405: Weapons (2025)

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I can't even say the word peculiarity.

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Peculiarity.

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That word. English is hard.

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Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Just a touch of consumption. 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.

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Total joke. A waste of time.

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Or a slash.

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Totally killer. Unintended.

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We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're ready these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of here we fancy most. My name is Chris. I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the super flight space guy Mac.

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I can make them eat each other if I want to.

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The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

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I know there is nothing I can say to make this better.

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And the paranormal paramour, Binks. Honey, look at what they did to our yard. This week we're back in theaters to check out another new release.

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And if you support the show, you'll also get to hear our B side at the end of this episode where we talk about the hilarious way this movie fits in the recent theme of horror lately.

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Nearly three years ago, we reviewed Zack Krager's breakout film Barbarian. And while that film divided our team, Krager is now back with a larger budget and ensemble cast. And he's made what some are calling one of the best films of 2025. In fact, early estimates have it on pace for a more than $40 million opening weekend. And that's actually more of the total. That's actually more than Barbarian earned across its entire domestic run. The story follows the aftermath of a single night when all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanished at exactly the same time, leaving a community grasping for answers about what or who could be responsible. This week we're talking about weapons. What were we all expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Well, everyone knows that I was not the biggest fan of Barbarian. I think that's been thrown around out there, right? Like I think that movie, for me, it fell apart in the third act. I think it overall felt like a bunch of different people wrote that screenplay. So I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this one. Part of me was expecting to not really like this movie just based on how Barbarian went, but the other half was looking at that 96 Rotten Tomato score and seeing all the hype and expecting this one to be pretty good. So I was torn. I don't know. The trailer was wild, so I really didn't know what to expect.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

And quite the opposite. I think everyone knows that I really like maybe like love barbarian. So I don't know that's such an unpopular opinion, but I was really looking forward to this one. I was hoping that it would be way more terrifying, like something more sinister, right? Then Barbarian. I expected just a little bit of humorous dialogue, kind of like an Osgood Perkins type of situation, like what he did with long legs. I honestly went into this pretty blindly. I feel like the trailer purposely leaves a lot of things to the unknown and keeps it pretty ominous for a good reason, I would say. So I was really looking forward to what the curiosity and what was going to unfold, because with Barbarian, as you mentioned, like it's just what is going to happen next. Everything is just thrown out there, like on the wall. Nothing makes sense. I understand. I get it. It's with reason that a lot of people maybe don't like it. But with weapons, I was hoping that it would be a little bit more cohesive, yet still have that touch of surprise. And I also was really looking forward to the theater response because I saw Barbarian in theaters, and one of the reasons I loved it so much was also because the theater experience was like a community. Everybody was shocked when you never expected what was going to happen, right? Or a plot twist unveiled itself. So I was really looking forward to that as well. I went with my brother, who also loves barbarian, so it was like a nice little sibling bonding moment of like, we're going to go on this ride together and share it with everybody else in the theater.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Gosh. It's interesting that you mention a couple of those movies. Obviously, Barbarian makes sense, but like Long Legs comes to mind for sure. I expected this to be not quite as weird as Long Legs, but like heading towards there, not quite as gross as Barbarian, but definitely capable. The trailer, like you said, doesn't really give you a lot to work with, thankfully. Gosh, thankfully. But there's like the sense of mystery when you watch it of like, okay, like something unknown is happening. Something's got to be supernatural, at least, just from watching the trailer. But you don't get much more than that. And I think that's the right way to go into this. Because I mean, after having seen it, I've had people ask, like, what did you think? And I'll tell them what I think in terms of like one or two words. That's it. And they're like, okay, cool. Either they say, Don't tell me much more than that, like, please don't tell me anything else, or they'll say something like, but like, compare it to this or that. And I'm like, no, like that's literally all you're getting is this one or two-word answer because it would really ruin it to share more. And I know that as the trailers keep coming out for the next, you know, what, couple weeks, they're gonna show more and more each time. And I hope that they don't. I hope they keep it limited to whatever's already been shown because it is that type of experience that you don't want to have too much to go on going into it.

SPEAKER_07 5:22

Yeah, this is actually one of those where I wasn't mad at the amount that the first trailer gave us. In fact, I think if you've only seen the first trailer, you can go a pretty short amount of time into this movie before you feel like, okay, I feel like I've seen everything that was marketed about this movie, unless you're paying attention to a lot of other articles, a lot of stills, and maybe some of the more extended trailers that we get later on. Going into this, I actually didn't have a ton of expectations, but I was nervous. I was nervous that it wouldn't be great, and I was apprehensive because it was getting so much hype. Sean, you mentioned it has an incredible Rotten Tomatoes score, and it just made me think like, ooh, is it because it's so early? And I say this because I had that experience with Barbarian, where I remember watching that movie with Paris in theaters. We were both in it until we suddenly weren't in it. And then Barbarian had to grow on me later after watching it another time. So I guess in a way, I expected this movie to be that kind of experience again. I expected it to be really good and then suddenly bad. But I will say this I was captivated. This movie like had me absolutely locked in, and that was such a relief. This was a a and not by like any means like a big crowd in my theater. It was myself, Allie, her son. We had maybe like a full row to our left, a couple people scattered across the rows to our front, but we can hear all the reactions from them. And while I was laughing hysterically, or a little tense or a little somber in some moments, I could hear their reactions too. I can only imagine what this experience would have been like with an absolutely packed theater.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I had a fairly packed theater. Like there was a couple open seats, you could have got a ticket, but like 80% of the seats were full. And there was a lot being said while we're watching this because you are taken on a ride, but it's not just a ride where things are fueled by anxiety or things are just fueled by a sense of overwhelming dread all the time. It's just there's this character work that's being done that kept me hooked all on its own. Like the drama of it had me in it. And then those horror elements that are added in, they're balanced and they're not detracting from the story. And the story's not detracting from the horror. It there's just like this sense of cohesion that's pulling you through this film where sometimes you like to linger, but at the same time, you're feeling like, I can't wait to see what happens next here and where this is all going.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

Yeah, absolutely. And for me, I think I'm I gotta reiterate like the theater experience is so important because if you're going to the ride theater, obviously, because sometimes you go to one and it's like kids lollygagging and ruining the vibe, right? But the theater experience I believe to be important because it's like a euphoric moment between strangers where you're all on a ride and you don't know where you're going, and it's you like you bond or something. Because with something like this, I felt like I had an idea of maybe where it could go, and then I was surprised. But this time I would say, and I would definitely argue, at least this time around, it made more sense than Barbarian. And that's coming from a fan, right? I feel like there was actual like a bit more rhyme and reason to the ride that we were on. And actually, another aspect to this that my brother and I definitely agreed on is although entertaining and kept us curious and wanting to know more, the first 30 to 45 minutes are a little bit in slow and pace and actually just like build up a story. Whereas in Barbarian, if you haven't seen it, or if you have, maybe you would agree that you kind of like dive right into the tension. You dive right into some like creepiness and the vibe is and tone is set. In weapons, it felt like, wait, am I watching a horror film? Because this just kind of feels like a little bit of a drama or a thriller, you know, a la prisoners, we could say, right? So I was a little confused at first. So I couldn't help but feel like, when does this get scary? And I think that ultimately I landed on the idea that there's a lot of hype around this film being absolutely terrifying. And I don't think that that's the feeling that you're gonna get out of this. I think we're all being a little dramatic on the internet, okay? I think that the overall feeling is tension, uncomfortability, anxiety, maybe for sure. I left the theater feeling like, man, that was a little long, but I was locked in and I did feel like there were some moments that creeped me out, and that's more than I could have asked for, you know? And there's one other thing that I felt a lot of that I did not expect in terms of the tone of the film. And I'm not sure if we want to dive into it or not, because I think that that's a bit of the element of surprise, right? But there was something that I felt in this film that I did not expect at all.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah, I gotta say I did miss the kind of theater response feeling because we actually did not go to the AMC by my house, which is traditionally just fucking tumbleweeds. We went to another theater, the one that I've been kind of highlighting. It's like the smaller theater, but it's nice, and a lot more people go to it. And so it was a packed theater, and the reactions were great. It was really fun to be like with a group of people reacting to the movie. But man, this movie, first of all, it's pretty dark in some areas. And I don't mean dark as in like the theme of the movie, I mean it was fucking dark. Like it was some scenes. I remember like even my wife was like re leaning over to me, like, I can't see shit. I'm like, Yeah, I don't think you're meant to see shit. I don't know. So it was pretty dark. But yeah, there were just moments that were extremely hard to see, which, you know, might have been the point. Nonetheless, it was hard to see. But this film is, I think, rooted. It's rooted in this small town mystery. I think it's full of grief. You can definitely feel the despair, the anger of the people of this town, especially the parents. But there was also this dark humor that was blended in there that gave just enough of a break that I think was very interesting. But I gotta admit, there were moments in the first act where I was wondering where this movie was going, and maybe not where this movie was going, but rather like, how are we gonna tie all of this together? You know what I mean? Like, I think that was a thought that I initially had. But once we got into the second half of the movie, into the third act, I was vibing with what was going on. It became something that I didn't expect, and I realize now that there were rumors maybe floating around out there, but I tried not to look too far into the film before watching it. I really try to do that with movies that are really hyped because I don't want anything to be spoiled. And because of that, I would say that once we got the reveal of the movie of what was going on, I was actually genuinely surprised. I think overall this film surprisingly blended the horror, the satire, the dark humor very, very well. I would have liked to maybe get some more answers in certain areas, though. Maybe that's my biggest disappointment. I don't know. But I also thought they didn't depict enough of the hurt in this town. Like I wanted to see more of like what what there was almost like this emotional hollowness to like the town or some of the people in this town, maybe outside of some of the main characters. And I know they were focusing on a specific amount of characters and how they tied into this story, but I didn't see enough of the hurt and the anger of the town outside of like maybe one scene.

SPEAKER_07 13:04

100%, Sean. This movie tiptoes a fine line and is very open to interpretation. And there's a lot on the table that Zach Craigers didn't even imagine or intend to put into the movie, but it still leaves it open. And then if that's what you pick up when you're watching this, it kind of just syncs with this feeling of what the hell? Why aren't we going a little bit deeper with this? Now, that's not to say that I was disappointed though, because I think that what this movie does really well. I want to go back to what you talked about with this almost like this dark humor and this dark comedy. Yeah, this movie is such a tonal shift, and it does it in a similar way as Barbarian, but it does it better than Barbarian. It feels a little bit more refined, it feels a little bit more matured and well executed. Yeah, way more well executed, absolutely. But when you talk about the hurt of this town, what I loved is that this movie felt like it really had something to say and knew how to explore saying it, where I felt like barbarian stumbled across how it wanted to say something that it intended from being inspired from the book The Gift of Fear. This movie was it feels personal, and obviously it is very personal because he started writing this to cope with a very sudden loss of one of his best friends. But to think of that level of like personal influence on this work, and just to think about like the timing of the film's release and everything that's coming in, this just feels like a more complete package, which was refreshingly a pleasant surprise for me.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

It does feel, I think, a lot more complete. I don't think you can you can't almost compare it to Barbarian when you're watching it. You have to separate it in your mind to just leave that alone and let this be its own thing. And I think the thing that really set it apart for me that caught me off guard was the storytelling here. And a big part of that success comes from the actors that we have and the performances that they're giving us, because I would just I would watch them telling me like a child's story about, I don't know, a potato, and I would be enthralled because they're phenomenal here. Like their acting chops are just next level. But the vignettes that we get, the interweaving of everything, the putting it all together is brilliant. And I was expecting something perhaps a bit more simple because, you know, I don't know what to expect going from the trailer. I'm not thinking they're gonna, you know, they're not gonna make barbarian again. No, I'm thinking, all right, these kids are missing, we're gonna find out why, and we're gonna see some gnarly stuff. Easy and done. And we get to like a title card. I don't even, is that a title card? It's there's like a chapter card, if you will, or something. And that first one hit, and I was like, oh, they're gonna, they're gonna go about this a little bit differently. They're going to kind of section this off and have components to this film. And as we're moving through them, I think Bing Shi had mentioned earlier this pacing feeling. And I think what it is for me is imagine sitting in like a Ferrari, and the person driving the Ferrari is not you, and they're only increasing speed at like a steady pace, but it's really slow. And so, like the acceleration is also accelerating, if you will. So the rate of acceleration is increasing over time. So by the end, you're flying in a Ferrari as the passenger, and you're like, oh my gosh, this is insane, right? So I think we think of roller coasters as being like that up and down, like all over the place kind of feeling. No, this is just this steady increase in the rate of acceleration. You're watching it from afar. You see those distant objects getting closer as you're getting to them, and so they're not surprising necessarily, but how fast and how hard they hit, that's incredibly surprising. And I think that acceleration is so effective here, combined with them building up all the components of the story as we go along. By the time you get there, it's you're going at light speed, so like towards a single target, and it's like you're waiting for impact.

SPEAKER_04 17:10

Absolutely. Because I think to your point, it's like you're in a Ferrari, so you know this thing can go fast, you know? And so when it comes to a film like this one, if you've watched Barbarian, you can only imagine that this is going to get a little fucking crazy, you know? Because what he's already done definitely went off the rails before. You just don't know quite it's gonna get there, like how intense it's going to be, etc. So for me, I think I was definitely surprised by the dark comedy of it. That's that was the feeling that I wasn't sure if we were going to kind of mention or not, because the reason I was like, I'm gonna wait and see if they bring it up, because I feel like that's an aspect of this film that no one is going to anticipate. I think everyone, especially the internet, has been saying this is terrifying. The trailer, the little that we got, was very creepy and terrifying, the scariest movie ever, blah, blah, blah. Let's all calm down. Okay. I'm sorry. Coming from me, it is almost like impossible to say that. This is my personal opinion, but it's almost impossible to say that because a moment before you'll be laughing with a whole theater, and then right after it's something creepy. And my brother's words, it's a little hard to go from laughing to absolutely terrified in a point second flat. It you can ease into the fear, but you're not going to have immense nightmares and insidious level type fear for me personally when I was laughing my ass off just a second, millisecond before. So I was surprised by the tone of the film because I think that there was a lot of anticipation for this to be absolutely terrifying. And in that same vein, it's almost a little bit disappointing because I feel like what you had mentioned earlier about the community, like the sense of grief felt by the atmosphere, the setting, the people, the characters, it's almost a little bit, I wouldn't say surface level, but just a little bit underwater, you know? And if it was further, like really, really deep, I think that's where we could have gotten a bit more of the meat and fear. That's the kind of horror that I personally like that isn't just, you know, the jump scares of it all, but is like true terror, you know. I don't think that that's in this film by any means. Now, what there is is a lot of, oh hell nah. Like, fuck that, you know, like in the best way possible. That kind of sentiment. There is a lot of that in this movie. I was very much like, no fucking way would I go there. No way would I do that. And I think that that's that makes it really fun, personally. I'm also all about that kind of horror. And I we haven't really gotten a lot of that lately. So I was about it. Maybe it borders a little bit more of a thriller with a pinch of horror than horror with a pinch of thriller, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_07 20:07

This is really interesting. Okay, let me just first say that I agree with you on horror kind of being in on the back burner of genres in this movie. I also agree with you that this movie isn't scary. But where I diverge is I think you and I are reading two different worlds of internet because I never heard anything about this movie being absolutely terrifying, just that it was gonna be really good and that it was really funny. So I feel like there is a very large population of people who expected, especially with Barbarian, for there to be a lot of comedy in this movie just to be very bleak comedy, very dark comedy. And let me tell you, there was a moment, I'm gonna tell you, this is actually the scariest part of the movie for me. There is a moment where you see in the distance a water tower, and I thought to myself, there better not be some big bitch jumping off of a fucking water tower in slow motion. That that is the scariest part of this movie, thankfully. That is a threat that goes unfulfilled. There are significant jump scares, though. For sure. There are at least three distinct moments that I I could feel Allie just like physically jumping from her chair. Like there was a lot in there, and I think they might actually be some of the more effective jump scares that I've seen since Insidious. And I think that's saying something. I'm not like a jump scare person. I don't think there's anything in this that really got to me, but I think if you're prone to them and you're sensitive to them, or if you're a horror-loving fan who wants to take your friends who are little scaredy cats, I think you're gonna have a fucking blast watching them watch this movie.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah. There's like this absurdity to I think the dark humor, there's like this absurdity to some of the scares that you get, and it becomes this moment where you go from like you live. In like nothingness for so long. It's this eerie stillness. You can't see shit sometimes. And then all of a sudden, you're just shown something, and it's just perfect, like very effective jump scares, I think, for what we get. And but I think it goes from like this eerie stillness where you're just kind of like trying to figure out what's going on. You get the jump scare, and then it becomes that absurdity where you're just like it's the humor kind of like campiness, but it's like this laugh of like, oh fuck that, you know what I mean? Like that kind of vibe. Yeah, I don't think it's a super, super frightening film. I think it is a very disturbing film for sure. I think, yes, there are pretty effective jump scares in a few moments that give you those chills or goosebumps or the hairs on your arm stand up or whatever, but I think it's just kind of like that rush that you don't know if you should nervous laugh or if you should just be like, fuck that shit, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

It's interesting to me because I feel like going at this from the aspect of, is this terrifying? Is it scary? Is like going after one ingredient in a recipe. And the only thing I can think of, like, I don't know why this movie makes me think of Chef's Table, but it 100% makes me think of Chef's Table while watching it. There's like a feeling to it, but it's you know, they do like crazy stuff, right? They'll be like, we made uh pan sear duck breast, right? But we've got a warm gravy, no, we've got a warm Granny Smith apple brown butter sauce, we've got celery foam, we've got some Celtic sea salt on top. And so I feel like going at this from is this really scary? Is like, is there salt? Where it's like, yeah, like who cares? Of course there's salt, but is it the right salt? Is it the right amount? Is it complementing like the heat and the acid and the fat in the right way? And so yeah, guess what? There's salt. There's some creepy stuff here. It's not like super scary. It's not so salty, it's gonna burn your tongue, right? It's not too much. Some folks are gonna want more. People who are really into that, who want to be startled, are gonna want more. There's some people who are already gonna feel that way in several moments in this film and are gonna be like, nope, I'm good. I've had enough. But I think for me it found that right balance where I'm like, I don't understand why this is good with celery foam, but for some reason it tastes good. They're making the magic happen here. So no, is it scary for me? Of course not. But it's the right amount of that fear element mixed in with all the other elements.

SPEAKER_07 24:19

And you know, it's funny that you mentioned the mixing of it, Mac, because I think that's part of what makes this movie work. Binks, earlier, you mentioned that it's more a thriller with a pinch of horror, but I think this is more of like a drama with a splash. Very little horror in here up until we get a couple moments of really intense violence. But suspense, intrigue, mystery, I like that. What this movie does do really well is it blends these concepts, it blends these genres. But follow me here. This might be, I don't know, I don't know if you all are gonna feel the same way as me, but for me, especially with how dark it was, it's actually kind of funny that you mentioned that, Sean. This felt like a blend of goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark? But like with your local legend, like when you're a kid growing up and you think about like the stories that you hear about your neighborhood, that's what this felt like to me in a really good way.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Oh, you know, that's actually kind of interesting. I didn't think about that until you just said it, but now I'm kind of connecting the dots. Like, this could definitely be an R.L. Stein Goosebumps chapter, you know what I mean? Like, definitely could be a book of his, I feel like.

SPEAKER_07 25:35

A really fucked up R.L. Stein chapter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

For sure. For sure. Yeah, definitely. Could have been Fear Street, it could have been Fear Street, for sure. I definitely see it now. And you know, it's not that like what we get in this movie is super unfamiliar. I feel like the small town mystery, the horror elements that we do get, it's all things we have seen in some form in various other movies, maybe not exactly like this, but for me, it's really the execution of it and the fact that the multi-perspective storytelling is something that we usually don't get in horror movies, but ultimately I think this movie really stands out. It does feel pretty fresh. It's arguably, for me, one of the most original movies that I've seen in a while.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Interesting. Yeah, I struggle with the originality part of this because of the fact that it seems like there's so much of a blatant callback to other films. And we say this until we're blue in the face. We always have, right? That it's never going to be extremely original. Actually, I think why I'm struggling with it is because it's more like clearly Zack Krager is establishing his brand, and his brand is nonlinear storytelling. And yes, this is just a second film, sure. But I think this is gonna be his bread and butter because he saw what he did with Barbarian, and the biggest, like I guess, part of Barbarian is that there is a surprise after a surprise. You don't know what's going to happen next. Neither did he, quite frankly. So I think, and that's not even a slight because some people love that part, myself included, others did not, obviously. But that's his thing, is that he just writes as he goes. And you know who also does that is Stephen King. I had a conversation with two of my friends recently about this because it's like I think people kind of maybe love or hate this part of Zack Kregger. The fact that he quite literally doesn't know what he's going to write next. He will write and then just see how things fall into place. Maybe sometimes it doesn't really come out so great. Other times it will. With Stephen King, he literally does the same exact thing, but he kind of like wraps it up with a bow. And at that point, the author will decide how much exposition they want to provide. I don't think that Zach Kregor is too focused on that. He's more about building the atmosphere, building homages to things that he to things that he loves. And he loves the shining. He has gone in many interviews saying that this is like a big the shining. And I guess I can kind of see it, you know, but I think it also is a callback to a lot of other things, like I mentioned the prisoners earlier, or you know, The Forgotten, the HBO show, the leftovers, um, melancholia, like from PTA. Like I feel like this is a lot of films that cover the idea of people just disappearing out of nowhere and what is left of the people that have to, I guess, reap the repercussions of that, right? And although, like we mentioned earlier, it would have been great to see a bit more of that depth. I think that what actually occurs is what's original, but the actual plot isn't. So I think he's really good at building an original twist and a plot like a plot twist, right? He's really good at giving us something very obscure and making it work, especially in this movie, maybe not so much in Barbarian. Uh, but I think as far as like the overall setting of a place or what the actual movie's going to be about, I don't know if that's entirely original.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

It's the execution, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

It's interesting to watch all of you kind of relate this to other films because my head went a very different direction. This had a certain feeling to it. So, like the story, the subject matter, I think is yes, it's important to the film and everything, but it it didn't distract me. This felt closer to something like Old Boy. I don't know why it came to mind while watching this, but it has a feeling when you watch that film for the first time, it's like it suddenly exists in concrete and always has. It's just always been there in your brain as this monolith. And this had a similar feeling where as soon as it's finished, I'm like, yep, that is now like a thing that just has always existed. It just needed to find the right time to come out to play. And it is so weird because I think we can see the relation to all these other films, all these other properties. But to me, it's closer to like Asian horror, Japanese horror in particular, some Korean horror as well. But there's something to it where it's like, this doesn't feel like an adaptation, like which we've seen to American horror and Western horror, but it feels like the way that we move through a story, the way that we focus on characters, literally, like the visuals of a character's face looking at us feels closer to something like a Japanese horror film than it does most Western horror to me. And I don't I don't know what that is. It doesn't feel derivative, it doesn't feel like they ripped it off. It just feels like they nailed it and it has minimalist vibes while being somehow maximalist and going completely over the top, but in a subtle way. I don't know how they're able to do that, but there is this like feng shui to it all. I love it.

SPEAKER_07 30:45

Yeah, and I'm so glad that they managed to not go way too over the top, though, because I mentioned earlier that I was afraid of a water tower. I absolutely cannot stress enough how much of a bad taste the ending of Barbarian left in my mouth when I first watched that movie. And let me also tell you right now, I was so pleasantly surprised yet again that this movie wrapped up, although feeling a little tiny bit abrupt, like I definitely could have lingered a little bit more in what we were getting. It wrapped up and I thought, oh my god, thank God he didn't fuck this up. This movie wraps itself up. I think, you know, when you talk about that acceleration Mac, when we go from zero to a hundred over the course of two hours, the destination that we arrive at was completely satisfying. It's very fucked them kids in a very different way. And we'll get more on that in the spoiler zone. But I was very, very pleased with the ending of this movie.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Yeah, there is this absolute crescendo that happens at the end of the film, and you're like, I've been hearing the trumpets going along the whole way, I've been hearing the violin, I've been hearing the flute, and finally they're working together. And they just push so many things into this one focal point at the end of this movie, and you feel it happening while you're watching it, and a lot of it you expect, and that's the point you're supposed to expect it. Like going back to the analogy from earlier, you're watching those trees getting close, so you're not gonna you're not driving towards them, you're driving past them just in this analogy, so you're aware, right? But like you know that they're gonna get close. You know like how fast things are going. And so it's not a surprise when they're finally there, but it's just like this, like, ah, finally, it's here now. And so when we get there, we're converging like all these different like bits of the story together and finally like smooshing them all into one right in your face. And like you mentioned, Chris, you could just drop the ball at that very it's a delicate place, a delicate place to be. And you're let down in a way that's not like a letdown, but you're put down in a way that has you questioning, oh, wait, did I enjoy that? Like you immediately think, was that good? Was that not good? Like, I it's here, it's done. And I think I had the same feeling where I got done, was like, Thank God. Thank God, that's how we ended this film.

SPEAKER_07 33:02

Yeah, if you were on a plane, this would be the plane where some dude in the back is clapping when it lands.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

So funny that you bring that up. Because in my theater, the moment that this ending, you know, crescendoed and uh things started to really just go crazy, absolutely crazy. Everyone was losing their minds clapping and screaming. And like, I'm sure if I looked behind me, people were probably standing up clapping because I had never seen a theater experience like that with that kind of response to an ending. And it wasn't, and I'm not even talking like the movie ended the credits, people are getting up and cheering that it was amazing. I went to an early screening, so sometimes that's gonna happen regardless. No, I'm talking like we've hit the resolution, we're heading the final moments. That's when people were standing up cheering and losing their minds. Like that was really cool, a little insane to be a part of, but I can see it because essentially this whole entire two hours, you've been like the analogy that Mac gave, right? You've been on a Ferrari hauling ass, okay? And you just can't help but explode at the very end. You are like erupting with so much emotion and tension and anxiety that everyone just starts losing their minds. So I thought that it was a really great symmetry with the ending, the theater experience in and of itself, that made like the whole putting a bow on it, right? It was great. Now, maybe this is the first time that Zach Kruger has done that. I don't know. I I have other opinions about Barbarian and the ending. We're not reviewing that one. More than happy to do it in a rewind. But for this one, at the very least, I think that universally I'm hoping that maybe everyone can align that the ending was great for what it was. And to your point about this feeling like a goosebumps story, I love that you brought that up. I hadn't even considered it. It feels like that too. You know, like you spent a good time in the middle of the night reading this book, you're hooked, you get to the next page, get to the next page, and then you slowly just like kind of hit that ending, and you have like a deep breath of like, wow, that was a good story. That's kind of what this ending feels like too.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yeah, we definitely had cheering, we had laughter, we had clapping at the end of this movie in the theater for sure. And I gotta agree, I actually really enjoyed the ending for this movie. I think the resolution felt good. I think there was a great climax, there's a great showdown, there's some justice. You get everything you want in an ending. If I was making this film though, which I was not, but if I was, I would have tweaked the ending ever so slightly. And I'll tell you all about it, but you gotta wait until the spoiler zone because I can't give anything away. But I definitely think there could have been a direction that this ending went in that I think would have been kind of good, and maybe that's just my taste. I don't know. We'll have to see.

SPEAKER_07 35:51

Well, I can't wait to see how your version of the ending shakes out, but the time has come to start rating these movies. Now, before we break down our official scoring, Sean, how would you rate the gore score?

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Man, I really can't wait to like really get into the gore of this movie. There isn't, it's not like it's like like a really, really gory movie, but when we get gore, we get it good. And there are a couple of moments that were very effective and looked really fucking good. There was some CGI use for sure, but only small amounts, and the rest was practical effects, and it was a really perfect balance. But even though we get some really jarring visuals, when we do get some gore, we don't linger there long enough for this to earn itself anything higher than medium, I feel like. I I think that's fair. I went back and forth on this, but when you get the gore, it's gonna feel high when you get it. But given the rest of the movie, I think it kind of dilutes it down to medium.

SPEAKER_07 36:46

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_04 36:48

Luckily, the animal report is all safe here.

SPEAKER_07 36:51

Let's go ahead and get into our rating Zen weapons from 2025. Was it a hack or a slash? And I'm gonna go ahead and rip the band-aid off here. I mentioned earlier I was nervous about the hype, but I am so glad that this movie earned the hype that it got. I wouldn't go as far as calling it the best movie of the year. I know some people do feel that way, but I do think it was exceptional and it was satisfying. And it's an experience that puts you right in the middle of a town that's just grappling with senseless tragedy. And when you're in this pit of despair and grief and you're trying to make sense of something that there is no sense to, I think that's a feeling that far too many people in our country know way too well, much less the world as a whole. This movie is super slick, right? It has type production, the story packs a lot under its belt, sometimes a little bit too much, but we're gonna get there in the spoiler zone. And there's also something it packs that is semi-uninchal. But what I do appreciate here is that there's a lot of depth in this movie while managing to also be really, really fun, really funny, and just charming. This movie completely had me under its spell, and it's a slosh.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Yeah, I mean, this movie isn't, it's not your typical missing kids mystery for sure. It's strange, it's unnerving, it's this mix of small town satire, fractured storytelling, it's bursts of unflinching violence. I feel like this movie is told through multiple perspectives, it slowly feeds you its mystery, it keeps you almost off balance while it weaves in moments of that absurd humor that somehow makes the dread feel even sharper in some of these scenes. The performances I feel like we get are all very strong. There's haunting imagery and a great use of practical effects that hit like a punch to the gut. But that being said, I can see some people being thrown off by the turn that it takes in the third act, but I truly loved it. And I find myself wanting to say more about that, but I really can't because it would literally give too much of the movie away. And I don't know that everyone listening right now has seen the movie, at least up until this point. So you might be listening, trying to gauge if you should go see it, maybe because you didn't like Barbarian, like me. I don't know. But I do know that I am in the minority of people that don't like that movie, I feel like. But I am here to tell you that Zack Krager redeemed himself in my eyes and made a really fucking good horror flick. This movie I feel like is worth watching. It does live up to the hype, and in the end, weapons doesn't just hit its target, it loads the chamber with grief, rage, and revenge, and lets the kids pull the trigger. This one is definitely a slash.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Yeah, I just gotta say, Zach, I'm proud of you. Okay, I'm I really am proud of you. This was this was a masterpiece of cohesive storytelling, deep character work, and stunning visuals. It reminded me, I've mentioned it, multiple things so far, but like classical music, that virtuoso chef thing, just something going on there. Each component is used very carefully as a part of the larger theme, but must also shine completely on its own. That's true of the technical aspects, the gore, the characters, and of course, the story with its interwoven vignettes building towards a central climax. This is a film that doesn't have to rely on like holding back or keeping secrets from the viewer. I think it puts it all out there and you can piece it together manually as it's doing it on screen as well. I think this left me with a literal smile on my face from the joy of having seen it, right? Like that satisfaction that you get just from having experienced it. Where by the time we finished, I was thankful that I got to watch this film. It's just an absolute slash. And while I have not seen every horror movie this year, I'm not up to date with all the rest of you. I think it's actually the best horror film that I've seen this year.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

Wow. Nice, nice. It's so funny. I feel like went from maybe like the big barbarian fan and everyone disliking it, and then it's almost like a little bit of the opposite. Although I do like weapons, I just feel like it's so crazy to hear how you guys are like, so proud of you, Zach. And I'm I feel like I've been always like, he ain't that bad. So that's a great, I guess, like change of pace, right? For me, I gotta say, weapons has been something that I've been anticipating since Barbarian, since the moment that it dropped. I've been so pumped. My brother and I have been dying to see it. Okay. Early access, I was running there. I'm wearing the t-shirt. Okay. I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. And I gotta say, I mean, this is an incredibly tense and anxiety-inducing film. It balances like dark humor that I didn't expect with some genuine discomfort, which is so fun. It's different. And I was really here for it. I think that although I wouldn't classify it as this terrifying nightmare that some reviews have been saying, I do think that Zach Kregger has crafted something that's a little bit more cohesive and confident post-barbarian. And I can only imagine what's gonna come from here. His next film is Resident Evil, so maybe not that. But you know, when he does another original work, right? What is that gonna look like? I think it excels in creating this uncomfortable atmosphere and situation. It builds a lot of suspense. I think that although it doesn't quite reach the level of horror that I thought it was going to be, that's fine because it just wasn't the type of horror film that I expected. And quite frankly, it everything was left to be ambiguous. So I can't get mad at that, right? It's not like I walked in there being sold on something that I didn't get. I was being sold on simply 17 children have disappeared at 217 a.m. uh all at the same time. That's it. From there, you can let your imagination fly. So I respect it. I respect that he's leaving it to the audience to walk into this experience and just kind of make assumptions and see where it takes you. There's a lot of you know, fear that comes with that. You don't know where you're going to go. There's a lot of anxiety, even in the anticipation of what's going to come next. And I think that if he keeps that going with the rest of his filmography, this could be a really fun little niche and pocket that he, you know, perfects in this, you know, film worlds that we're in and in what's been coming out lately. And modern films just seem to be adaptations of the same crap and books and games all the time. So this could be like really nice to kind of have his own original work. But I think that ultimately, as long as people can go into this as blindly as they possibly can with what we've provided so far in this episode, right? And don't let the hype kind of sway you too much. I think you're gonna have a good time. Because what I'm struggling with is that there is a lot of hype. On this internet. And it's funny, Chris, you mentioned earlier. Your side of the internet is saying that it's hilarious or like really funny, you know. My side of the internet is saying this is the scariest thing that they've ever seen. I think similarly with Barbarian, I was on the side of the internet that was like, this is a great film. It was super terrifying. There's nothing scary about it. And then others were like, that was ridiculous, you know, the opposite. And that's okay. That's the internet. It's wide and vast. But folks, if you can just go into this with what you've learned so far, don't go into the internet too much. Don't watch too many of the interviews and the notes from the cast. Just go in and let the ride just take you. I think you'll have a really good time because the performances are great, the visuals are striking. And if you can see it in theaters still, please do so. I think you're going to love building friendships with the people that you're in the theater with. And everyone's going to have those moments where you walk out the theater in the little circle to debrief my favorite part about going to the movies, and you'll have such a good time. So for sure, this has definitely gotten a slash from me. I don't know if that's too much of a shock, but I think that I'm hoping that everyone that didn't like Barbarian can give this one a shot because I know plenty of people that hated it and are like anti-Zack Kregger. And folks, let go. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this one.

SPEAKER_07 45:20

All right. Well, so far, weapons from 2025 has been a universal slosh. But there is so much to bite into when we get into the spoiler zone. Brace yourselves. We gotta go over the mystery, we gotta go over the main villain in this story, and we gotta go over what Sean would have done to the ending. So buckle up, we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

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SPEAKER_04 48:01

Maybe this is gonna be the one time that we don't have the same one, but I highly fucking doubt it. Because I feel like this is everyone's gonna be this is everyone's favorite kill. It's obviously Gladys. The queen, the icon, the legend. Yeah, fuck you, bitch. I'm sorry. You know?

SPEAKER_01 48:15

It's arguably the most satisfying, right?

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Arguably the most satisfying. Although we love a girl with a strong wig, you got to go. And in that moment, that is when, of course, the entire theater lost their fucking minds. Everyone was cheering, and absolutely it was something that almost surprised me that might have been actually one of the jump scares, which was I did not anticipate the theater to respond in such a, you know, like strong way. Everyone was losing it. And I also feel like I didn't expect it to be that graphic either. The kids were not playing games.

SPEAKER_07 48:50

Yeah, I really want to dig in here because we have fuck them kids on a spectrum. One, it's like the kids who you want to just meet their ends already because they're obnoxious. Think about the kids from the lodge. That's one. And then you have the kids who like have something terrible happen to them. That's two. And on this in this movie, we get a completely new addition to the spectrum, which is the kids who have something terrible to them, they come back around at the end, and you know what? Fuck them kids turns into hell yeah, them kids. Hell yeah. Good for you guys. Proud of each and every one of you. Great running, great jumping, great takedown tactics. Honestly, terrific.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

It went from fuck these kids fuck them kids to the kids are not alright. Like, yeah. I I I also just want to point out that these kids were jumping through walls, like they were jumping through windows, glass doors. I don't know if those were double pane. It looks like it gets cold out there. They probably got some double pane windows. I'm thinking these kids are pretty fucked up, okay?

SPEAKER_07 50:00

Bro, all these kids were Kool-Aid men. They all were sipping the Kool-Aid 100%, busting through any barrier, which is good for them. Because you know what? Some of those girls are also breaking glass ceilings.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

I also I also love the fact that these kids were jumping like straight through a glass door, but struggling to get through the wood fence.

SPEAKER_07 50:24

Well, you know, listen.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

That's some tough wood right there.

SPEAKER_07 50:28

Yeah, it hadn't been weakened yet. You can't make sugar wood, I guess, the way you can make sugar glass. Lattice was a terrific kill. And I think there's so much to be proud of in that moment because A, the effects, the practical effects were fantastic. The flesh being pulled from her, like zombies almost. Yeah, the overhead shot of just the limbs torn. And it's you know, you think about like witches being burned at the stake, but then I'm also thinking about this is really dumb. I'm thinking about Twilight and them having to kill vampires by tearing them limb from limb and then burning the pieces. There's like a nice little parallel there that's like scratching my brain just right. But I want to go for a different kill in addition to that, and I think honestly, we should talk about almost every kill because fuck you're good ones. Good riddance, Paul. You son of a- I knew it.

SPEAKER_03 51:16

I knew it. I was like, we're not gonna have just the same one, we're gonna have the same second one too. I'm sorry, I had to high erupted into something. Fuck you, Paul. Fuck you.

SPEAKER_07 51:27

Fuck you, Paul. You rode into that bar on your fucking high horse, lasting like you're God's gift to Justine, like you have such a strong moral compass, lied straight to her fucking face, and then we roll the tape back and see what a piece of shit you really are. You know what? Good riddance.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

Good riddance indeed. Donna deserved better. And I want to highlight, okay, at the theater, they gave us a little souvenir, and they gave us for those that can't see our video, they gave us a peeler, and so clever, so satisfying. I God, I felt it in my bones.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Here's peeling was like everything I wanted out of the cheese grater in Evil Dead Rise.

SPEAKER_07 52:12

Okay, I was actually just gonna say it was just as underwhelming as the cheese grater in Evil Dead Rise. No, still good, just to be clear, but I still wanted more of it.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

We got some nice strips, man. Like they really peeled the side of that face, you know.

SPEAKER_07 52:29

We got a lot of like flush strips this year in horror. We had to bring her back with the snack and bacon on the arm, and now we have the the peeling. Yeah, there's a lot there.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

That's true, that's true. I mean, here's the thing. I feel like we gotta shout out Marcus's partner Terry, because one, it was brutal, but also that's what the fuck happens when you invite strange people into your home and you're way too welcoming. Okay, that fucking witch was never coming into my home. And if anyone ever asks me for a bowl of fucking water, forget it. I'm taking you out.

SPEAKER_07 53:03

Honestly, though, what a great quote from her. I absolutely loved it. It's a peculiarity of mine. I don't even try to rationalize it anymore.

SPEAKER_04 53:11

That's how I feel about so many of my things, like my fear of orchids. It's just a th it's just a peculiar I can't even say the word peculiarity.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

Peculiarity.

SPEAKER_04 53:21

That word. English is hard. Gladys, although she's a terrible person, is also an icon. And I hate it. She's confident, she wears that wig, she wears that fit, and she just walks around like she owns the place mostly because she could if she wanted to. And I really do feel bad for Terry because he was just being nice. And we, as the you know, hackerslash hosts, we have seen Speak No Evil, so we know better to not be kind to just about everybody, because that leads you into very dark places. But he just was being very kind. He was gonna have a great hot dog meal, you know, and it all went south.

SPEAKER_07 53:58

Yeah, I love that in a world that wants people to be less mean, we're also like, Yeah, all these movies could have been solved if you were just a dick who minded your own business, you know. Fucking Terry, don't invite people into your house. I'm sorry, man. Which is also such a terrible time for Marcus. Marcus, who was really just doing his best to do a decent job.

SPEAKER_00 54:20

Yeah. It's funny because like I feel like with Gladys, we feel like we deserved it. So when we get it, we're happy. There's is there's a weird moment, and people were like laughing while this scene was taking place, and then it finally happened, she's torn limb from limb, and people were like smiling out of joy for like, yes, this is what we earned with this movie. And you know, I I feel like with Officer Dopey, we're kind of like, that's what he earned, okay, in this movie. That's what he deserves. Terry, you're you're left questioning, did he deserve that? You know, okay, Marcus told him no and tried to shy him away from it, but like, I don't know if he deserved all that. That was pretty brutal. But that's how you feel. And then when you get to Marcus, because we haven't talked about him yet, it's like, did anyone deserve this? This was and the Naruto run just makes me laugh this entire film. Like every time it happens, it cracks me up. I don't know why. His was especially effective at making me laugh. So it was hard to take those moments seriously. But you know, he's out here working. I'm sorry. This whole setup of him being taken over and just bashing his own like skull in with his partner's skull, and then now he's still gotta go do a job, and he does it with 110% the entire time until he's hit by a car, like a rando driving down the street and smooshed on the street. I knew that shit was coming though. Oh my gosh. I could I didn't know what we were gonna do. I thought Josh Bowlin was gonna hit him. I thought he was gonna speed up and take him down that way, and we'd hear the thump thump, and that's all we were gonna get. And then when he's just set, you know, he's he's there looking like uh-oh, that guy's down. I'm like, oh, did she hit him? Did who hit him? There's something, what's going on in this crazy scene? And then we see it's a rando, and I'm like, okay, it's not as random as we know things could have been, but it's just the right amount where it like grounds it in reality and in comedy in the same moment because this wasn't like an especially funny kill. People were literally laughing, but like this one, it's like, all right, he's gotta inject the comedy, he's gotta add it into the right moment and to have it be a random passerby and they're like completely freaking out and don't know what to do. And it's like, well, that guy was like basically possessed by a witch, and you just smooshed him and you kind of helped everybody out, so it's it's all right, like don't don't worry about it. But Marcus, the character, didn't deserve it. He deserved to be like reprimanded for not following up on a you know, on a complaint of like child abuse, but like you know, not smushed on the skirt on the street, he didn't deserve all that. Yeah, not the road jelly.

SPEAKER_07 56:48

Man, it was just so strange. And I love that you point out just being able to infuse the comedy, even though it wasn't actually funny, because we have him being struck, but then oh my gosh, his obliterated head was gross to look at.

SPEAKER_01 57:04

It was like one of the goriest parts of the movie, it really was.

SPEAKER_07 57:07

It was the Sartane special, but with a moving vehicle instead of Michael Myers' foot.

SPEAKER_01 57:12

Yeah, for sure, for sure. What's really interesting in this movie, though, is that James, you know, for being like the junkie that most people would be like, I just don't like this person. He probably deserved it the least, dude. Like this guy was like just, you know, I mean, call it for what it is. Like, you know, he's a drug abuser, he's robbing people's houses, but somehow I still felt bad for this guy. Like, he just did not deserve to be roped up in all this bullshit and get dragged back into the house and then controlled and then just getting shot in the head, you know what I mean? Like, damn.

SPEAKER_07 57:52

Yeah, listen, none of these people deserved it. Paul probably kind of deserved it. James was an addict and was going through a lot of shit, and it sounds like even just from the little bit that you can get from the phone call that he's trying to make to get some money to pay mom back, there is a lot of stuff there. Yeah, he was a refreshing comedic relief. And I think even when he is attacking Josh Rowland's character uh in just like continuously, I get knocked down and I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down. That whole bit, an extra layer of comedy. But yeah, looking back on it, it's like shit. Poor guy. If only he had uh the appropriate resources and made better choices and got help for his addiction.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Poor guy. He added a lot of comedy too into the movie, which was pretty good. I mean, I kind of I kind of liked his character a lot. I know we're gonna get into characters a little bit later. And listen, I could talk all night about the use of the effects in this movie, the choice to lean on practical makeup and props for most of the gore. I feel like it gives it this, you know, it gives it this grounding, you know, visceral impact. But even when the CGI is used in this movie for like the eyes and for some of the arm shots that we get with the children, because I guess like the children just don't follow direction that well all the time when they're running around amok, you know. So like they blend the CGI really, really well. But my favorite element, I'm not gonna talk just about the effects and the gore. My favorite element of this film is actually the multi-perspective storytelling structure. And I know it's technically a narrative choice, but the execution is in my eyes a major production achievement. And I think each segment feels visually and tonally distinct while still belonging to the same world within this movie. And at first, I think it did kind of throw me off a bit because I wasn't sure how we were gonna tie it all together, but by the end, I was genuinely impressed.

SPEAKER_07 59:55

Yeah, I was actually really relieved because when we get through the first bit with Justine, and then we get to the next bit, it's like, okay, do we really have to relive everything? Do we have to see all of this? But at a certain point, it does kind of skip towards what you need to know and what you didn't get to already see, and I appreciated that balance. I 100% agree. For me, this was more successful and more satisfying than the nonlinear storytelling in Strange Darling. Like this just felt better for me coming from different vantage points as opposed to just rearranging the story as a whole. It reminds me of that movie Vantage Point that came out. I want to say that was like the early 2000s, uh, where it was like you get to see an assassination attempt or some I I can't remember all the details of the movie, but it then like the movie flips and you see it happen from different vantage points. And it was it was like a really interesting idea. But I actually want to go to what I think was a the best part of this movie's setting and the use of some characters and voices, but then also getting into some of the missed potential and the the direction that it was going in terms of interpretation, and maybe this is why I felt like it was like the goosebumps in Are You Afraid of the Dark? Starting this out, and our narrator is a child is a choice, and it was a good choice, and it really set the scene, even the way that she's speaking, it just feels like I'm back in elementary school on the playground, having some kid in my class tell me a creepy story, and the movie unfolds in a way more intense and way more brutal way, but then it does just kind of take you back out of that violence and back into the perspective of a child, and that is such a fine and very razor-thin line to walk because this movie also has some imagery and some themes that makes it feel like it's alluding to a town reacting, maybe even post-school shooting. And so you think about just like how many children have been lost to that scale of violence, and where this movie starts to like really shine and thinking about the immediate aftermath of these kids' disappearance, it was emotional, it was really emotional. So I think setting and taking this horror into the the hallways of an elementary school, that was the part where you know I mentioned earlier this movie wasn't scary, but it does start to make up for some emotional pull. And that's where this movie got me thinking, and it put me into a place of like, God, I could not ever imagine being in these parents' shoes. Can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

The uh choice, as you mentioned, uh to start this off with the child's narration reminded me of an M83 song. I could just hear it happening while we're like starting up this film here, and it's that song where it's like the kids saying that they heard about a frog, it's a very special frog, and if you touch it, it'll change your whole world, and like they go on, and it's just like a weird-ish kind of feeling story to be told. And this is much darker, of course, than the M83 song, but there is something to it that sets the scene for like a sense of I don't know if it's like not really mystery, but almost magic. And in this case, you know, it turns out to be pretty dark magic and pretty bad magic, but like there is something kind of sparkly feeling about it, and there is something kind of sparkly feeling, I think, about the this movie. I think you know, Sean, you've mentioned uh the the interwoven narratives, right? The vignettes. And Chris, you mentioned a lot a lot of other movies do this wrong, to where, especially thrillers, they like to like nothing wrong with Vantage Point, no, no discredit, but like it's smart, it seems like it's really smart to say, here's four perspectives, let's show each of them, then it'll be all put together. And I'm like, that's fine. I like usually despise that because I feel like we're wasting time. And I think the choice here was to like build. And so, yes, at the beginning, we're kind of like going back and we're seeing some of it from a different perspective or from you know a completely different building, and we're building though, and then that quickly that building accelerates just like the rest of the rest of the story, and so you're like not bothered by it. You're like, all right, cool, like somebody else, yeah, let's get in on this and like see where this takes us because it's bringing us somewhere. But all the while I'm looking at this thing, and like I don't know who to give credit to. Is it the lighting? Is it the cinematography? Is it the color? There is like a softness, and it's reminiscent of walking outside before sunset during golden hour, but not even just during like the well-lit, perfectly golden hour lit scenes. Like even in the dark, I mean it reminds me of you know the movie that Sean loves that the rest of us don't love, sometimes with that soft fuzzy darkness, but there's something that's so perfect about it that is dreamlike. And you know, even in the dark, I think it works well, it works well. There's that harshness that we get with the blood and with the gore that is a perfect juxtaposition with it. But the entire time you're watching it, like nothing feels greasy and oily or gritty and gross, but it does have a sense of grit, it has a sense of texture to it. It's almost like when you were in, I don't know, college and you learned that you could put noise on a photograph in Photoshop and kind of smoothen it out a little bit, make your skin look a little bit nicer, make things look like a filter later on that people used on Instagram. It's kind of like that visually a little bit where it's softened, but somehow it's super duper sharp. I don't know how they did whatever it is that they did, but like the fact that it starts off with a kid telling a story is kind of perfect. It almost feels like the haziness of a memory or the haziness of a dream carried through all the way to the end.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:40

Yeah, I think that it that's what keeps it so childlike and then so disarming as the story goes on and gets more twisted and you know, funny, but then creepy, but then gory. And it's it's just so many things that happen and unfold. But actually, as we're talking about a lot of these visual and like these technical aspects at the end credits. Of course, I walked in when I saw this name, or both names, but the one I'm going to talk about is David Fincher. In the end credits, he thanks David Fincher and Bill Hayter. But he thanks David Fincher specifically because he actually was like a little bit of a consultant and like gave a lot of advice to Zach Kreg when making this film. He gave him advice on not settling with takes, the lenses that he should use, how to do ADR, how to prep for the film. So he was giving him a lot of advice on the technical aspect of this film. So of course, I'm like foaming at the mouth because I love Fincher so much. It's great in a way and kind of I wouldn't say coincidental, but it just matches because David Fincher is very good at building suspense. And I mean, most of his films, if not at all, are like thriller or thriller adjacent, right? So he to me is like the king of thriller in modern day. And this is definitely like nails that sentiment. One technical aspect that I want to highlight is just the look of Gladys, because I certainly did not anticipate her as a character whatsoever. Didn't even, I couldn't even make rhyme a reason when we first see her, like this old wrinkly, almost clown, but is it a woman? But is it a a person? What the fuck is that? Is really just a plain and simple way to say it, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:07:24

But then you know what she looked like? She looked like something out of the further.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:28

I knew you were gonna say that because this is where I was like, yep, yep, for sure, for sure. Actually, I have a fun fact for everybody here. I was with my best friend, and I may or may not have tried clicking Insidious, and I made it 20 minutes in because we had a discussion on maybe I should try exposure therapy to get over my fear. And it was after watching this movie because I was like, there's a lot of kids and a lot of creepiness and a lot of again, Gladys giving the old woman in insidious. I made it 20 minutes, guys. 20 minutes more than I ever thought I would. Anyways, all that's to say, Gladys is very disarming as a character in her look because when it's revealed that she's clearly the antagonist, I feel like, okay, to your point, Insidious and that the old woman in Insidious, dark, very creepy, you know, like the makeup, everything is exudes fear. But Gladys is another feeling, right? She is the aunt who is dressed in bright colors and the bright lipstick and the fun little wig. And, you know, it I feel like she gives heavy aunt energy. Yeah. And I can't help but also feel like she's giving kindergarten or like elementary school teacher with some of her outfits. And we just got Bring Her Back, where the main character in Bring Her Back also kind of, although she's the antagonist, right? She is also wearing bright colors. So I'm loving how we are changing this perspective of costume when it's presented on the villains of these films. We're changing the look, the makeup, everything to disarm the viewer. And it's creepy. She's a creepy old woman. I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:10

Mm-hmm. Let me tell you what else is creepy. Because for sure she was, but before we even get to really see her, I think this is actually after we see her in a nightmare, but before we get to see her live and in full color, we have Justine staked out from Alex's house.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:29

Oh my gosh. This scene was so uncomfortable. And it was the closest this scene got to being scary. And this is where again I want to actually highlight even the sound in this movie because I talked about that little girl's narration in the beginning of the film. But the sound design and the fact that you can hear such subtle movement and motion and know exactly what's happening, even if it's not happening on screen, is just stellar. Because this mother shambles out, and at this point we don't really know that it's Alex's mom, but she shambles out, and it feels so uncomfortable, all that almost like a really fucked up version of Edward Scissorhands.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:12

Goes straight to the car. Justine is still asleep.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:16

I don't know how.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:17

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Gets into the backseat. Are you kidding me? Hearing that.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:23

Fuck no.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:24

Oh my gosh. Okay. Again, it really reminds me of Halloween, Michael Myers, hiding in the back seat, waiting to fuck up Annie Brackett, or even reminding me of the great slasher Urban Legend, the man in the backseat. For sure. Classic stuff. But for this mother to only snip a lock of hair, fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:47

And we don't even we don't even really know why at that moment. You know what I mean? We're just like, what the fuck is the purpose of this hair snipping? You know what I mean? Yeah. We don't even know. We don't even know. But it's just that hand lurking around and doing the snip. Oof, no.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:03

No, it was so tense, so uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:05

It's that backseat horror. We just can't have it. We just can't have it. Yeah. It is a it is a great scene.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:12

And I will say that's the moment where I was like, when is this gonna get scary? And then when that's the intro to it, right? That's the intro to remind you what kind of movie you're watching, for sure. Because when it started to hit, I was like, oh, okay, here we go. And it's quite an opener.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:30

For sure. It definitely is. I also really loved the opening scene. I think the opening scene is one of the better scenes in the whole movie as well. It's the simultaneous disappearance of 17 children at exactly 217 a.m. There's a lot that goes behind this scene, right? Like the scene, I feel like sets an unsettling and almost surreal tone right off the bat, but the whole 217, right? Like we're all talking about the significance of 217, and like it's just very strange. Like 17 children disappear out of this classroom. Two people in the classroom do not disappear. The teacher and Alex, right? So we have 217, 217 a.m. Matthew 217 talks about a massive killing of infants, right? In the Bible. Also, Stephen King has the room 217 and the shining. We get scenes that kind of nod to the shining in this movie. He's a Stephen King fan. You even said that, Binks. Like 217 shows up all over. There's a lot of weird significance that I don't know if it was intentional or not. It probably was. So there is that aspect, but even just the stillness and the quiet suburban setting mixed with the horror of kids running away and vanishing creates this creepy atmosphere, and it effectively kind of encapsulates the film's core themes of loss and fear and the unknown. And it was kind of like interesting, right? You're just how creepy would it be if like a bunch of kids disappeared in your town and everyone's got them on like your ring cameras and they're just fucking like running weirdly away into the darkness.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:04

Fuck that. Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh. No, thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:09

I would absolutely delete the footage. I think what it also is is that they're like, what? It's true. I'd be so terrified that my ring camera's gonna be haunted now. But it's also the fact that the way that they run, I full on died of laughter when you said Naruto run, Mac. I muted myself because I couldn't even believe you said that because I hadn't even considered it in the moment.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:33

But the way that they run is like so weird.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:37

And now, if they ran a little bit faster and weren't as rigid and it went a little bit further back, yes, they would be Naruto running, like they're going on that, you know, invasion of Area 51, or like that kid, you know, in in high school that was racing to lunch with a massive backpack. We all had one of those, but it's just the whole nature of it, the creepiness. But the song that's also playing in that opening shot too feels like a sense of free freedom and like freeing of these children that have just been like purged out and they're just running out into the forest to live a happy life for some weird shit. Who knows? But I think it was very opening scene. It's bizarre. It's fantastic for sure. I gotta say, my for me, there's a lot of scenes that I've thoroughly enjoy. I will say that some of them are definitely with James because I think he is hilarious. A scene that's gonna stick with me and a moment that I full on like had to grab onto my brother because I was like, Chris, oh my god, you know, is uh when Archer goes down to the basement and he's looking around, he's looking for a son, and then all of a sudden you get good old Gladys Gladys, and it's giving, taking of Deborah Logan. If you know, you know. I full on was like, fuck that noise. I am terrified of that movie. My brother knows that. My brother's also not like not he loves the movie, but it's just like very scary. And I was like, Gladys, girl, you're changing it up on me. You look real scary now, and I wasn't about that surprise. It was just a very like uh steering moment in my brain.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:16

Yeah, you know what though? De taking a Deborah Logan is a great comparison, but also it was very barbarian.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:22

It did kind of shine through for sure. It did kind of shine through. But now for now, still hilarious.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:27

Okay, well, all right, still hilarious. I mean, the jump scare did get people in the theater, like seeing her fucking scraggly ass hair. Oh my gosh. Seeing her, just like, yeah, hilarious, honestly, just a great moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:42

There's another great moment with her, and we've talked about it a bit, and that's of course when she gets completely torn apart, but like the lead up to that, she hits that point, the twig snaps. It's like those, you know, those reels or videos on the internet where there would be that soundtrack and it would go run, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, d, whatever it is, right? The little song. And then she just like takes off, she launches, and the kids are chasing her and running through all the stuff to get to her, and people are laughing left and right while watching this scene. They just like absolutely loved the mayhem that it was. But I think my favorite scene is not a scene, I gotta cheat, it's an act, and that's James's entire vignette. That whole act of this film, I think, is my favorite thing. Sean, you called it out, like what a guy this guy is. And to see one, to see him get like completely taken down by our boy is just just chill out a little bit, just a little bit, like 20% or something. But like, no, that whole thing, him living his life and like robbing this house and trying to sell stuff. There was so much comedy in his act. It was hilarious just to like watch him do the stupid stuff that he's trying to do to get by. But to hear him speak and try to reason and move through life was so compelling. I don't know why it was really compelling, but it was just like a lot of fun to watch him work and to watch watch him be himself. He was funny, his interactions with the police were also hilarious, whether that was in person or over the phone, trying to get that reward. The repeated stabbing with the needles here, they have that comedy of repetition that I absolutely love. And it was so effective that we got not just the one needle in the pocket accidentally, oops, but like the needles to the face.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:25

To the face.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:26

And the fact that the guy was like, of course, afraid of getting stabbed with needles after his counter earlier, and to get stabbed in the face with three of them or four of them, whatever it was, was fantastic and also well earned. But that was so satisfying. And the fact that he's the one that let us finally see Gladys, you know, pretty much, right? Like, you got to see her off in the woods, she's clashing with the green because of her bright red. And for him to have the audience reaction, I think was perfect because he's the lovable buffoon. That's really what it is. Like, we don't know why we know he's like a piece of crap and is making horrible choices and doing really horrible stupid things to try to survive, but like at the same time, he's the buffoon and we love him. There's something about him on screen that's great, and then he turns and sees sees her and he's like, Nope, and then makes his way into the tent. First of all, what do you think the tent's gonna do? That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:14

What is the tent gonna do? I mean, it's very true because James is a character. If you've if you've ever like known like an actual addict like that, it's very, very similar to how they act in real life. I've known a couple of people that are like that, and you they're like they're like semi-charming. Like you kind of they're like kind of likable people, but they will just like they will just find ways to get what they need or get what they want from you or anyone else, but they're just these likable people. And I gotta give it up to this guy who played James because he played that addict role so well, it just really, really, really good.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:53

Yeah. Oh, he really did. I mean, he was super charming. He was a lot of where I think the charm in comedy came during long stretches of this movie that just felt super bleak. And it's kind of wild that we see this man struggling and on his grind as a junkie, and that is the comedy in this movie. Let's just frame for a second what this movie actually is. Thankfully, he was like a breath thankfully, he was a breath of fresh air, but also, damn, when that's the comedic relief in the movie, what's up? What's going on? I do have a counterpoint though, and I want to be very clear that I I really, really love this movie. I also want to be exceptionally clear that I think every single character was really well acted. But I do wonder, and I'm sitting back and I'm reflecting on this, I understand the purposes that they serve. But do we really, really, really need maybe James? Okay, sure. Do we fucking need Paul? Because I don't feel like I need Paul. We don't fucking need Paul. I I also don't know that we like super need James, apart from like needing that comedic relief to just like take away some of the bleak intention. But Paul, we absolutely don't need. And where this movie starts to feel a little long, I'm like, get rid of Paul's bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:12

I mean, it's how they tied the whole thing together. They the junkie tries to get the reward from the pawn shop that he saw, and he's like, ooh, I can get fifty thousand dollars. That's a lot of drugs. Let me, I let I just saw some creepy ass shit at this house I just robbed. So, like, let me go tell the cops, and this happens to be the cop, you know. That yeah, so it's all you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:32

Is it connected? Yeah, does it need to be?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:35

No, it could be any cop, I guess. Doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:39

I don't even think it's so much as like it needed to be any cop. I just don't think that his entire perspective, his POV, that whole cut was necessary. That's where it can get very long. James, I think is necessary for a few reasons. One, he reminds me as a character, he reminds me of Chris's best friend in Get Out. You know, like Get Out is a thriller, horror. You know, you need the comedic relief to kind of be a representative of the audience. So James, to an extent, is the audience when it comes to like, hey, you good? Like, what's going on? Like, this is creepy. The fuck? You know, like that kind of sentiment, that kind of humor, the charm, I suppose, is a little bit of what the audience is feeling as you're seeing some of these creepy things. A. B, more most definitely, you need someone who would be desperate enough to go into that house and break in. No other character would do that, right? So we needed someone to get into that house so that we can then see a lot of the scare and see the state of Alex's house. So necessary. But the thing about Paul is like, I didn't need the however long 10, 15 minutes of his perspective. I didn't need to know that he was a piece of shit because either way, he's not like a very big vehicle to the story, aside from someone who just sho happens to show up to Alex's house with James. That could have just been been within James's POV. We already got enough of Paul's you know character through Justine's POV. So I just don't necessarily see why him as an entity needed to happen. Because what did I actually learn more about from this in terms of this story? Not absolutely nothing. Too too much.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:24

Absolutely nothing. The the thing about him is that it feels like truly a waste of time. And I I sit back and I'm like, okay, yes, he is funny for sure. There are moments of comedy all throughout it, but the ultimately the value that he adds as a character, what it felt like was a way to pad the body count. We're padding the body count to add more complexity, to add more friction whenever Justine and Archer get to the house. It just felt like a mechanic to get someone there. It didn't have to be him, for my opinion. Honestly, I would have even taken James. If we have a vignette, sure, make it a little bit shorter. I would have loved to see him pop up more continuously throughout and then find a different way into the house. But I just, uh man, it's the one thing that I struggle with because I feel like they, as characters in the way that they're executed, again, exceptionally well performed. I'm not actually mad at the movie, but it's also like in retrospect, like, okay, this movie's a little fucking long, and I didn't need Paul.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:27

I agree. I did it is a little long. It is a little long. And now, in terms of Paul, like how it adds layers to Justine, I think that Justine is a great, I guess we could say, main character. For what we got, very complex in terms of an embodiment of someone who is extremely lonely, wants to care for someone. And as someone who's worked in education for most of their life, you know, I can relate to the idea of wanting to care for your students, almost be like a parent, but knowing that there are boundaries and there is a fine line. And when you are so lonely, and this is the only connection that you have, right, to maybe an ideal life that you would want, it's very stark and bleak when you go back home to nothing, right? And in her case, obviously she's clearly an alcoholic. That's what her vice is, is the best explanation as to why she continued to stay asleep in that car, because that vodka knocked her the fuck out, that's for sure. So I think it was, you know, like a really interesting perspective to give for a main character. Typically, even with, you know, we see an addict, now we're seeing an alcoholic, like the these kinds of addictions. You innately just don't like these people because they are like terrible. And although Justine definitely has her flaws, she's clearly selfish, doesn't really care about these boundaries and these like rules that I mean.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:55

Her pushiness is the reason why this whole thing was resolved almost. Do you know what I mean? I mean it was a collaborative effort, but her pushiness and her boundary crossing of following Alex home was pretty much the reason why they connected all the dots at the end.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:09

Oh, thank God. But in any other way, right? In any other perspective, no one likes that. You know what I mean? It's cons it's perceived as being selfish. But in this case, it worked out. And good thing for it. And we could even look at Archer as well. He's come his pushiness and obsession is coming from a place of grief. So I think like all of these characters, although we don't get too much time with them, you know, it we're not following just one character, we're following the POVs of several. So obviously, you're not going to be able to like sink your teeth into just one person for the entire two hours. What we do get is pretty great.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:47

Mm-hmm. I'm just saying, ditch Paul and give me more of Archer. Or any of the other parents of any of the other 17 kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:55

Not a bad point though. Because like if we go to our main characters, we're trying to ground them a little bit by making them just people, not like you know, the best of people, not the worst of people, but just people. And you know, it's pretty similar to like The Last of Us, it's pretty similar to The Walking Dead, at least, where we try to show there's a darker side to some, but you know, a lighter side to them as well, and there's like a balance or whatever. And then we get, gosh, all right, so that's I'm gonna go back to James again, but like basically his whole thing turned it around for me because up until that point, I was like, Thanks, Paul. Like, I truly don't care. I was like, okay, this is probably gonna get a little long, it's probably gonna get a little annoying. And then it was like when we watched The Last of Us and we got Nick Offerman, and that entire episode, that whole was it called like long, long time or something like that. That whole episode there was like, wow, this is what storytelling they are capable of. And I think that's what we reached when we got to James, and then we kept going, of course, and it was like, okay, now we've really kind of brought it back around because that thing with Paul was it was an anchor, and it was feeling like it was pulling us into the water there for a minute, and we don't have to like him, we don't have to hate him. And I feel like they were trying a little too hard to make us hate him a little bit. And I was like, you don't have we don't have to, like it still works without that. I think he still adds something by being present in the film. I think his bouncing between the other characters works. I just don't like you, Chris. I don't know that he needed his own act, I don't know that that was required because his presence in the other acts actually worked out, I think, fairly well on its own.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:24

Mediocre comments. At least he was a detective. Like anybody, literally anybody in that precinct, could have added more value to this movie than Paul did. Not the actor. Give that actor another role. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:36

It's true, it's true. But since you brought up Archer, I want to say, thank God that this was Josh Brolin and not Pedro Pascal. This was supposed to be Pedro Pascal, and when he got cast into uh Fantastic Four, he had the entire original cast of this film had basically fell apart, and Zach Krager had to recast everybody again. Thank goodness. Because Josh Brolin. Just embodies this sense of like despair and anger innately just by existing, quite frankly. Like something about his face. And it's funny that you brought up Old Boy Mac earlier. I mean, obviously, you're talking about the original one, but that he's in the remake because I was like, man, it's something about Josh Bolin. He just is so good. He's so good as Archer. I think he also is really good at like being funny, too, without even trying. The whole bit when he's like throwing James left and right, like all over the place, is so ridiculous. Don't get me wrong. It's absolutely absurd. Kept tossing him around like he's, you know, just a bag. But not that he was a really great person, like to kind of add into the flavor of the cast.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:42

This really did make me want to rewatch the original Anime of Horror, though, to see his dad, James Bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:48

Ah, yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask what I think everyone should be asking. And between Alex's parents and the rest of these 17 kids, are these people just pissing and shitting themselves because they're getting spoon-fed fucking soup for days? And where are they defecating themselves? Like, what's happening here? The cleanup job has got to be horrendous because they can't be holding that all in for days.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:13

Oh, is it kind of like what's the deal with the bathrooms in Hogwarts and Harry Potter, right? Like, does magic just have a solution for this?

SPEAKER_06 1:29:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:22

The magic stops short at being able to feed you, but it does extend into being able to clean up when you defecate.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:29

I guess. I guess. Because that, you know, we don't explore that too much.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:33

That's such a great question. And really, that it all comes down to poor Alex. We have not talked about him enough because that kid, okay, is going to need such an insane amount of therapy. It's absurd. And look, if I have one little gripe, it's probably that. Zach, how are you gonna end this movie just being like, he just went to live off with another aunt? That's much nicer. I feel so bad. And it it really reflects like this monotony of caregiving. The whole montage of like every day feels like the same. You have to do the same routine over and over. And how intense it must feel to carry that weight, that secret. You're a kid. You don't want to hurt anybody, so you don't know what else to do. You don't know what your options are, obviously. So I really felt for Alex, but I gotta be honest, there's one small part of this that I also just didn't quite get. And maybe that's the bit with Zach Kregger, too, is like, you got plot holes, buddy, and you just don't care to fill them. But if anyone was checking their ring cameras or whatever to see the footage of these kids leaving their house, how is it that no one thought to check the ring cameras for the houses next to Alex's? Because those kids were all clearly in droves down that one street heading straight to his house. So none of his neighbors have any ring cameras.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:55

It's the magic.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:56

Maybe they don't. Because I mean, I think at a certain point, these and they're only 30 days.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:01

They're not paying the subscription, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:03

Yeah, yeah. Broke. I'm pretty sure somebody could have, you know, issued some kind of subpoena and gotten the actual footage from ring. However, I think these kids just disappear in the dark. There's also still like 30 days into their investigation. So I mean, you see how you have Paul in this precinct, so maybe they're not all really up to snuff. It feels like they could have been putting things together that maybe they completely they hadn't completely, but it seemed like Alex also lived a little ways away. Like those kids were running for a fucking while before they got there.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:39

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:41

Now, I I still stand firm that I think Paul's existence is probably the worst part of this movie. Although, again, still really fucking funny. However, I think one thing that makes me want to dig deeper if I ever watch this again, is gonna be this thing that I can't quite place and figure out because Zack Krager did not intend or write this movie with the intention of touching the allegory of school shootings. This was separate from that. Now there is obviously this layer of this movie when you have 17 kids from a classroom vanish. Of course, I think that's a natural thing for us to like connect with. But then why does Archer have a vision of an assault rifle in the sky with 217 on it?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:29

That was weird, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:32:31

Yeah. And I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but also like w yeah, I just I need to I think re-watch this movie to explore it.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:38

No, I actually it's thank you so much for bringing this up. I forgot to say, I actually just finished reading an interview where he had mentioned the the David Fincher thing. And in that same interview, he actually said that he has no idea why he put that there, which I think is why so many people this is why so many people also are so frustrated with Zach Kruger because it just infuriates them when he says things like this so blatantly and bluntly. He actually has no idea why he put that there. He said that he's still trying to figure it out, he had an idea and a vision of the and has no clue.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:12

Sir Wow, okay, okay. So now this actually pisses me off a little bit because this is such a direction to go in. And you mean to fucking tell me that you didn't intend for this parallel or conclusion to be drawn to your material based on what's actually happened in this country. You have a story about children vanishing, and it's all centered around a school in a classroom, and you put an assault rifle in your film, and you're just like, I don't know why I did it. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 1:33:48

Can I would you like me to read it word for word? What he said. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:51

I don't know. It might make me more mad.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:54

I'm gonna read it. I wanna I wanna upset everybody. I love stirring the pot.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:58

Okay, he the interviewer says, There's a surreal moment in the movie where Archer has a dream and sees a giant assault weapon floating over a house. Would you be able to speak about what that moment means to you? I don't know. It's a very important moment for me in this movie, and to be frank with you, I think what I love about it is so much is that I don't understand it. I have a few different ideas of what it might be there for, but I don't have the right answer. I like the idea that everyone is probably going to have their own kind of interaction or their own relationship with that scene, whether they don't give a shit about it and it's boring, or whether they think it's some sort of political statement, or whether they think it's just cool. I don't really care. It's not up to me. I just like that it's there.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:39

Wow. It sounds like he absolutely knew and is saving face and saying, I'm not gonna upset anybody and just let the viewer you know come to their own conclusion. But he like smirking why he says it. That's what it feels like.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:53

No, that's that's what we hope. But he is also a comedian. So as a comedian and as someone who I have seen several interviews where he quite frankly has said some like, I really don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:06

I'm afraid that it really could be that he doesn't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:10

And I think why I liked Barbarian so much was because it's the audacity, it's Harry Potter and the audacity of this bitch is why I think I like Barbarian and why a lot of people hate it because of this kind of sentiment in general.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:23

It's just such a specific thing, you know what I mean? Like, what?

SPEAKER_01 1:35:28

It's just crazy. It is interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:31

Uh, this is just such a heartbreaking thing. And to just like, oh, I don't know. That just seems so weird to me. It seems so weird. Intentional or unintentional, and that's where I was like, oh, I'm just gonna rewatch the movie because like maybe there's something else, like maybe it's connected to something else. What a specific thing to put in your movie and have this glaring, gaping hole of I don't know why it's there, but it's cool. Is it cool, man? Is it I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:02

Yeah, I don't know. Who knows? It is an interesting, it is very interesting the thought to put that in there. It definitely could have different meanings. Weaponizing the children at 217, the alarm clock look of it all. It just seems out of place and it just doesn't fit very well with the rest of the movie. I think that's why it's kind of that it just is off-putting. And other than that, I really don't have a lot of bad things to say about this movie. Maybe like that we had to find a way to plug in Justin Long. Maybe that's probably the worst part because I really just did not need to see him. I feel like, you know what I mean? And but but on the other end, I did like to see Sarah Paxton, my old Spanish class fucking partner in crime, dude. That was cool for her to plug into this movie. Loved seeing that.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:51

What? Did I miss that fucking story?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:53

No, that was high school, ninth grade, tenth grade, Sarah Paxton. I think I've said it before because yeah, she's because she's in Last House on the left or the remake or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:02

You went to school with Sarah Paxton?

SPEAKER_01 1:37:04

Yeah, and the freaking kids were part three, and that guy was a dick. And I'll say it here and I'll say it proud. I don't know, would it Trevor something? I don't know. He's also in some Disney movies, a lot of Disney kids at my high school.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:17

That's crazy, Sean. That's crazy because meanwhile, I didn't even realize until the premiere for this movie that he was married to Sarah Paxton. So I was like, bitch, what? And then when the cameo thought that was the cutest thing as can be, I was like, love that. But really, it was Justin Long. When Justin Long showed up on that screen, I almost punched out of my chair. Everybody lost their shit, everyone was screaming because that was the same reaction I had during Barbarian. Because I we all know this is not new that I love Justin Long. But when he did it again, I was like, you son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:50

Did it again? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:52

Did it again.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:53

But I did mention in the spoiler-free zone, right? That I would have tweaked the ending just a little bit. So I'm gonna explain myself. And I don't really want to change the ending as a whole. I love the way that Alex turns the kids on Gladys. I think that's great. I don't think we change any of that, right? I think it's great. It was a little campy. I'm here for it. But I do think that when they're gonna mention that Alex is now living with another aunt, Chris, you said, is this like another witch in the family? I think that could have maybe been explored a little bit. I think it could be also interesting that now Alex has like maybe dived into a little bit of this witchcraft himself, you know, because he now knows how it works. And so maybe he's exploring it. And I think that not that they have to give us too much. I don't think they have to give us too much, but it would have been interesting to get like a post or like a mid-credit scene, just a really quick little snippet of maybe like Alex's hand reaching out and snipping someone's hair. That would have been fucking cool.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:51

Here's the thing one, you're making me think of Jamie in Halloween four, and at the end of that movie, she has the scissors and she stabs her mom. Her father mom. Yeah. Okay, that that's one. Two, why did I suddenly go into this rabbit hole immediately as you spoke and thought, wow, Zach Krager is really gonna make the next version of The Craft, and it's gonna be a prequel to this where Gladys and her sisters are all gonna be calling the corners. It could happen. Seriously, and we're gonna get to this in the B-sides and we'll talk about it a little bit more. But we had X and then we had Pearl. I see the same thing happening here.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:33

I don't know how I feel about that. I don't know, honestly, because I feel like it it makes me happy as a self-contained story. And to take it further, I'm like, would it tarnish this one? Unless they just absolutely nailed it. I mean, I don't know, but like I don't have a lot to complain about here, to be honest. And that's why I feel a little bit protective, maybe. Be like the Naruto run, maybe was like a little silly, but you know, there was other silly parts here. There was some, you know, silliness. It worked, okay? Like, that's my nitpick right there. But like, if when we get to the end and you have to question, do I want this to be different? Do I wish they had done this or that? And I'm like, it would have changed how I felt about the whole thing, though, because it was a happy ending. And I love a good happy ending. That sounds weird, but like I love that it's a story that's wrapped up, and we are satisfied by taking out this antagonist, which we don't see that much of anymore. Yes, they kind of left it open by by throwing that out there that he's gonna go say with another ant, but it's also in a cutesy way, it's just like, oh, he just moved on with his life to say with another ant. He moved on, but also you could think about it the other way, and maybe it's not, and maybe it's bad, and something else is gonna come from it. And that, like, kind of in between there, it's like, all right, we don't know, therefore, nothing bad is happening yet, and I'm okay with that. And that satisfies me, like to take it further and like, oh gosh, he's gonna go through more of this. I mean, it would probably be really entertaining, but I don't know. It's concerning, let's say, that the threat is not over yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:58

Most definitely. I think for me, if I if I had to pick something that I haven't talked about in terms of potentially worse part, maybe is those last seconds or moments in the narration, because as I obviously made it clear before, and people's frustrations with Zack Kregger, is that he leaves things super just out in the open. And in a situation where, okay, the witch, Gladys, obviously, like, is dead. So you would think, okay, maybe the hold on these people has been relinquished. And you just don't really know. I understand that, you know, eventually they started talking, but there's an element of like, okay, so what does life actually look like realistically post this? Okay. 17 children obviously destroyed eight full-on dismembered a woman in the front yard of someone's house, and we're just gonna go about our married days. Like they just went with their parents and started talking again, and Alex just went off with her aunt. Like, it just seems, you know, like very fairy tale-ish and it fits for the analogy of a goosebumps type story. I I think it's just like a typical, like, okay, well, we're finally here, and this is just where we're gonna leave it and end, you know? Uh, so I guess if I had to pick, maybe it would be that. But in terms of the overall film, though, even with that being said, I would re-watch it again. I tried to actually re-watch it before this recording. I think it's a very entertaining movie. I I think the problem with him in particular in this whole like post-barbarian world that we're living in is a lot of people thought that Barbarian was one of the best movies of all time. Insanely. Like that it was incredible. And I love Barbarian, but even I know that that's ridiculous to say. I think a lot of people are forgetting that plot twists are a thing. And when I tell people that this is how he writes, he's very like, no rhyme or reason, just throws it to the wall. There is a distinct difference between that kind of writing and the way that Stephen King approaches things. You can't call Zack Krager a master director and like changing the genre as a whole when the guy is just going on a whim and just writing what he writes. For some people, it works only because I don't take it seriously. The guy is a comedian, you know? It's just like Jordan Peel in a way. Jordan Peel also is like writing and and he approaches it very differently, but there's comedy, there's a when comedians do horror, it's so fun because they tap into something extremely dark. Osgood Perkins, another one, right? But Zack Krager in particular just approaches it in a sense of he just will write and see whatever matches and mishmashes together and makes a movie. There's nothing really like masterful about that. But is it a good time sometimes? Definitely. So I don't think you need to take this one too seriously, folks. Re-watch it, go with your friends, enjoy it at the theater, maybe at home on an off day. I can easily see this being like a comfort watch in some crazy way, because I think it's just a good time. I don't think it needs to be taken more seriously than that.

SPEAKER_07 1:44:15

Yeah, I'm gonna watch this again, even though I think it's infuriating that he just put something so specific, so specific there, but it does make me want to re-watch this movie because there's a certain song that I've had playing in my head since watching that opening scene, and that has pumped up kicks. Yeah, it just feels like the worst possible song for this, and also yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:44

Wow, that's awesome. Wow, it's on the nose. I I can't wait to watch this again, specifically when it hits streaming. You know, I'm not these days for whatever reason, I don't love going to a movie theater. It's all the people, it's all the people. That's why I don't like going to movie theaters anymore, right? So, like, I can't wait until this is available at home, sit on the couch, watch it again. And these days, I'll be honest, I don't think that often about movies I see, especially if I see them in theater. I'm like, that was awesome. It was a great time. I'm probably not gonna have time to watch this again. Now, this one, like, I want to make time for it because it was such a stellar watch. And I'll know, of course, everything that's going to happen, but like, who cares? I think you know, you're in it for the overall experience, and being able to hit pause and focus on something would go a long way when you're trying to soak up each moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:32

Yeah, for sure. I can't wait to watch this one again. I love a good witch movie. I always say that we don't get enough witches, and it's true, we just don't get enough witches. Witches all fucking day, bitches.

SPEAKER_07 1:45:43

I really thought you were about to say witches get snitches, but hey, more power to you. We went from the witch killing that baby and bathing in its blood and the witch to this woman. Literally, not a single child dying, which is honestly fantastic for a witch movie. But for now, there you have it. Folks, weapons has earned a universal slash. And we've certainly had a robust discussion here. There's a lot more to say about this movie, though, and the conversation doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:12

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SPEAKER_04 1:46:30

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SPEAKER_07 1:46:40

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember don't cross the salt line.