361: Salem's Lot (2024)

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Whatever you're into, Mac.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Oh yeah, fight harder.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Greetings and salutations, young masters, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. There is much to celebrate. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're ranking these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slash enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

This is some shit.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

And the classic horror connoisseur, Sean.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Welcome to the lot, Dillweed.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

This episode of Hacker Slash is brought to you by Adam and Eve, trusted for over 50 years to help you satisfy your dark temptations. If you're looking to explore your own desires, Adam and Eve are here to help, though theirs won't drain you dry. Stay tuned to learn how you can save 50% off one item at adamandeve.com and bring a little thrill into the night without the bite. Unless you're into that. This week we're rolling spooky season right into November with another adaptation of a Stephen King novel.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Yeah, and if you're a patron or Apple Podcast subscriber, you'll also get to hear our B side at the end of this episode where we explore some fun double feature drive-in ideas and what we would do with our own hackerslash mobile podcast van.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Back in 2019, James Wan teamed up with Gary Doberman to bring a new adaptation of a Stephen King novel to life. Doberman, who penned the script and directed the film, aimed to bring back the fear of vampires, moving away from the romanticized versions we've seen in the last couple decades, Kough Kough Twilight. After years of delays due to post-production challenges and shifting release dates, the film finally found a home on Max in 2024, making its long-awaited debut just in time for the Halloween season. And at the heart of the story, we follow an author who returns to his hometown hoping to find inspiration for his next book. What he discovers, though, is something far more terrifying. A vampire preying on the townspeople and a growing darkness that he can't escape. This week we're talking about Salem's Lot. What were you both expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Look, I saw the 2004 Roblo mini-series when it came out, but it's 2024, so I was expecting this to be pretty polished, nice special effects, just nowhere near as handsome as the 2004 version.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

I try not to think about the 2004 version too much. This is overall, it's like the second adaptation of a Stephen King novel, which is also Stephen King's second novel, so that's kind of cool. Look, I've read Stephen King's book, albeit well over 15 years ago. It's been so long since I've read Salem's Lot, so I don't remember the ins and outs of how that book really progresses. But I've also watched the original 1979 TV miniseries. I have a good idea of what to expect purely from a story aspect, but I'm hoping to see a film that does this story justice because the original in 1979 has some iconic moments, but it also had its flaws, and I want to see if this movie is gonna suffer the same fate.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Okay, that's a really interesting take because I've only read Salem's Lot, I've never seen any adaptation of Salem's Lot. In fact, the only reason I even read Salem's Lot was because this movie was reportedly being made. And back when we were trying to get the Hackerslash Book Club off the ground, sorry I failed you all, I gave it a shot, read it, read the book. A few of us tried reading the book, and then this never panned out. See, that really colored my expectations. I thought, why would this movie have such a difficult time unless it were gonna be absolute dog shit? And listen, the experience of reading Salem's lot just felt unbelievably long. And there were so many subplots to explore characters, and then they really unpacked like the small evils or like the sins of the town, and it built the world around them. Stephen King, super wordy. I love his books. Do not get me wrong. I really enjoy The Shining, really enjoyed Dr. Sleep. There's the one about the time travel and the JFK assassination. Really enjoy them. But that book in particular was a bit of a chore to get through.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

It's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

But I will say this movie felt like it was paced really well for my taste.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Well, shit. I mean, if you think about it, it has to be paced well in some regard because the book, obviously, you're saying Stephen King is wordy, and I'm actually just thinking, like, man, what that book is, like four or five hundred pages long or something like that. And I've just recently started it, and I'm like 300 pages in, and I'd be almost done with Salem's lot if I was reading that. So we want to talk about long. I still got a thousand pages to go.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

And that's the interesting thing because it's not just the physical length of the book, not exactly how many words it is, not exactly how many pages it is.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

It's the way he describes things.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Genuinely. It's how much time is spent describing the most minute things.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

It or the way he very effectively unpacks a lot of these characters and builds them up, and you get to really know and learn Salem's lot, which is great for his type of storytelling, but it just felt slow.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

Yeah. I feel you. It is the describing of everything that really gets you. I even just watch even just reading it, right? Like the first two chapters are just describing characters where they are in present day. I think four pages was just describing Eddie's medication or some shit like that. It was just insane, the details.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah. Give me the fucking ingredients in this medication. Give me the side effects. Give me the general surgeon warning.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

But aside, I mean, aside from all of that, I feel like this movie felt very atmospheric. Like it was just really pretty to look at. I loved the use of colors in this movie. One thing I will say this movie didn't feel like, to your point, Chris, was long and drawn out because I think, you know, if you watch the 1979 miniseries, it definitely had moments where it felt like nothing was happening at all. There was a lot of talking in that movie, and it just felt like it was kind of dragged out. So visually stunning, it didn't feel as long as the original adaptation, right? The book we were just talking about can feel long, but it's Stephen King. He takes that time to really develop things. He's very thorough in that way. But boy, did we end up on complete opposite ends because this movie, while paced well, I feel like also felt call me crazy, a little bit rushed.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Okay. Yeah. You're not wrong. This shit was fast.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah. I had that same thought while I'm thinking about this movie. Is this moving kind of fast? Because while watching it, maybe it's because I have memories of the miniseries that I don't remember a lot of it. I just remember it being able to take its time because obviously it had more time. But this felt a lot faster. That could be good because it keeps things condensed and very action-oriented in parts. So maybe it's not a bad thing, but it definitely felt fast.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

It absolutely did. And see, that's where I was most surprised from the experience of this movie. I mentioned a moment ago, this felt really paced well for my taste. And honestly, in a word, they you hauled. These motherfuckers you hauled, they met on the first date and fucking said, Yeah, we're gonna be together forever. Let's just wrap this shit right up. They packed in years of a relationship in the first 24 hours of meeting. And I'm not talking about the character's relationship, just the metaphor for how this movie is paced. It is breakneck speed, but not unsatisfying. But I think it's because a lot of the characters who had significant time in the book were reduced down very heavily, or a lot of them not even really mentioned, not even really uh seen on screen. Some of them you get like a subtle nod to, maybe a name drop here and there. But this movie felt like it was really focused on trimming the fat, and I think that's what stood out to me the most. The first scene felt fast. We were dropped right into a conversation where a man is being tasked to retrieve a crate, and then it goes balls to the wall in terms of just how fucking gorged it is, it builds the atmosphere, sets the scene, and then it managed to slow itself down just enough for some moments to help me feel tense and creep the fuck out.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah, I mean, it definitely was full of some really great moments where you had some creepy visuals, some tense moments. I think one of the biggest surprises for me was the end of the film, and I know we're gonna get into it multiple times as we progress through talking about this movie. So I'm not gonna get into a lot of it, but definitely one of the biggest surprises for me was the end of the film. This one is much different from the 1979 mini-series. I also thought it was surprisingly more fun to watch than I anticipated it being. I didn't think it was gonna be as fun to watch as it ended up being, even though it felt rushed as we were talking about, it did keep me interested. And I never really felt bored while watching this one. That that's the whole pacing of it, rushed but paced well. My only gripe with this film, though, is the way a certain character is handled in this one. It's pretty disappointing for me, and granted, it's much better than what we get in the 1979 version, but I just wanted a little bit more even in this one.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

It's interesting. We've talked about like how efficient this film is and kind of how fast it feels, even though it's almost two hours long. But there were parts of this, I don't know if you want to call it a true surprise. It's not really a disappointment, but it was something that caught me off guard. It feels almost family friendly for many parts of this movie. Now, there's a lot that is not family friendly, but I'm watching it thinking this kind of feels closer to those straight to Netflix horror movies where they didn't kind of be, you know, they weren't bold, right? So I think a lot of times you get straight streaming movies and they're doing crazy stuff. Netflix has gotten there now. But I think at first it wasn't always like that. It was a bit safer.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

No.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

That's kind of where this felt. It didn't feel necessarily safe, but it felt like its appeal, its audience was trying to be as mass, as large as possible.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

I would agree with that. I think there's this element of it feeling kid friendly, given the fact that we have kids very central to the story. And I think that's a fair assessment. When you think about a lot of what we've gotten in horror this year, it's a lot of fucked them kids' energy. But this one manages to do so, and I think in a way that's still safe to show your kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Which it's fine. It's not gonna scar them. I think it's gonna spook them. I think there are moments that really build the atmosphere and build the tension. But I don't think this is overwhelmingly scary for anyone.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah, there's those moments, you know, you're gonna have those spooky moments. This is gonna be more in the classic wheelhouse of terror and fright. I think that's why we're kind of getting this family-friendly vibe. Like it's more of a classic feel. It's vampires. And that's a spoiler sorry, but this story's been out since 1975, so I don't think we're really spoiling much in that. This movie builds an amazing atmosphere that really adds a lot to what the horrifying visuals that we get in this movie. It has some, I guess, classic jump scares, if you will, and some really fun, iconic moments of terror. All that being said, though, I don't think this one is gonna be too scary for anyone. Like it is that fam we keep going back to the family-friendly kind of vibe of it all, and it's yeah, it's not gonna be super scary. I don't think it's gonna keep anyone up unless it your your little kid is watching this movie potentially, because there are some of those moments that are kind of frightening to you know witness. But this is a great movie, I think, to get into the spooky spirits. You know what I mean? Whether it's Halloween or not, October or not, I feel like if you're looking for something a little bit spooky with that vibe, this is probably a cool movie to watch.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Hell yeah. Vampires aren't seasonal.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Never.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

They don't take vacation.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

No, 24-7 all the time. Yeah, I mean, it's family friendly in spots, it's definitely family unfriendly in other spots. There's moments here where I think if you were younger, you would be scared. But if you're an adult watching this film in 2024, it's not a scary movie. It's probably because we've seen all this stuff so much. We've seen a lot of the vampire tropes over and over and over again. And now we're trained to expect certain things out of it, we're trained to expect certain things out of the story, which is a bummer. If you've seen all of this, you've seen the 79, the 2004, if you've read the book, it's a bummer that you're like, I know what to expect. Maybe they change a thing here or two. If this is your first watch of it, though, and you've seen all these other vampire movies, it's a bit unfair because when this came out, it didn't have 50 years of other vampire movies that actually drew upon it. This could be seen as pretty unoriginal because it's similar to things that are similar to it or its original source material.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah, it very much gives the same essence as a couple different things. One, Halloween 2, when it came out in the early 80s, after Halloween inspired a wave of slashers, and then it got bloodier and gorier to match what the audience was looking for. But even then in Halloween H2O, for example, we had just had Scream and it had the whole meta of everything, and they're watching Scream 2 in the dorm rooms, and Kevin Williamson wrote that movie. So it's the genre wrapping itself back around into a nice and tight circle. And I get that, but here's the thing my only experience with Salem's Law is the book, and what I found different in this movie were what I think are almost necessary changes to put into a movie. Again, I've seen no other adaptation. Maybe I would like those a lot more, but there are things that they shy away from, there are things that they gloss over, things that they just outright trim, but then there are scenes that are added and told differently, completely differently, and even down to the end of this movie. So I give this movie credit because it wasn't just taking the synopsis of Salem's lot, pop it into Chat GPT and say summarize this, make it about an hour or three shorter. It actually showed intention and artistry, which I can appreciate. And I actually think I like this ending. Although maybe not as, to pull a word from Mac, bombastic, maybe not as bombastic as the novel. I think it satisfies me in a way that I would prefer.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Interesting. Mac, the way you were talking about, you know, if you haven't seen this one before, it just made me think there is gonna be a good amount of people that don't know anything about Salem's Lot that are gonna be first introduced to this version of Salem's Lot. And I guess that's kind of cool to think about. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it is interesting to see like that someone's gonna be just getting into this with this movie, and that's kind of interesting. And then if they ever do explore the book, I think their mind might be blown a little bit, but that might be a very cool thing to think about. I think it's also hard to talk about being an original film when it is a movie adaptation from Stephen King's novel, but that's exactly what it is, right? It's an adaptation because the book is much more drawn out, and this is just under two hours in comparison to even the 1979 miniseries, which is three hours long that was split across two nights, right? So I guess what I'm trying to say is you have to find a way to condense this story down into a feature film length of runtime. You have to be creative with what you choose to tell and not tell, to show and not show. And I think this movie deserves definitely some credit because I like some of the stuff they did that was different from what we've gotten in the past. Even if it still didn't fully redeem itself, it still gets credit for what it was able to try to do, try to change, did change, and still feel like a pretty good, fluid movie.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Yeah, you know, the ending is interesting because I think it is a satisfying ending. I don't remember the ending from the previous iterations whatsoever. It's a satisfying ending in a way, it has a bit of a good climax, but at the same time, it's also kind of anticlimactic. They let you down softly, I think, at the very end of this film, but up to it, there is a pretty fun buildup. It's not that it fizzles out or anything, it just kind of lets you down nice and easy.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Yeah, I think for me, although the way they ended this movie felt like a much better ending than the 1979. That's the only other one I'm gonna reference other than the book. So even though this movie ended in a better way than the 1979 version going into it, I still think it found a fucking way to feel anticlimactic at the end. It definitely still felt like that for me, and I think it was like on its way to doing something, and then I felt like it just didn't do the thing. So it almost got there, it just couldn't quite deliver what I was looking for.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Once again, we're here with a blue balls ending.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Terrible, tragic, terrible.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

I can't wait to see how this shakes out in our ratings. But for now, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_03 17:54

You know, I feel like vampires are one of the most graceful killers out there. They are really only looking to feed on you, and yes, we have seen some variation of vampires that are a little more, I don't know, messy and violent than others, but for the most part, you're just getting bit. You know what I mean? And so I think most of the gore we're getting from this movie is actually from the vampire kills themselves, not the vampire killing people or biting people, but really regular people killing vampires. And and while a lot of the effects and gore in this movie look pretty good, it's a blood clotting low gore score, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I don't even recall seeing an animal in this film, let alone seeing one of them get damaged.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Salem's lot from 2024. Was it a hack or a slash? And I'll kick us off just to keep it brief. Listen, if you're a fan of the book, but you deeply love how rich it is, I think you'll be disappointed in this. Or at least there will be ample opportunity to be disappointed. I wasn't deeply invested into the book. So this adaptation in particular scratches an itch for me, and it feels like a great way to hook me and get me invested in Salem's lot and show me how fantastic it could be. It almost makes me want to reread the book or at least check out the other adaptations now that I've got a good feel for what the story is. It's an abbreviated adventure that feels fun. And that's the most exciting thing about it. Because again, that book was a bit of a labor and a chord for me to get through. The characters in this, I don't even feel they're the same characters with some minor tweaks, they feel really easy to fall in love with. So again, now I want to go back and reread the book with these people in mind. For me, it's hands down a very easy, very vampiric immortal slash.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Ooh. I think you can actually enjoy the book and enjoy the movie. I can see your point of, you know, if you really loved the book, you could be disappointed by this movie, but I think you can do both, right? I think you can enjoy the book and enjoy this film because I think you also have to realize that the novel could never be like a film. Like you have to do something different to make that work. So I don't know. Call me crazy, but I think you both could work in a perfect world. But when it comes down to it, this movie was just a fun movie to watch, I feel like. It has its flaws, but it was surprisingly fun and it was surprisingly entertaining. And sure, this is a beat-for-beat remake of the 1979 miniseries in terms of story, but they couldn't be more different in execution. And it's not even to say that the execution of this film was perfect because some of it worked and some of it didn't, but the pacing definitely felt better than the miniseries. And that's the weird thing about this movie because this movie felt both rushed and better paced at the same time. And I know that sounds strange, but I assure you it is, but it's also it's kind of true. And I think the actors did about as good as they could have given the writing of their characters and what they had to work with. You know what I mean? The atmosphere that Gary Doberman was able to uh create in this movie was absolutely stunning. Like the atmosphere he was able to create in this movie was fantastic. Some of the use of colors and shadows and lighting in this movie was absolutely beautiful to look at. Some of the shots that we get, the cinematography, super good as well. This movie captures this essence of Americana that I feel like only Stephen King can really give you. And I'm so glad that we got some ugly, scary fucking vampires in rotation to break up the usual handsome or pretty vampire. Like I feel like we get so much of the stunning, cunning, nice looking vampires until they're ready to prey on you. And I'm here for like getting some nasty looking fucking vampires, and I think that's really cool. And you know what they say? We take people at their word here in the lot. And the word is this one's a slash.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Did they dazzle you, Jean?

SPEAKER_03 22:00

They dazzled me.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

I love Stephen King adaptations. They're really tricky. Honestly, any novel adaptation is going to be tricky. Not every author is going to be Michael Crichton, who writes in a cinematic sense and writes for their books to be turned into movies. I don't know whether or not it was deliberate. That's just how the guy wrote. Stephen King, though, he writes novels to tell stories. And the man is an excellent storyteller. So you have to think about the movie in terms of is it telling a good story? It might not be the exact same story that Stephen King told originally. You're not going to have the time for all of the details and that level of dense storytelling. So it told a good story, this film. It was a fun watch. It was a ride. It felt fast, but it's almost two hours long. So they did pack a lot in somehow. I think there was a lot to love here, whether you're my age or a teenager going to see this at a friend's house or something. I think this is just something that has a lot of appeal to a lot of different people, and it's an enjoyable watch. It's vampires. What gets better than vampires infesting your town? Nothing does, right? At this the spookiest time of year, this is what you need in your life. And so I think overall, it's just a good old-fashioned slash.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

And with that, Salem's Law from 2024, long troubled with its production, and finally on Max has earned a universal slash. But there's a lot more to discuss when we get back from our break. If you've already seen this before, please join the conversation. There's a link to it for free in our Discord server and let us know what you thought about it. Now, when we return from our break, we're gonna dive deep into the spoiler zone territory and even unpack some of these differences between the annotation and the book. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

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SPEAKER_01 24:51

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Salem's lot from 2024, which has earned a universal slash. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Well, this town went to shit really quickly because we have a total of 54 kills in this movie. Now, granted, we get to double down on some of these because some of these characters were killed and then turned and then killed again. So we do get to double down, but that's the way of the vampire, I suppose, right? All that aside, I gotta know which one of these bloodsucking kills were your favorites?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

The double, like two vampires, one stake was the coolest one.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

Yeah, the double stake.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

That was a great kill. That's just immediate ingenuity.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Not the co go, the kill one, get one.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

The kill one get one free. It did feel like a walking dead moment. Do you know what I mean? Yes. It kind of felt like something that we would have got from Rick Grimes or something like that. But I loved that kill too. That was really good.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

There's so many good ones here. I want to go with Father Callahan.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Because obviously this is different. He does not have this exact fate in the book. I think the novel implies that he maybe drank himself to death, had a lot of remorse. I think some of the other adaptations from my understanding has him like confront things and maybe he dies later in like the Dark Tower or something like that. But for this confrontation, for his faith to be wavering, and then for the cross to just stop working, was so fucking badass. And I love that. It reminded me again of what we even saw in Exorcist Believer, where usually the priest is here to save the day. You think they're gonna be the high and mighty one, and even a man of God cannot save you from once to come. And I think that is a really great move. But it was specifically Barlow's quote, sad to see a man's faith fail. Gave me chills in a good way.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

Definitely. It makes me wonder though, I want to get your opinion, everyone's opinion on this really. Do we like the glowing cross or not?

SPEAKER_02 26:56

I enjoyed it. It was giving me like glow stick fun times, yeah, kind of vibes.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

I'm torn because it looks cool, right? But also it's kind of gimmicky that it's just the power of belief.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

It's gimmicky, and here I'm with you. It looks cool. I like it because it looks cool. I think that's what we're all enjoying it for, is just because it kind of looks cool with the movie. But is it also just kind of like beating us on the nose with this thing? It's like we understand what the cross does at this point, you know?

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Yeah, it's like, okay, you're hot, but can I have a conversation with you? You know what I mean? It's giving that kind of energy.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

What do we have in common? Can we build a future together? Do we have a strong foundation together? It's giving no, it's giving you're just a glow stick.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Yeah. I will say we gotta talk about Ralphie's kill because even though we don't get to see it necessarily, right? It's just the way that it was drawn out. It's how he was only able to see out of that one little patch in the sack that he was abducted in, and you get the little glimpses of Barlow gliding down the staircase, super creepy, right? It's not the first time you see Barlow in this movie, but it's one of the intros to where we get a little bit more of a prominent visual, and I just think, man, it was just a cool progression, I guess, scene-wise and kill-wise, because even though you don't see it, you know it's happening, but everything that played out was just super cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Yeah, I have so much to say about this scene. It was actually one of my favorite scenes, so fuck it. I'll pick a backup scene and let's talk about this because this is a genre where you typically see from the killer's POV, or maybe in some moments you get the victim's POV. But this is straight up the victim's POV.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

This is more POV than the killer in a violent nature, in terms of like what you truly see. That was more like third person feels like you're playing a video game. You're literally Ralphie in a bag looking at a small hole, and you're limited.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

And it was so emotionally jarring. And I just gotta say, this also hits a personal level because these are two little boys who have the same name as my brothers. Wow. Oh shit. My brothers are Ralphie and Danny. Yeah, and it reminds me of the way the The Strangers hits extra personal because of the two characters in that name, and my first boyfriend's name was James, and it looked like the house we grew up in Texas, and it was just a whole fucking thing, right? When horror makes it a little personal, even unintentionally, it just hits different.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

So true.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

So in this, it was so hard to see Ralphie getting kidnapped, yeah. And for him to be screaming, begging for help. And also, Straker was fucking creepy. He had the big bad man offering these kids a ride, they're smart enough to say fuck that. But they go through the woods, and the shot of him getting kidnapped, horrifying.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

It's great, it's horrifying, but what a moment that was, though, visually.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

It was such a moment, it was reminiscent of Dracula, it was reminiscent of Suspiria, it was reminiscent of Pet Cemetery for a very specific reason with the woods. There's just so much in here. But to see again, that the POV of a helpless victim gut-wrenching, almost as gut-wrenching as the sound design and the bones crunching, the flesh squelching, the blood splattering on Straker's face. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

Super good. Super good. The blood splatter was such a nice touch because you're if you're not gonna get the full frontal kill, that was like a perfect amount of just validation. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Absolutely. And again, it's on the end of the year list for fuck them kids because Ralphie got got. It's terrible. Also, in the book, though, he doesn't even become a vampire, like he's sacrificed.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

He just no, he's dead.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah, the implication that he's a sacrifice at the cemetery, so you don't see or know definitively, like you know, okay, he sacrificed, he's just dead.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

But this makes you really confront that.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Right. It's definitely super heavy for sure. That also leads us into Danny's kill because Danny's kill was also a good one, and also you know, an interesting drawn-out kill, I guess, if you want to call it that, just the way that his fate kind of progressed, right? And we get the spooky atmosphere of how Danny was lured outside of the house. That alone, such a cool moment, swooped up and you know, presumably bitten by Barlow, obviously, because then getting admitted into the hospital, only to die by drinking his own blood from his own transfusion. Wild, wild.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

You saying bitten by Barlow really sent me down a rabbit hole of Barlow's bites, tapas with Barlows, and now I'm just thinking Barlow's needs a small bite, small plates, little fucking the ultimate fucking kids, Barlow's fucking toppas, and it's just kids, it's just literally kids.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Wow. But yeah, the density of that fog when he's lured out, when he's manipulated to come out with that harmonica, he's just looking for his brother. He's scared, it's terrifying. And then when he gets got by getting grabbed from the top of the frame and lifted vertically, fuck. He looked mad fucking goofy all the rest of the movie. I just gotta say it.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Yes. When he's a vampire.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Yeah, fucking terrible looking.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

I feel you on that.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

He does already kind of have some of the creepiness because having watched the boys, I just see his character from the boys and in this depiction of a little vampire kid.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Oh god. This is one of those moments where I feel like the 1979 miniseries, Danny looked better than the Danny we got in this version, just because it felt like more of a classic vampire type of vibe in that one than it did in this one. I'm trying to remember and visualize the scenes because they recreate some of those scenes with Danny, and I think definitely looked better in the older version. But all this to say, I'm not gonna move on without talking about vampire Barlow's kill. Even though they had a much better setup for the ending with this whole showdown at the drive-in, and we have all like the vamps sleeping in the trunks of the cars during the day, which I think was kind of a fun and cool touch. I I don't mind that. I think that's kind of cool. But I hated, I absolutely hated that Barlow was sleeping in the back of some van in this drive-in. I wasn't about that, and I don't know, his kill, even though better than the 1979 version, like his kill is still a little lackluster for me. I want an OG vampire to put up more of a fight. Like, I want to see more of a fight from this OG vampire. The miniseries, super anticlimactic because they literally just stumble on over to his coffin, open it up. There he is, he's not fighting. Boom, staked and dead. Super anticlimatic, very, very much like Dracula, but Dracula, 1931, different vibe, different time. I also don't think that was a perfect ending to that. I do think that Dracula, no matter what, should put up more of a fight. There was more of a fight, but not enough of a fight. And I do think it does not do it justice, and I want to see something better.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah, we want 2024 quality at 1931 prices, but you can't use 1931 tactics in 2024 films.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

You just can't.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

I get that. I don't respect it. Mac, I'd love to hear what you have to say about this scene, but I I want to circle back to this when you're done because this was my fucking backup favorite scene, and that's fine, but we have a lot to unpack here.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Okay, good. Because that's that's extensive, I feel like, because the kill itself, it is over so fast. It feels like he deserves better. But I'm I'm sitting here just nodding while we're talking about Dracula because I feel like no nobody knows how to make the last head vampire kill climactic enough. Nobody's really figured it out because you have to put everyone at danger to make it seem worth it. But when you kill off everybody before the last scene, there's no one left in danger, so it's really not a big deal anymore. So you know what's gonna happen. What did you figure out?

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Oh breaking Dawn figured it out. Breaking Dawn had the whole fucking theater, and this is part two I'm talking about, had the whole theater clutching their pearls because you got multiple head vampires who got fucked up in that movie. That shit was great. Honestly, say what you fucking will about Twilight, Breaking Dawn part two, and the fight against the Volturi with the witnesses. That is cool and the fucking Cullen clans and their friends and the werewolves. That was some great cinematic shit.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

I give it to them. That was definitely really fantastic, definitely fun.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Not wedding red wedding, very specific Game of Thrones scene. It's a shocking scene, we'll say that. And it catches you off guard. It sounds like that scene did too. I don't know that this kill really caught me off guard, but I do think you're right in that there's a lot before it that is fun, you know, a fun time.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

There is so much in here that leads up to this kill and is really fun. But when I think about how great a lot of the scenes are in this movie, it really takes me back to the drive-in in both parts, right? When we're first introduced to the drive-in, so when we get all hell breaking loose at the drive-in later, I do have a criticism first, and that is obviously Susan says in the beginning of the film, you can find the whole town here. And we get it, Salem's lot is a very small town, but I feel like they want us to feel like it's bigger than it actually is. Like there should be more people. And it feels underwhelming in the amount of characters or the amount of vampires we have. It's a lot. Yes, it's a lot, and it's lethal, it's intimidating for sure. But I do feel like they missed having a few extra actors at this point. At this point, if you're gonna be extras and you're not getting smashed by a fucking drive-in screen, you could have afforded to bring a few more people in.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Yeah, I mean, with a population of like over 2,000, you know what I mean? Where are these people at?

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Where's the actual whole town? But this is what I appreciate about this scene. You go back to the beginning, she says you can find the whole town here, and it's a bookend. She's planting the seed, we see it come back later in the film. And you're looking at the kids hiding in a trunk to get into the drive-in, she calls it a rite of passage. And all these newly turned vampires are now hiding in their trunks at the drive-in. And I think it's really poetic. I really love that. I honestly love the transition from the finale being here as opposed to the boarding house in the book.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

100%.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

I feel like it's way more exciting. I also love that the ending of this movie has us in this point of okay, Ben and Mark are fucking drenched in holy water, they kill Barlow, they escape, but then they fucking just disappear for a year before coming back to set a fucking fire. I like having some more finality here. Yeah. So again, there's so much going on in this, even down to how warm and fucking beautiful the drive-in looks. I love the retro, like 70s aesthetic and the vintage of it. But the drive-in is such a satisfying part of the movie for me overall. Barlow be damned.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

There's a lot going on. It's probably a collection of scenes that make it a kind of a good climax for the film because the doctor getting taken out really did catch me off guard. Oh, yeah. That was such a good shot.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

I hated that actually. It was the worst part of the movie for me.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

It felt like it was in such poor taste.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

It's not fun for the character that we actually enjoy, but it's good because at this point you know the circle's small and you don't think it's probably going to get much smaller anytime soon. And that's exactly when they hit you with it.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yeah, I mean, if I recall correctly, in the book, Dr. Cody dies because he doesn't know about the stairs not being there in the cellar, right? Falls and then falls into some spikes.

SPEAKER_03 39:11

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

So it does still deliver that same feeling, but man, it was not the move for me for her to be so close to victory and then have her life again cut short by being shot by this fucking old woman. Nah. Poor taste. Yeah. At least a bad taste in my mouth.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

It fucking sucks.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

That particular moment felt so disjointed from the rest of the movie. Yeah. And I get it, it's shocking for sure. I almost would have preferred that she go out by vampire.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yes, yeah. And I think that could have happened as well, you know, have her walk through a shadow or something. I don't know. I didn't have to be a character that we've seen for a total of three and a half seconds. I think the shotgun just made it quick, which is what they needed. Because you need the stakes to be really high at this point.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Definitely. My favorite part of this movie really is anything and everything that went into making this movie look as good as it fucking does, because there's so much that played into it that really takes you into a lot of these fantastic scenes that we get. Like the cinematography is great, the lighting is perfect, the fucking use of colors makes it visually captivating, right? And I know I said it before, but I think that this fucking movie deserves a house at Halloween Horror Nights next year. I want to wheel this into existence because it's just got the perfect vibes for it.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

It absolutely does. The color grading is fantastic. I'm even thinking in the beginning when these men open the cellar door and it shifts from a black frame to the teal and blue of night. And then it slowly you have that red light pouring in from the taillights.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

So good.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

And that red light just like is a fucking beacon of danger. And it's just like a glaring red flag, a glaring warning sign. And it also then just feels like the red stain in terms of lighting, the same red stain that we just had moments ago, the blood stains on the map. Yeah. Around Salem's Law in the opening credits. This movie is beautiful. It had no business being as beautiful as it is.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

Yeah, it was absolutely fantastic. And it plays into it really plays into a lot of the visuals that we get, right? Even something could be said to what you're talking about towards the end with the whole showdown at the drive-in and the plays off of the shadow creeping up as the sun is starting to set and things like that. But I also think of just that graveyard scene where Mike is starting to bury little Danny and he hears a banging from the coffin, right? He's screaming in the coffin, he's tripping out. It's nighttime, it's creepy. And of course, what does this fucking genius do? He goes and checks that shit out, finds his lifeless body in there, goes about his business, starts to bury it again, only to fucking find that now the coffin's open and empty, and then he gets attacked by this fucking little devil, and just the whole vibe of that graveyard scene was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

This little bastard.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

This fucking little bastard.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

That brings me to his eyes later in the movie. The glowing eyes. There's a lot of glowing in this film. That I thoroughly enjoyed. Moments at the beginning of the film that were in darkness, and I'm curious, am I gonna be able to watch this and actually make out any detail? Because I feel like every movie today, every TV show, if you're in the dark, or if you're in a dark area, they don't believe in any sort of lighting, any sort of like definition to stuff. And so I got worried for a minute, but we make our way through with glowing eyes, glowing crosses, random bits of nice bright red light. I think even when the boys are looking at the figurines and stuff, there's some kind of lighting involved in there somewhere that looks really good. And so I don't know if it's just the lighting or the fact that they were able to contrast these really bright, powerful lights and colors to the absolute darkness of the night. But that combination was gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Oh my gosh. Can we talk about one of the best scenes in the movie? It's Mark and Matt in the cellar. Mark is jumping in there, he's a badass, but we have a beautiful sequence where Mark is at the top near the door. So at this point, we have discovered that there are no stairs there. Probably spikes that we never really get to see us. I think that's a nice little fun touch. But Mark is up by the door, and then he hits the lights, but Barlow's already behind Matt.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Destroys the light, goes through the chomp, and then Straker fucking swings the door open, and you have that light flowing into the space again. Gorgeous. This movie is honestly one of the prettiest movies of the year.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Oh, definitely. I would agree with that as well. I think we were getting a little bit of Bohemian rhapsody from our lead vampire for a minute, where it's like dark and you get the little silhouette with the light and everything, but it's still a fun moment. When that door opened up. Though and the hand reached down. I was actually not expecting that to happen. I thought the kid's gonna run out of there, he's gonna climb out, he's gonna do something, and then was like, oh no, you're still in danger. That was a nice little touch right there.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Yeah. You've got a lot of really great stuff happening here. One of my favorite parts also was the whole situation where Matt turns around and startled to see Vampire Mike right there and how he uses the glowing cross. And it's almost like this whole conjuring type of thing, you know what I mean? Where you're just getting shot back by this fucking cross, and the way that Mike is being pushed back and almost like having to drift backwards away from the cross. Just the movements of all of that really cool to watch.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

I did enjoy the dynamics here. There's something about this mechanic with a glowing cross and the vampires are like physically flung and then uninviting and they're flung out the door. It's just like a good time. You don't have to think of spicy new things to make vampires interesting. That the same rules can be really fun when you do it in a really cool graphic way.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

I have two things that I thought of when we had all these glowing crosses. First, there can be miracles when you believe that song. Was it The Prince of Egypt?

SPEAKER_02 45:14

That's right. Love that movie.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

The second thing I thought when these people were out here literally taping popsicle sticks together to make a cross was wow, the power of imagination.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

What a great example of the power of imagination. If you just believe it, if you just will it, almost it's almost giving is it Harold in the Purple Crayon? Like somebody's just drawing a crucifix to use. I love that for them.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

But also another great scene with Marjorie rises and Dr. Cody has become such a lovable character. But for her to just straight up say, Oh, this is some shit. I loved her fucking reactions to everything.

SPEAKER_03 45:58

Yeah. There was a lot of really great moments. I think uh a quick moment that I think might have, you know, slipped past you, but I thought was really great was there was a moment where we see this body laying under the sheets. Probably it looks like the coroner's office or wherever we were, and the body just slowly starts to sit up from the sheets, and then there at one point it like lunges, right? That was like one of the creepier moments. These are like the shots that I feel like we can recreate at a haunt. You know what I mean? Like you can go into this room and see you know something like this happen, right? And and it would just be such a great time.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Yeah, when again, when Marjorie rises from beneath that sheet, and then we get a vampire's face through that white sheet, right, right chomping at Dr. Cody, it was so fucking great.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

Yeah, it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

I'll mention a couple scenes, but I I did enjoy kind of the comedy we get when Mark is trying to convince his parents that vampires are going to attack, and then like each one of them gets got in his house for not believing him and a priest, you know. To me, that was a little bit funny because Mark's reaction, like he's not like screaming bloody murder and running immediately. He's like sitting there, like, come on, guys, I tried to tell you. He, as a character, I think, was a surprise for me, like caught me off guard. And so when we get the scene with him and the Glick Boys, yeah, like looking at his stuff and describing how he's fearless, it was like giving me it energy with the kids and you know, just a band of definitely whether or not they're fearless in some cases, but I I love the the fact that like he just like gives no Fs this entire movie and it's just here to get the job done.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

I liked Mark so much more in this movie than I liked him in the book.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Like I think I really just needed to see Mark have a face.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

I needed to believe in Mark, and I feel like it for some reason, and I don't know why, but I feel like for some reason Mark just didn't click for me when I was reading the book. I was more invested in Ben. I was more invested in Susan, and as sad as her fate was in the book, and it's still sad in the movie.

SPEAKER_03 48:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

But Mark was such a shining star for me. I fucking love that kid. Protect him at all costs. Him and Eddie from it.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

Yes. Yeah, yeah. They did a great job with Mark for sure, and I think everyone's rooting for Mark. I'm glad they were able to do that for Mark because the one thing I will say is most of these characters just aren't written well for the movie. And we know Doberman can write characters well. We've seen that in it, chapter one, right? Like, we've seen these characters come to life, but in this case, they don't evolve, they don't learn anything really. Most of these characters feel super bland. To put an example, like, there was no chemistry between Ben and Susan as characters with a love interest. He just kind of shows up to this town and she's immediately like wants to drain him, pun intended. All of a sudden, she's just all over this guy, and it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't, I'm not buying it.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Yeah, when I said that I was falling in love with these characters, I loved the take on Susan, but not in the context of her and Ben. I love Dr. Cody and I loved Mark. And I even enjoyed Father Callahan. I thought that was fun, but I did not give a fuck about Ben in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 49:24

Yeah, agreed. And this is why they should have just brought Rob Lowe back. Just let's let's try it again, Rob Lowe. One more time. The man is a specimen, and could you know they could say, sure, he's 40. We'd believe it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Yeah, he looks great. He's in 911 Lone Star looking like a snack.

SPEAKER_03 49:42

Yeah, he's doing fine. Definitely. Subtle character, I guess you could say, but Larry fucking Crockett, because this dude was a creep. The dude at that Susan was working for, right? The the whole I have trained her to make it just right of it all was fucking super off-putting.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

A son of a bitch. Again, a character who I think had a, from what I remember, a bigger role in the book than he did in the movie. So glad they fucking took him down.

SPEAKER_03 50:07

Thank God he didn't have a bigger role in this movie because he was a fucking douche and a creep.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

I thought that was gonna go somewhere interesting because I mean my memory of this material is very limited. So, oh man, what's gonna happen with this dude? Because something horrible has to happen to this dude the way that he is speaking right now.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

I feel like I needed to see him have a terrible vampire fate, and I don't remember seeing him die as a vampire. Now I gotta watch it again.

SPEAKER_02 50:29

Did he even get turned? Did he get turned to vampire food first? You know, he didn't get to become a cool vampire.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Yeah, I don't remember that either.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

I assume that's why the town is so small now, is because some they had to eat something.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

They should have ate Anne, because fuck Anne. I could not stand her. She was not this important in the book from what I remember. I remember that she's like sided with Barlow, and but I think I recall her getting killed off differently.

SPEAKER_03 50:53

She's like the new familiar now, you know?

SPEAKER_01 50:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:56

That's what's happening here. Terrible.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

Of course.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

And the audacity that she had to trap her own daughter. You know what I mean? Like, can we just talk about that for a second? The audacity for her to fucking trap her own daughter into getting got by these vampires is kind of fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

She's no Giromo.

SPEAKER_03 51:16

Yeah. Terrible. Okay, so what do we think about Vampire Barlow in this movie? I think he looked pretty good. It was, you know, albeit CGI, but CGI slick, if you know what I mean. I think he looked pretty good. And I love the Nasferatu kind of vibe that Vampire Barlow has. And he has it in the 1979 version as well. Iconic look, but I love that they went that route.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

I did enjoy it a lot. I thought he looked great. I also thought he sounded great.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

He sounded menacing. He felt like, okay, I'm a big bad bitch.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

The iconic, it's just a pure nightmare fuel kind of look, you know what I mean? It's just like a really great vicious vampire look.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Better than 30 days a night.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

It definitely felt more grounded than a lot of voices and makeup that you get where people try to make these creatures look scarier than they can achieve. A lot of voices used to sound like people were whispering back in the day when they're trying to do like a deep, scary voice. It came off like cartoonish. And we didn't get that here. We got a voice with some depth. When you see them on screen, it doesn't feel like alien. And so it feels kind of like a thing you could see if vampires existed. It made it feel like the Nosferatu style vampire were realistic and not just the old buffy arched eyebrow thing. You know, that we associate with vampires exist, but they would look like that. Now I think this made the whole ghostly Nosferatu gross thing more tangible, which I really enjoyed, even though the colors are bright and we're getting a glowing kind of effect. And I don't know. When I saw the fangs though, the fangs I think really sold me on it because we didn't get the silly, simple two-fang, I'm gonna give you a little love bite, and then uh that's I'm gonna train you. It's gonna be cutesy. No, we got like, I'm gonna rip your throat out, and that was cool.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yeah. You know, now that you mention the two fang love bite, I realized, especially looking at all of these people, the fang prints looked too close together based on where the fangs are in the bite. Maybe I need to re-watch it. I'll give it a closer eye the next time I see it. But I remember thinking and it standing out to me that those teeth were way too close together. Granted, I think we see it on Mike and he was bit by a child, so that could be it. But it just felt off.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

The glove doesn't fit, you know?

SPEAKER_01 53:42

You must acquit that child who's already dead.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Oh my. I I would prefer to see bites that wasn't just like two teeth, because then you don't have to do the like mental gymnastics in order for it to make sense. Right. Give me like several teeth. Yeah because you know, he's got a bunch of sharp teeth. He does, why not? Maybe like three and like a partial.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Whatever you're into, Mac.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Oh yeah, bite harder. Give me like an actual, you know, mouthprint like you would get from like a dog biting. Dang.

SPEAKER_03 54:11

Well, speaking of this dude, I will say, worst part of the movie for me, it's carried from the 1979 adaptation and remains to be the death of Barlow. I said it earlier, I'm gonna keep it here. We almost redeemed ourselves in this one. It was definitely better. You know what I mean? It's definitely better than what we've had in the past, but we didn't quite get there, in my opinion. I needed a little bit more fight. It was cool, you know what I mean? The visuals were cool, but I needed just a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Yeah, I 100% get that. I stand by the worst part of this movie being Dr. Cody's death for me. However, a more light-hearted worst part, and it's not really the worst part because it makes sense. Obviously, in the 70s, maybe they don't have these straps. These two men moving that crate, they're not using any reasonable tools. They're just using sheer gumption, sheer manpower, literally and figuratively. But if two scrawny kids could use one of these newfangled moving straps and lift incredible weight, this duo has zero excuse. Again, okay, they do have an excuse fucking 1975, these things don't exist yet, probably. But that made me think, fuck man, bless all these people who set out to be movers before these uh technologies existed.

SPEAKER_02 55:28

It's funny to me that that caught you. You know, I didn't think about that at all. I was just like, they're just carrying it because they don't have dollies, apparently. I think when we're breaking down some worse parts of this film, it really comes down to annoyances for me. And there's not many, but there's gonna be something that's gonna annoy each one of us, and it it's probably gonna be different. I think little Susie's dating situation with her mom trying to force her into this or that at the beginning was so cheesy and so hallmark channel, and it didn't even matter in the end anyway. They could have, if you're making an efficient film, just get rid of it because it was silly.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Well, you know, it shows that Anne's got her claws in deep into Susie and she's not gonna let her go.

SPEAKER_02 56:13

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

She'd rather Susan die and be immortal than date Ben.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Oh my.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

She'd rather Susan die than have any agency in her life.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

Now that is accurate there, but yeah, I just I don't know. The they're talking about it and he's overhearing, and she's like, Oh, let me push this over. And then I was like, Okay, what are we watching right now? Because none of this is appealing to me.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'll tell you what though, none of that's gonna stop me from watching this shit again. This movie for being as short as it is, and it's really not all that short, but it feels fast. I feel like this is an easy rewatch, and now I feel like I have a nice little list of things to go back to and re-examine when I see it again.

SPEAKER_03 56:53

Yeah, for sure. You're right. It is a fast watch, but it's not a short movie. It's just under two hours, so it's definitely a good length of time, but it's paced well. You know what I mean? So it is good.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

We're here for a good time, not a long time.

SPEAKER_03 57:09

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know what? I think this movie has plenty of things going for it to really justify a rewatch. I think it's a perfect choice for the spooky season, or really anytime you want to get some spooky atmosphere in your life. I've already watched this movie twice in the last month, so I'll probably give it some time, but rest assured I will be revisiting this one.

SPEAKER_02 57:33

It's an easy rewatch for sure. I think this would be fun to watch if you haven't read the novel and then you want to watch a movie. This would be fun. I have not read it yet. I failed during our book club challenge. So maybe one of these days I'll do that and then kind of see how it compares and see which parts are better in each property.

SPEAKER_01 57:53

Well, I think, Mac, that is a brilliant idea. I can't wait for your thoughts when you finally get around to that. But for now, there you have it, folks. Salem's lot from 2024, now streaming on Max, has earned a Universal Slash. While we've certainly had a robust discussion here, the conversation about this movie doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_03 58:11

If you want to find out how you can go further than this episode, consider supporting the show by subscribing through Apple Podcasts or visiting patreon.com/slash hackerslash, where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B-sides, movie nominations, and live shows.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

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