna have basically mumbling in a dialect that you probably won't understand unless you can understand it. So I think throughout the audio part, I'm not super worried about the dialogue of it all. The sound effects are disgusting, lots of squishing, lots of excessive gushing and squishings that we don't really need. But some of the shots we get here with this scenery, with this setting of being in the country are fantastic. Literally, one of the final shots of the movie where we're walking through a field together is fantastic. And I think they're really able to make use of the fact that they're out in the middle of nowhere, and we can really feel the dirt on the ground. You can feel those goats. Even when we zoom in and get all close up, it doesn't feel like they just went and took some b-roll of some goat somewhere to farm. It really feels like we're there. And somehow they were able to combine a really good choice of locations with some great camera work to make you feel isolated. You know, and one of the choices that we made here was to have a scene, a horrific scene, set in a schoolhouse. And part of that whole segment there, favorite scene of the movie, getting set up for this execution, this assassination of this taking out of this demon-infested rotter, we're getting set up and there's a child pleading who we know we can't trust, but the child's just screaming. She's going off. And it's funny because I think in a lot of other demon-involved movies, we get taunting instead, and to have us use one of the possessed characters to instead plead and beg, while the actual demon-infested human is like, do it. Like the taunting's there, but at the same time, you're getting that flip side to it where they're just begging him to get away and begging them both to leave. But as soon as they take one of them out, they don't have to worry anymore. No more pleading, no more begging.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Which is kind of a cool way to think of how a demon will peel to the character or like to the person in particular and what's like their weak spots, because we always see the taunting when it could be towards someone who isn't so like trigger happy with taunting, right? But we're talking about a character who already has established that they are doing a lot of things for their children at this point, has been wrecked in terms of their youngest child being gone. You know, it this person is already at their wit's end. So the taunting isn't gonna so much do something as effective as the begging and make them really question because they're probably again they're teetering this fine line where they're very frustrated and they're gonna lose their shit, or it's gonna appeal to their, you know, to their empathy, but this guy is just all over the place and you never expect what's gonna happen to that girl, that's for sure, and her ass getting beat.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

You really don't. But also, can we just talk about and maybe take a moment to appreciate the range of this story? Because at the end of this movie, you have him taunting and talking about like you know, killing him, etc., while this little girl is you know pleading, and it dawns on you that in the beginning of the movie, Uriela is asking to be killed, and you think he's just asking to be put out of his misery. You don't yet realize why you can't use firearms, why you can't kill this demon. And honestly, that I think that first time that we see this was actually my favorite scene in the whole movie because holy shit, he is so disgusting. I can't believe you know, there's a moment that Armando is like holding the sheets and like they're trying to finagle out of this. It's this is one of those moments of silly comedy, but there's a point where they can't really get him out, and then Armando fucking touches his face with his gloved hand, and I'm like, why are you doing that? You touch the sheets that this fucker has been on, and honestly, he was seeping through the sheets, it was absolutely vile. And I'm like, listen, man, I don't know what's gonna fucking happen in this movie, but at the very least, you're getting real fucking sick.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Which later on, when they're in the car, he's trying to tell him, like, oh, you didn't touch him, did you? And I'm thinking to myself, nobody but you did, you idiot. And that's why I go back to what I was saying earlier in terms of these people are taking these things into their own hands without any real logic or sound mind, because who could blame them? They're freaking out. Authorities obviously don't care, so they've got to do something. And in the beginning, at least in the first act, we're seeing men trying to take charge and be like tremendous, you know, like macho just trying to take care of the house and you know, take care of their cattle and blah blah blah. And then they're clowning around, they drop the on the floor, the guy's pussing around everywhere. It's a shit show. Quite literally, a shit show. But shortly thereafter, After everything goes down in that first act, especially with, you know, the re Armando and they've now buried this guy somewhere and all of that, my favorite scene is actually a good testament to who I think Pedro is in general. It's him fighting with his ex-wife and her calling him out on his shit. Because to me, the thing about Pedro is he comes off as someone who pretends to be someone who cares, but is actually self-serving to an extent. You care, but you've disappeared for four years, you haven't helped her out not once. You know, like evidence number 14 billion of him not really caring that much, unless it's benefits him to an extent, is Vicky being mauled by this dog, being taken out into the streets, and my man can run, okay? He might be a little tired, but he can run, and we've seen him run and chase. But he barely ran. He didn't really give that much of a fuck to save that little girl. Instead, he actually takes the opportunity to run back home and take his kids and get them out of the house. He doesn't care what happens to that little girl. He can give three fucks. Nope. He's like, oh, this is the perfect opportunity. Let me go and benefit myself, which in fairness, I can understand if you want to protect your kid and all that. But for me, it's that he fiends this empathy for what's going on for the community. He fiends this idea that he wants to save everyone and help out when that's not really the case down to the very end.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Yeah. Okay, listen, I just gotta say it. That family would have been fine as long as he didn't fucking go to that house. He brought the demon to their door. It was him stripping down, letting his fucking demon clothes get with Roger. This is really his fault.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

And that's why, again, it's the self-serving nature to an extent. Because he also traveled far-ish. Obviously, this is now like more of a suburban area to get your kids when you have already realized and you know that you've been impacted because the moment you get into the house, you get rid of the clothes, but it's in the house now. Too late, buddy. It's just like the small things that you could have done differently to actually protect your children, but you didn't. And then it happens again and again and again. And it's even from the beginning, his brother is trying to tell him something, and he's like, No, that's okay. It's fine, everything's gonna be fine. Buddy, you're so stubborn. What a character. But I love that scene because at least to the very end, Sabrina let him know that he's a little bitch.

SPEAKER_06 46:38

I just love the insanity that followed. It was pure chaos in that scene while he's trying to like usher them out, and they're like, What the hell are you doing here? And then the actual insanity kicked in, and it wasn't just chaos at that point, it was mayhem. That was a lot of fun to watch. It was very like nerve-wracking to watch, but it was a lot of fun. I think it really does show us in that moment the humanity of his character, though, because really in other movies, he would be shown to be like the typical hero, and every decision he makes is for the betterment of all mankind, and he's really just like helping everybody out and doing the right thing. And it's like, like you mentioned, he's getting called out for doing the wrong thing in the past.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Yeah. If this was any other horror movie, he'd get the Tom Atkins treatment, he'd have sex with a woman who's so much younger than him, and he'd be a hero.

SPEAKER_06 47:25

But in this case, no, we don't get that. And we get a guy who continually makes bad decisions.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:32

When honestly, there you're in a place where there's really only a couple right decisions. And instead, we've got some stubbornness, instead, we've got a little bit of pride, and you know, we've we're we're clouded by the environment that's going on. We're kind of locked in and laser focused on something, even though that's not the right path to follow.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

And that's the human nature of it all. The thing about this possession is that it requires discipline, and Pedro has absolutely zero of it. He has zero of it. At the very end, the very motherfucking end, this man knows that if you kill this guy, you're going to unleash chaos, and literally a demon will be born. But he says, fuck it, I'm pissed. And he literally kills Uriel and is announced uh anointed basically by this demon baby. And it's I I love it though, because it's very much like Cain and Abel. That's the story that I've related to this ending, right? You know, at that point, he's doomed to the rest of eternity to basically live with his consequences of his actions, time and time again. Everything that he did has consequences, and now your kids are gone, your sons are gone, you know, your ex-wife gone, so many people gone because you couldn't help yourself and you were so upset and you lost your shit. And now a demon is born.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Jimmy really deserved better.

SPEAKER_03 48:59

He did because guess what? If you listen to your brother, he said that guy was sus from the very beginning and he shouldn't have been living next to the cabin, but you didn't want to listen to him. And now here we are. Time and time again, the brother was trying to be sane. And I love it because what we basically are seeing is the duality of these two brothers. There's actually one of the movie posters that really speaks to that. It's not the main one that we have in the US, but it's one where they're both on either side, and down the middle is like a hand pointing at the ground and it's split in half. Because if the world is split in half. And it really speaks to how one is logical, is trying to think soundly, is trying to actually solve the problem with discipline, and the other is wreaking havoc. And well, here we go. Consequences of those actions.

SPEAKER_06 49:51

It is funny that you mentioned that he's the logical brother, because that's typically the person we would see as the leader, as the protagonist, is the person who has the connections, who knows the woman. We should go do this, we should listen to her, all this stuff. But no, he gets sidelined a little bit, which is really interesting. And it kind of speaks to, I think, how Pedro treats a lot of people in his life. You know, by the time we get to see his actual family, they're normal, aside from him. They're living like a good, quiet suburban life. You know, they want to eat some ice cream and just kind of chillax until Chaos itself shows up when he arrives. It's funny where this film is fun. I think what's great about it is all the characters we get are very interesting characters, just on their own in like a drama sort of sense. The family that is nursing Uriel while they're waiting for him to be killed, I kind of want to see a little bit more about them and them dealing with it. The farmers whose land they're living on, they were incredibly interesting. And so I love that all of these different connections, we get memorable characters, and we get a lot of human characters, and we get a lot of foils for our main characters. And it's nice that it's not boring. It's like not everybody's a follower, and then we get one leader, and then we're shooting the family at the end in a car, and then the the army shows up like other movies, just saying Stephen King.

SPEAKER_03 51:13

The issue, though, is that a lot of people might find this film a little polarizing because we're not getting the cookie-cutter structure. We're getting a main character that's actually not likable, that is obviously an idiot at most times and whatnot, that it makes the film more enjoyable and more thought-provoking. On the other spectrum of things, I think it just makes it very frustrating for the viewer. And they're like, well, now this guy's just being a complete moron when things are so blatantly obvious. And I feel, like maybe it's not a sound argument, but I feel like that's humans though. People aren't perfect. There are going to be plenty of people that are going to do continuously stupid things when they are faced with these kinds of situations, and when they're faced with the idea of them having to do whatever it takes to save their family, but they keep fucking it up time and time and time again until at the very end they just sit on the ground and they're screaming, crying in agony because of what they've done. And it wasn't until he gets home, really, when his son, Jair, is spitting out the hair and necklace of his mother, of Pedro's mother, that he realizes, oh yeah, I really just shit the bed. I really fucked up. Because even when he gets to that house, the audience is probably thinking, like, wait, why are they acting so cool? Is he not realizing what the fuck he did? Oh, there's probably a little bit of that stubbornness, a little bit of that, like, well, well, it is what it is, but at least I have what's left of my family. Nope, you don't. You've actually got zero. And I love how his son just stares at him. Quick second. But that's like my second favorite part of the scene. I don't know if Chris is that something that you wanted to bring up. I think you hinted at it. Because I love when he just stares at his dad real fast. Because at that point you already know that he's possessed. But it's the audacity.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Yeah, it was this moment of glancing, like, oh shit, uh, you got me. Okay, here's the thing though, and this is why that scene is so intense. It's a the grieving of a grandmother. It still hit me way too fucking personally, and I wasn't really expecting it. B, it was just a disgusting fucking moment. There's something about the coughing up and the vomiting and the retching. When we watched Neon Demon Mac, that component didn't really bother me. I think people were shocked that that's not what did it for me in that movie. But in this one, this kid is just fucking like and it's almost like knowing that there's a hairball coming out is just fucking disgusting. But oh my god, I feel like I'm gonna puke just thinking about this. But thinking about wet hair in a shower drain and then that coming up with like blood and everything out of your fucking mouth. I'm just thinking about how bad it tastes when you accidentally like you have like a piece of fucking hair on your food. No, it's just it's all bad.

SPEAKER_03 54:11

Don't trigger yourself now.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

It's all bad and I fucking hate it. It's all bad. It's all bad and I hate it. It wasn't enough to just make me sad in this ending. It wasn't enough to give you a bleak look at how things resolve. It wasn't enough for nobody to win. You also had to make someone cough off some fucking hair.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Just not good. Not a good time. But can I tell you that this is one of the instances where it reminded me of Smile? Because in Smile, as we know, the only thing that reminds me of Smile is the tactics of the demon. In Smile, the whole thing is that you witness someone committing suicide, and that's how the demon will then possess you. In this case, it's not the only way that the demon infects, but it seems like one of its favorite ways is possessing someone, them eating whomever or whatever, and then the audacity and the gall to then throw up that person in front of someone else to feed off of the reaction that they'll get, like the fear, or again, I keep saying this word, but it's literally the best way to summarize this film too, aside from lawless, is this visceral reaction. This holy shit, I can't believe what I'm watching, this disturbing feeling. Because it was kind of mentioned a little bit earlier in the film, one of the many foreshadowing, when the cleaner talks about how she witnessed a girl throw up, I think it was her grandmother or someone, and then at the ending it's revealed that's what Eduardo did, and that's exactly what happened to their mother. And then we literally see it happening. It's just like, how dare you? How dare you, demon? All the other things that you're doing, and now you're making people witness you throwing up someone that they ate. God.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

Yeah, again, insult to injury.

SPEAKER_06 56:10

It was a real toss-up for me between the animal involvement for the worst part of this film. And, you know, we've seen neon demon, we've seen plenty of cannibal movies, and we've literally seen in a Hannibal film somebody eat their own brains. And so I think we can do worse when it comes to the cannibalism of it all. I think the animal involvement though is the part that bothered me the most because I think other films are really able to do it without having to show too much. And this film said, nah, show it all, dude. They didn't show everything, but they showed too much. And I think when we got to that goat scene, any other film we would have watched, they would have done the same thing, but they would have cut away, we would have been looking at Ruiz the entire time, and then bang, and what there would have been a blood spat or something. But no, this one full-on shot of the goat dropping to the ground after the shot. And later with the dog, if you're gonna shoot a dog in a film, one, don't. But two, don't show us the aftermath. It's just unnecessary, nobody likes it, no one's here for it. I think that really is for me worse than the you know, chewing on other human thing.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

You know, for someone who says the animal report and saying that this is their favorite horror film of last year, it is quite ironic. But I agree with you. This is one of those situations where shock value is very much a thing, and doing things for the fuck of it and going for it includes the animals, and it was tough. It was definitely tough to see. For me, the worst part is really the decisions that Pedro makes. Because I I can find myself continuously having a hard time defending this film to people that maybe aren't the biggest fans of it because of the things that he does, and just trying to make sense of why you know he goes back and listens to the little girl and leaves this other lady behind when it's very clear that they're already lying to you. That's like the biggest example that I keep being given. And it's like, I know, but the movie's still good, but it's because he's dumb and let's just let it go.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Well, to be clear, it's not because he's dumb. He's an intelligent man, it's because he's proud and he's run by his emotions. It's because he is caving under a high pressure situation, and that is why I listen, there are a lot of bonehead decisions this fucking guy makes, but I think it only makes the movie better.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

Absolutely, because again, like we've talked about, we know those people. Those people exist constantly. They're in our lives, they're in our families, and by God, they frustrate the fuck out of you, I'm sure. But guess what? If the if you're posed in this kind of scenario that they're in, they're with you, and you're gonna have to deal with a plague of demon possession with them. And I hope that they make sound decisions, but don't be shocked if they go against what you said. Because that's really what this film was. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

Yeah, and that's exactly why I don't really care to watch this one again. I'm so glad I watched it. It's a really good movie. I think everybody needs to watch it once if you can stomach it, but I just cannot see myself revisiting this. I am fucking locking this up in the vault of my memory. That's it's not though. I respect it. I got everything I needed out of it. It's good. Don't want to experience that again. Don't want to puke. Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 59:31

Okay, fair. Yeah, I for sure would watch this again. I'm not going to be eating while I watch it again. And I will probably save it for next year. At this point, let's make it like an annual thing or when it comes about, right? But I would definitely re-watch this again, just knowing that I'm gonna have to mentally prepare for the gruesomeness that comes with it.

SPEAKER_06 59:50

I think when it comes about is perhaps the right way to describe it. Like if a situation would occur in which I could watch this a second time, I would do it. You know, I just think it's really intense. It's worth a second viewing, but it's a lot. It reminds me of the bleakness of the road. I love the road. Kermick McCarthy, absolute genius. I haven't watched it since the first time I watched it for a reason. Because when things are that intense and that bleak and leave you feeling a little bit empty, kind of like this film does, you gotta respect it, but it doesn't mean you have to go looking for reasons to feel it all over again.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

I can't wait to see if anyone else wants to reveal this thing all over again. But for now, there you have it, folks. When evil lurch from 2023 has earned a universal slash, but we're not necessarily that happy about it.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:37

Now we've certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation about this movie and how fucked up it is doesn't end here by any means.com slash hackerslash where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B sides, which are free sides for the spooky season, movie nominations, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

And if you don't want evil to be lurking around your neighborhood, leave us a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts. This helps us continue to deliver great content for all you horror fiends out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, it has to be done by a professional.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:16

Children love evil.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:27

So I think it's only natural to wonder what would you do in this situation where you confronted with this terrible, terrible circumstance?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:36

I think the the setting of this movie makes it an interesting question because if you're in a city, it's gonna be very different. It's gonna be so fast that you probably won't have a chance to respond. But in a rural area, really what you need to do is band together. You need to get everybody together, especially the folks that know what's happening and want it taken care of, like the the family with the possessed kid, or I should say their child is not a kid. You gotta get everyone together, you gotta have a cooperative, you gotta cordn off the area, escort in the people that know how to take care of the issue, maybe have some flamethrowers handy if you can make that happen. And you just gotta, you know, systematically take care of this.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:15

Well, you know, that sounds all well and fine, but I bet they wouldn't have toilet paper on their shelves. We can't be trusted, Mac.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

We've seen how this happens. We've seen it before. The toilet paper is always the first to go, apparently.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:27

People are afraid they're gonna shit themselves. Well, I would.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:31

These people are out in the country, they don't need toilet paper. They have old-fashioned ways of of dealing with things, you know? Or maybe they have bidets.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

With gumption.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:40

You get some some leaves or something, you you take care of business.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

Oh no, I hate that. Here's the thing though. I think where I really would thrive is in coming up with a nice little jingle. Because what the fuck was that terrible song the grandmother was singing to her grandson with his head in her lap?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:00

That's quite the lullaby in terms of you know, talking a little bit of folklore. It's also just like creepy in general, in terms of what's being shared. Yeah. Lullabies are always so bizarre, especially as Spanish lullabies. Like, what are you actually telling me, lady? Let's be let's unpack that because it's always something creepy and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

Yeah, it's giving ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down, except way fucking worse, because it's about a rotten corpse.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:29

And then demonia.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:30

Yeah, it's it's not fun.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:32

Or we could we could talk about other real lullabies that are you know pretty freaky because I'm pretty sure there's one warning you about Coco, and Coco's gonna eat you up.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:42

Oh, you know what? Let's get into it. I'm gonna Google this. Why did I want to write evil lullabies? That's not necessarily the case.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:50

Um just lullabies is fine, thanks. I can't even remember any real lullabies. Yeah, you know, we weren't a singing family. We were a reading before bed family.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

Twinkle, twinkle little star is a lullaby. Okay, sure. Hush little baby.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:05

Yeah, hush little baby. Isn't that one that's actually pretty horrible in reality?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

Hush little baby, don't say a word. Oh mama's gonna buy you a somet sim sum.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:15

Oh, hold on. That's all that's all she got.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:22

No, it is I don't think it it itself is bad, but like the history on it is kind of not known yet. You know, it's there's multiple theories.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:31

I got you with the controversial. It says this syllabi is controversial because it alludes to bribing your child to get them to do something you want. Personally, that is entirely relatable. Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Mom was gonna buy you a mockingbird. I am not below bribery to get my children to do what I want them to do on occasion. That is not a quote from me, that is a quote from whoever wrote this article, to be clear.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:52

Yeah. Yeah, what a way to introduce that segment, Banks.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:56

There is there's one, uh there's a Javanese one apparently, where there's like a really scary giant that looks for crying children, and it involves something about the fact that crying is gonna make you ugly.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:07

Not wrong. No, who's a pretty crier? Not many people.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:12

Oh, now I'm thinking about how I must look when I'm crying and like when I'm watching a movie and stuff. Am I an ugly cry?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Apparently, my mouth gets very rectangular when I cry. My mother has told me about this my whole life, so I don't I don't really like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:26

Your mother's full on giving you feedback about what your face looks like when you cry. Genuinely. Even I haven't gotten that, and I've got a lot of earth signs in my in my family, I'll tell you much that, which actually makes me think maybe they're just My mom's a Leo. My mom's a Leo. Oh. Ah. Well, yeah, I guess my maybe my grandmother has made comments to my mother about what I've looked like when I'm crying and I don't know about it. But maybe the silent judgments have definitely existed. Now I want feedback. Now I'm gonna cry in front of someone and ask them, What do I look like? Do I have a rectangular face when I cry?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

I've seen you cry a few times, you look normal.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Right? Like it's normal. So if there's lullabies telling you that you look ugly when you cry, that's not necessarily promoting emotional intelligence.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:10

Aaron Ross Powell I mean, I feel like a lot of lullabies are pretty messed up, right? It's like basically if you don't do what I tell you, a scary thing is gonna come and take you away. Some of them, it's not even take you away. Some of them, it's like the there's a Scottish one where they just put down the baby and then keep on going without them. I lost them. That's what it is. It's like basically uh I I left my baby there and I and I uh went to uh to go do something else and lost lost where they were, and I now I can't find them. And like what a screwed up, what a screwed up thing to sing the kid. I guess you're singing it to kids that like may not understand it at first and have language yet, but eventually you're gonna sing it one time, and that kid's gonna be like, I know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

I'm sorry, is this lullaby, the one that you're talking about, the lyrics in translation? I left my baby lying there, or lying here, lying here, lying here. I left my baby lying here to go and gather berries. I found the Webron otter's track, otters track, otter's track. I found the Webron otter's track, but never a trace of my baby.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:12

Okay, so otters are out here stealing babies. Well, they just never found the child.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:16

So that's listen, listen, kid, you better focus on me and stay on me. Don't get lost, don't get left behind.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:22

Rockabi baby in the treetop when the wind blows, the cradle will rock. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:27

There is one in Iceland. Did you guys skip that one? I don't know if we're all looking at the same article.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:31

We're basically We're looking at the same fucking article. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:34

Trying to soothe her child to sleep so that she can drown them. Whoa, hello. Yeah. And be free to join her husband who is running away from authorities.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:44

Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:45

Perfect. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:47

Love it. I think the the one I was looking at from Iceland, I don't know, it's talking about something that's lurking, but you don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

When evil lurks.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:55

And that's pretty that's pretty messed up. Um, something about a face outside of a window. Uh something that says, Sleep, you black-eyed pig, fall into a deep pit of ghosts.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:05

Wow. Nothing there about tiptoeing in tulips, though, huh?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:09

How dare you. I uh well, now I lost my train of thought. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:15

Yeah, something about ghosts.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:17

No, it's gone. It's gone. And you know what I'm thinking about now? Is I got a text message while I was on my cruise. Someone saying that they listened to that song and thought of me, and I'm like, oh, that's so sweet. And so you decided to tell me. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:32

Also great.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:33

Yeah. Binx hears that and she's like, eat shit and die. Okay, there's one from Argentina, quejueva, que jueva. Um, let it rain, let it rain, the witch is in the cave, the birds sing, the witch rises in the air. Oh yes, oh no, let it pour down under the bed with water and soap. Weird lyrics, but it's kind of a vibe. Uh, it's giving witchy, and it's also giving it would be a fun song to sing to the tune of Let It Be by the Beatles. Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, oh let it rain. The witches in the cave, the birds sing.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:06

Wow, you're on to something. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yeah, that's not too bad. That's not too shabby. And it's really, and that's actually not that bad in terms of what it's saying because it's really seems like it's just like to be afraid of, or based on the article, being afraid of the rain or thunderstorms. I mean, most kids are already afraid of that anyways, so Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:26

Oh, here's the one that Mac was talking about with the Coco. Sleep, little one, sleep, my love, or the cocoa will come and take you away. Sleep, little one, sleep, my love, or the cocoa will come and eat you up. Christ. The cocoa looks kind of cute though. Very petible.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:42

Yeah. I never got told any of these lullabies, though.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

Never.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:46

You're missing out.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:47

Let me look up. Maybe Cubans don't have lullabies. Let me see.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:50

I'm pretty sure everybody has lullabies. Sometimes you just sing silly things to kids. I just I never got the ones that were warning me about evil and demons and stuff, you know. I mean, this is kind of like the Freddy lullaby in a way. This is this is Elm Street right here.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:04

Mm-hmm. Oh, one from Brazil. It invokes Kuka, a crocodile hag from Legends. Also, I mean, Cuka, we fucking had a Chihuahua named Kookka in my family. She was a real bitch. But the idea of parents not being there to protect you, an ox monster and a boogeyman called Bicho Papau lurking on the roof, all the stuff that puts a child right at ease.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:24

I love it. I gotta tell y'all, I just found a Cuban nursery rhyme, and I've never seen something more Cuban in my life. It's basically telling the kid to hurry up because we're gonna be late to a party, and there's another party tomorrow as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:41

Literally. It's very simple.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:42

Okay, can you give me the lyrics in Spanish?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:49

So we're gonna like come on, little horsey. Get to it, get trotten, because we're gonna get late. We're gonna be late. And then it's vamos a bailen, which is like it's also seems to be like a Christmas nursery rhyme, which of course. And it says, Vamos a bailar y pasado también. So like there's to party tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, so hurry it up. And it sounds very fitting because I feel like everyone was always rushing me growing up. Not that I was ever late to anything, I was definitely on time, but it's still very important to make you feel like you're rushed, and I want to attribute that to why I have anxiety today.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:28

Yeah, that's fair. You know, speaking of like this whole subject matter of Cuban rhymes, and then also this movie being just harrowing shit. The only rhyme I've ever heard my dad talk about was when he was a little boy during the Cuban Revolution, and he looked outside to Castro's men marching, and he said, Uno, dos, three, quattro, comiendo mierda y gastando zapatos. Sounds about right. Mm-hmm. Eating shit and wasting shoes. That tracks.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:59

Love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:00

I mean, a lot of these I feel like are just about boogeyman. Whether it's a crab or a wolf or a giant, it's like we're instilling the fear of the boogeyman only years later to then have to be like, no, there's no boogeyman, turn the lights off, go to bed. Maybe we should start out not singing lullabies that are basically go to sleep, child, or something horrible is gonna happen to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:23

But then, okay, well, lullabies are really meant for like pregaming sleep. It has to be something that is like go to sleep, because I don't want to be s sang a lullaby or whatever, like on my way to school. Hmm. I I feel like that's not like the fitting time. Also, a rebuttal to to that in terms of the boogeyman, three blind mice is apparently a creepy lullaby, which it's just mice who are blind now. Yeah, I don't know about the creepy part, but it's three blind mice. It's not boogeyman.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:55

I don't know about this. So, okay, twinkle, twinkle, little star, hush little baby, don't say a word, da-da-da-da-da. Those all I get being sleep-related, but some of these other shit are just like we want you to go to sleep, but not out of a sense of safety, but out of a sense of fear.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:12

You're rolling your house with an iron fist of fear, and that's, you know, not really productive.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:18

Uh Binks, three blind mice, by the way, it's more than just three blind mice over and over. See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife. Oh. Did you ever see such a sight in your life as three blind mice? Okay, so that's like the modern lyrics. Um, and so going to back going back to Chris's point here, I mean, yeah, we're using violence and fear to control little kids instead of love and information. You know, why don't we sing lullabies about how the stars work or something? You know, really get their brains moving so they can think about stuff as they drift off.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:54

Motherfucker, just a couple of episodes ago, we're talking about how we don't even know how constellations work.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:01

Apparently, uh, you know, I think I'm I'm now a Taurus in the new chart, which again doesn't matter because none of it's real, but can't. You know.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:10

No, I'm still a Capricorn.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:12

I I think there's gotta be lullabies for for nerds, right? Uh can we just like sing Klingon Klingon ballads as lullabies?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:21

That's a thousand percent what you intend to do, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:25

No, I don't speak Klingon, but Duolingo, any moment now. They do have it already. It's been out there for years.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:31

And there we go.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:33

Now, if somebody could could whip up Vulcan, that would be really impressive. I don't think there's enough of the language to speak it, but I wouldn't do it anyway. I don't have the brain for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:41

You ready for this?

SPEAKER_06 1:14:42

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:43

Pixel dreams and ape its kies, magic worlds where dragons fly, blocks of colors build the land, heroes journeys hand in hand. Close your eyes and drift away to a pixelated okay, now the last line is way too long. To a pixel place to play. Or for Mac, hush little starship, time to go to sleep, journey through galaxies fast and deep, planet spinning round in okay. Now again, okay. AI gets really close and then just like fumbles the bag there.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:15

And then just like fumbles, does it forgets to rhyme? Can we do a quick lullaby about this man here? Um, I just realized that on this recording I've had a blanket draped behind my chair, and it's actually Jake Gyllenhaal. It's a Jake Gyllenhaal blanket I was gifted.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:33

And this is the kind of lullaby that I needed when I was a young girl about Jake Gyllen Hall.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:40

You are my Jylan Hall, my dreamy actor. From Donnie Darko to Starry Night. Okay, again, this lyrics are not great.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:50

I was it was a tall order. That's fair. I think I broke AI, it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:55

In every movie you light the screen. It's true. Close your eyes now and drift to dreams. I love it. Whether a hero or a troubled soul, he brings magic to every role.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:10

It's true. I think I wrote this actually.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

Rest now, little one, it's time for sleep. Dream of adventure, calm and deep. Well, Jake Gyllenhaal has his own fucking lullaby.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:23

This is crazy.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:24

Bravo.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:26

Okay. I think we need to take it the opposite way and make lullabies for our genre of film. And here's here's one with the magic of technology. Hush now, child, the night is still. The moon shines over forest and hill. By Crystal Lake where shadows fall, wanders a man so silent and tall.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:44

Fuck yeah! Here we go. We're making a children's book.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:48

For all of our fans who need to sing their children to sleep, but also want to terrify them just a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:54

Yeah. I got twinkle twinkle in the dark, tiny shadows leave their mark. Mask mask slashers roam in moon night moonlit glow. But you're safe here, don't you know? Close your eyes, the night's alright. Dream of monsters losing sight.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:08

Aww. That one's still cute.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:10

Zombies roam in dreams toonight, dreams toonight, dreams tonight, shuffling slowly out of sight till the morning light.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:19

Behind the mask, his eyes don't blink, but don't you worry, don't you think. He's here to guard the night so still on Haddonfield's Quiet Hill.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:28

Okay. Okay. Coming at you live in our merch door 2025.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:34

I love it. And and I will I will actually read them. I don't think I could sing them on tape. Uh I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it for long enough. But I'll do that I'll do some reading.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:43

Oh my gosh. Should we just do sell like an audio series?

SPEAKER_06 1:17:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:47

All those years of fanfiction writing come to fruition. I love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:52

Now we're just going to require Binks to sing a lullaby based on every movie we review. Go back and do all bazillion of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:59

If we can make one lullaby for each of her favorite actors, I feel like that's a fair deal.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:04

That's true. The one I asked for for Jake Gyllenhaal was not very specific to Jake. And so I don't feel like it was very good. Um, you know, is it like one of the lines is with eyes so bright like skies of blue, he'll tell a tale just made for you in every film a brand new part, but always with a gentle heart.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:20

Yeah, no, it's getting vague and unconvincing.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:23

It's it it's giving vague. Although some parts true, it's still vague and I need it to be specific.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:28

Yeah, at least some at least mine got Donnie Darko in there.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:31

It's just it's so it's so hit or miss, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:33

Nothing but hits for Binks.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:35

I'll get to work and I'll start writing some Adam Driver included, obviously.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:40

Oh boy. I didn't realize he was top three for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:43

Oh my god, he's not top one. He's one. Adrian Adrian Brody, Adam Driver, Jake Gyllenhaal?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:51

There we go. That's the three. And then Dylan O'Brien is number four.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:54

It needs to mention his nose, you know, if it's gonna talk about Adam Driver.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:58

And his wide shoulders.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:59

I never noticed.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:00

I'm thinking you have a type. I'm trying to think of other like horror films, though. What would be a lullaby for Saw? Oh my god, let's ask. That's gotta be a on the easier side, because I feel like jigsaw already, it's it's a word that's very easy to rhyme with.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:14

I mean something about playing a game.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:16

Yeah, that should be cake.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:18

Something about traps.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:20

Hey, the ticking clock, the chain soft sound, but you, my dear, are safe and sound. For in your dreams, no puzzles found, just peaceful sleep that knows no bounds. The traps are set but far away, where others solve, you rest and stay. No twisted tests, no race to win. Just close your eyes, let dreams begin.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:37

Ooh, what bars I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:41

I love it. So good.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:42

And we're gonna need to slide these into a Google Doc Map.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:46

Copy and paste there. We'll workshop it.