How Did This Get Made? - Ghost In The Machine LIVE!

Episode Date: December 23, 2022

This week Jason, June and Paul are coming to you live from the MGM Northfield and breaking down the 1993 film Ghost In The Machine. The crew discusses the Address Book Killers motives and if he prefers to work in the digital or analog world, the logic of the lotto prank, and death by microwave. Agitate. Destroy. Die.  Go to www.hdtgm.com for tour dates, tickets, and more.Follow Paul on Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/HDTGM Discord: discord.gg/hdtgmPaul’s Discord: https://discord.gg/paulscheerCheck out Paul and Rob Huebel live on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/friendzone) every Thursday 8-10pm ESTSubscribe to The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael here: listen.earwolf.com/deepdiveSubscribe to Unspooled with Paul and Amy Nicholson here: listen.earwolf.com/unspooledCheck out The Jane Club over at www.janeclub.comCheck out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hdtgmWhere to Find Jason, June & Paul:@PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter@Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on TwitterJason is Not on Twitter

Looks like we're going to need a bigger magnet. We saw Ghost in the Machine, so you know what that means. We saw Ghost in the Machine, so you know what that means. Hello people of Earth, and hello people of Ohio! We are live at the MGM Northfield, and we have a show. Because tonight's show is taking place in the same state where the movie, The Ghost in the Machine, took place. This movie is an indictment of Ohio computer stores.

Ohio police! It breaks it all down. This movie saw years before anyone else did that what if a serial killer was put in an MRI machine? And then, during an electrical storm, somehow that machine went nutty, sucked out his soul, and put it online. I don't know if that's exactly what happens. It seems like that is the premise. I've never been in an MRI machine room, but lightning happening inside of it feels like there was a structural issue at play. But, I have to say, this movie does see into the future. I mean, this movie came out in 1993.

So, holy shit, we saw some things. I mean, literally, we'll get into it in this episode. Some of the things that this movie hypothesized has come to fruition, and now is illegal. So, there you go. Great job, screenwriters. This movie should not be confused with Lawnmower Man 2, or a movie that we've not done called Shocker, which is about a guy who gets electrocuted in the electric chair, of course, and then goes into people's outlets. But, it's very different. Very different.

Do not tell the producers it seems the same. Tonight, we're going to break down this movie every step of the way with you, but first, let me introduce my co-host. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Jason Manzuchus. What's up, jerks? That's what I'm talking about. How are we doing Northfield, Ohio? No, no. Jason, not Northfield. Ohio. Just Ohio. Just Ohio? Don't say Northfield. Do not say Northfield.

Okay, JK, how are we doing Northfield, Ohio? No! We can't get into this movie without introducing my next co-host. Please welcome June Diane Rayfield. Welcome June. Hi, Paul. How are you? I'm well. Thank you for asking. Now, house lights up for one second. I want to show you some amazing costumes that we have here. Where is our deep diver? Our deep diver with pickleball racket right there.

Oh, God bless. I love that. You know, I want to tell everyone I love that costume. I am missing pickleball to be here. And that's hard. These costumes, we were watching from the side here earlier. Incredible stuff. Really fantastic. Indianapolis, they kind of showed up.

Detroit, they kind of showed up. But Ohio, these costumes fucking showed up. Yeah. I mean, more thought went into these costumes than the making of the screenplay and story narrative for the movie that we saw. Ghost in the Machine. Ghost in the Machine. Well, you know, I was going to say not... If you told me quick what's the name of the movie, I'd be like, don't know. I will say this.

Internet Crete? I mean, not since Maximum Overdrive have we seen more machines come to life that don't seemingly connect to the Internet or have microchips in them. I don't even know. If you're inside the Internet, you can just control electricity, microwave ovens. Dishwashers. I knew we were in for a rough ride when the first two minutes, the opening credits, the exciting introduction is just schematics of microchips. Oh, yeah. It didn't go crazy.

It was like, here, we just have these schematics and we're just going to show you for two minutes. It was an internal... Well, you just said, what year did you say this was? 1993. So in 1993, to see the schematics of like a motherboard or a circuit or whatever that is, was like, whoa. Everything in this movie seems as though it's like, this is the future. And it is nuts. Well, I want to start even before we head into electricity.

I just actually want to start with the basics of the serial killer. Okay. The address book murderer? The address book murderer. By the way, we have people dressed up as the address book. We saw. That was amazing. I want to see the address because I heard it, but I didn't see it.

All the way in the back. Where's the address book? So in the world of the movie, are we to understand that this serial killer steals people's address books and then kills in order everyone listed in the entire address book? Correct. That is unreasonable. The amount of murder. The amount of people in this area, in this state, in this area.

At the beginning, does anybody remember who is he killing at the very beginning? Well, he's killing a family. Yeah, I can't remember their names. But what is their name? Because I'm wondering how far has he gotten into someone's address book? Is it the Smiths? Right. Is it the S's?

Okay. Everybody shut the fuck up. You go. Tarpley, right? Yardley. Yardley. Yardley. Is it?

He's at Y. Wow. He got to the Y's. The police must be losing their mind. Well, I mean, here's the thing. There's Y. These people know Y's. I mean, here's part of the problem with that is if you have an address book, you might have multiple Y's.

That could have been like the fifth Y. Oh, yeah. That's what I'm saying. It's not just I'm picking one person or family from one letter. He seems to be going through every single name. This is what I found so interesting. This has been going on for quite some time. And the way they deal with this serial killer is so light, like, oh, it's going to rain on Christmas.

At this point, if this serial killer has gotten to Y in one address book because they insinuate that the killer has used multiple address books, that must mean here in your home state hundreds and hundreds of people. At least. This is the most prolific serial killer in human history. Unless he has like ADD where he's like, oh, I'm so into this address book. And then he finds another one. It's like, oh, I got to go there. You know, so he's like constantly...

You think with some Adderall, he would just be able to kill one address book worth of people? Well, because when he finds... He's like so easily distracted, he's like, oh, another address book? How often does he come across address book? Well, like when he finds... Well, I'll tell you, because it's his new software has just been... Yes. ...is being sold at the store he works in.

It's too bad he dies on the verge of its ubiquity. He, as a hacker, would have had access to unlimited power. The unlimited... But the truth is, Jason, here's what's interesting about this guy. And it's interesting that he ends up in the internet, because I don't know, actually, if he would have kept on killing if he didn't have the hard copies of the books. So you think he's an analog killer?

I do. You think digital life... It's not for him. ...would have been uninteresting to him? I do agree with you, because I think there was something very much like... We forget the opening of the movie. It's so sweet. He's butchering people.

And he punches through a frame to pull out a picture, because he also keeps a scrapbook of family fees. I forgot about that. Gotta have the trophies, baby. I mean, now take a look at the news report here, because I want to see how they deal with it. It's as if it's an afterthought. Take a look.

In local news, the authorities are now saying that a local man who died in a car accident late Monday may have been the serial murderer they've been hunting for the last three years. He has been identified as Carl Hochman of Lindhurst, nicknamed the address book killer, because he would steal an address book and kill those listed. Wow. That's scary stuff.

Do you have a wonder how many address books you're in? Never do, Kelly. It's one of the advantages of having no friends. Hundreds of people are dead. If the police... If the police know... If the police... This is where the whole movie is flawed.

If the police know enough to say this is the address book killer, he's using people's address books to kill people in order. That's incredibly easy to stop. Well, whose address book is it? The minute they get to one person's... There's got to be somebody who's like, oh, this is my... I know all of these people who've been killed.

This is either my address book or my friend's address book. I know where we're going next. Basic. This would be... Yeah, it's like tell all the Rs... That you know... This is an indictment of the Ohio Police Department. By the way, I just want to point out,

three years this guy's been killing. The serial address, three years. Again, it's an indictment of the police department in Ohio. And he should be so easy to catch, he is visibly the biggest creep in the world. Oh, well, I listen... Kids, adults are like, oh, that guy's no good. But you know what, though?

Here's what I'm trying to understand, and in no way am I trying to defend the Ohio PD. But I am trying to understand how they even found out he was killing via address books. Oh, right, because they had... But that's a hard connection to make. They would have to know the address books, and so mustn't they know the next incident?

They should have been able to shut him down, book one. But here's the thing. Karen Allen's address book is stolen. She's public about that, and they're like, well, he's dead. But yet everyone in her address book is dying. And the police are not interested. And also, I guess this is what I don't understand about our serial killer.

Well, first of all, why address books? Like, just why? But I heard something about systems of care. I didn't really... couldn't make many connections there. But why... Why does he also have to kill the person whose address book it is? And why does that person seem like the person

he most wants to kill? I don't know, because they're definitely not in their own address book. Yeah. Exactly, and that's... Imagine the guilt. The guilt of losing your address book and then everyone you know gets killed by you.

It's horrible. It's horrible. Maybe that's why people don't come forward, because they know that they don't want to be complicit. Like, you left it in the computer store? Like, I will say also that the address book... Like, the address book killer... Well, I have a lot. I have a lot.

The address book killer's MO. Movies about serial killers, Silence of the Lambs, all of these kind of movies about serial killers. What I'm interested in is the mind of the serial killer. Yes. And outsmarting that serial killer. That's not what this movie is interested in.

Not this one. He's just a, I'm going to get you. And I'm going to kill everybody. But this is my question. He has no run-in with Karen Allen. So there's like, Karen Allen's at the store. Her son touches the little... No, I'm sorry. Paul, can I interrupt you?

Yeah. He does... I've seen that he has a run-in with Karen Allen. He's only interested in her address book. But yet he says, I can't wait for address book. But he's like, I can't wait to taste your fear and drink your blood. I'm saving you for last.

I'm in a computer. I can taste your blood from inside the digital universe. I run around via fiber optic cables and also electricity. I can make dishwashers go crazy. What is this? I mean, there's a moment where the guy who runs the computer store, they're in the dark because I guess they're shutting off all the lights before they shut down for the night, completely in the dark.

And that man, the serial killer, is sniffing an address book, which the boss catches him sniffing it. And he goes, oh, where did I get such a great guy like you? I love that scene. I wrote that down. I loved that scene because serial killers are always depicted as having weird fetishes or some sort of creepy thing going on. And his is just, he's smelling her overcrowd,

overstuffed address book that has envelopes and notes. And he's like, this is the hottest object. He's like, I'm gonna kill everybody. It's like he wants to fuck it, but he's gonna kill everybody in this fat, thick address book. Listen, I will say, after watching this movie, I did think, like, I miss address books. There was a part of me that was like, ah, the feeling.

Give me a file of facts. Oh, I have a file. I saved my file of facts. I have it. Of course, so did I. I mean, I didn't have a palm pilot until I was in my 30s. I had address books forever. But here's what's weird about that boss too,

because once he does know that this serial killer worked there and also seemingly had access to this new software, he's really been pushing, which uploads everyone's addresses. He doesn't seem to be taking any action around that. He's hiding it. And I'm like, wow, you're really, that gentleman is protecting a serial killer. Why are there customers in that store?

The store should be surrounded by news vans. Yes. Saying this is where a minimum of 700 Ohioans was working. It is cute. By the way, men, men 700. And I'm talking, when we see him at the beginning, he murders an entire family, children. And poses them.

And by the way, we know they're a good old fashioned American family because they got a fucking baseball and an apple pie. Their house was dressed all American to a degree that felt like this is too much. Yeah. Well, this is my issue. It was like Norman Rockwell with a bloody family.

But this is my issue. I think that there is something tragic to that family being killed. We hear them in the beginning. By the way, the first 15 minutes, I'm like, what the fuck is this movie? Is this a serial killer? Am I following this family? Am I following this kid's like a lotto prank?

What's going on with the mom? I love the kid's lotto prank. I was like, yes, give me a kid who's pulling scams. And it never comes out again. It never comes out. I want to hear this, Paul. But just a second on the lotto prank because I was actually trying to understand the mechanics of this prank.

So he's hoping that if he tells an adult that his, his, his mom has died. And I mean, his dad is not there. His dad's not there. That's a secondary thought. That's, that's over there for now. I have a lottery ticket. I have a lottery ticket.

Yes. And I know that. Here's the phone number. Right. And then he's hoping that adult gives him the full cash for half of it. It's a hundred dollar winner ticket. Give me $50. I'll give you the ticket.

Call the number and they'll show. They'll tell you, I can't claim it, but you can. He calls and it's his body using a voice scrambler or whatever. Which never comes back. Also never comes back. Which you would understand. Like this kid's also a hacker. The entirety of this scam should be integral to the end of the

movie working. Just the fake voice. The fake voice should have thrown somebody off. Nope. Nothing. Wow. Okay. And then I also.

And then the show. And the show's over. That's it. But there were. I mean, I also love this era of film because it really does posit that if you had a Casio electronic keyboard, you can do anything like this is a moment computer. But you know what?

I always found those Casio keyboards though to have so many buttons that when I watched that, I was like, well, maybe mine did do it and I just never explored all the buttons. Casio keyboard doing that. I'm okay with all of the internet stuff. All of the graphics when the internet starts vomiting out like grains of digital rice that that then compromise them. The bad form of the creek.

I was saying that the way that he comes out caporially is like through like clown like balloons. Like they look like like, you know, it's like, oh, this is going to be blown into a dog or something. It's like, it's too narrow. And it's like, what are these? What is it? Like what are the pieces of the internet?

That's what it looks like in there, Paul. You see, I didn't know that. Thank you. By the way, I would say I give props to this movie for making some shit look really lame. Like when they go to VR, that looks like the VR that I did at the mall. Like that was not an upgraded VR.

It's like shitty stairs, weird walls. And you're like, I paid five bucks for this. This should be more fun. But it was also called like VR nightmare. It just seemed like a game of tag. It felt like VR laser tag is what it felt like. 100%. I couldn't understand why it was nightmares.

There's, I mean, it seems like that somebody, they added nightmares to kind of make like the guy was like, the VR is not selling. Put nightmares on it. We'll get the five bucks. Everyone's running scams in Ohio. We know this. There's so many.

What was the virtuosity was another movie? Yes. It was like this. There's so many movies that trade in this kind of, you know what, we can do whatever we want with the internet. Nobody knows. Nobody has a fucking clue. We can show them it does everything and they'll believe it

because they're fucking idiots. I'm going to go out on a ledge here and just ask you both. Okay. What's up, babe? You know what? You know, can we get a spotlight on that? Yeah. No, no, no, I have, I have a spotlight thing to say in a

little bit, but this I'll say this is our knowledge that he was sucked out of the MRI machine and then went to we haven't even talked about the MRI machine. I mean, he was then put into data net, which is a hub, like a holder for the internet, but he was able to go to like everywhere in town because that's like the internet hub of the town. Is that how the internet works?

It's like the internet only has like a localized. Well, here's what we can do. And in an effort to kind of answer that question, because it's based here, does anyone here work for data net? I also don't understand why the guy who runs data nets like, I remember you, you guys are splitting atoms. Well, we were pulling our pods. Yeah.

Now I'm your boss. I'm like, wait, I think you fucked up that insult. Like, well, you were a genius. I was jerking off. Nice to meet you. So I have so many questions. I have said that before. I have so many questions about the MRI and how the serial killer

became a ghost in the machine because obviously the MRI sucked his soul into the internet. Listen, I need, I actually need to for my own mental health. I don't know that and work with the knowledge that hospitals have their own generators. So if there's a major, even honestly, so this isn't like a tornado is going through town. It's not a light shower.

It's a storm, right? But we don't see the local news cover it. No. So this, the hospital's electricity is knocked out, which I found concerning Ohio. Well, I think what we see time and time again in this film is that lightning is hitting like, like electricity, like it's hitting posts.

Like, but I don't know if that, like it's hitting electricity posts. What am I calling them? I don't know. Electricity posts? Wires. Electricity wire. What do you call them? Yes, but I get, but what I'm saying is hospitals have their own

emergency, like, yeah, certain grids that they're working off of. They have to have the ability to continue life support. Well, but here, but here's the thing. The hospital didn't lose power. What happens is he goes into the MRI machine. They scan his entire body, including his soul. That is uploaded to data net because that's where the hospital keeps all their files.

And that's why he's like, he's sucked into that. Like, so then that could happen to anyone. No. No, wait, I think you're right. I mean, it could. Yes. But no, I mean, not really. But yes.

Anybody who was, anybody who was in the MRI. I know that. Thank you, Paul. Anybody who was in the MRI at that moment would have been sucked into the internet, right? Right. So a good person would be sucked in. But if they're not a hacker, they'd be like, I'm lost.

I'm lost in a series of white cross lines and circles. But he's not a hacker. Yes, he is. Oh, he's a hacker. The serial killer? Because of the number? Yes. Is a serial killer and a hacker?

Yeah. Because he's working in the computer store and he's like, he's a hacker. But then why not hack those addresses? Why is he obsessed with the hard copies? You know, he's transitioning from an analog to a digital world. But is that, is that what's making him kill people? He's like, I hate, I hate your analog method of keeping addresses.

So everybody needs to die. On some level, this movie posits a future where the internet is ubiquitous, everything is going on. And then on other parts of this movie, it's like, well, I better go door to door to talk to this woman. I'm in front, I can't, I'm not going to call her. God damn it. I will not pick up the phone.

I have to go to her house and knock on her door because I think that would be the best way to do it. Okay. That guy, I'm obsessed with him. I love that guy. I love Bram. I love Bram so much. So.

Bram Walker? Yes. The craziest thing that Bram Walker does is when he brings a ton of documents to her at a bar and says, and this woman does, works for TWA, I mean, she knows nothing about, and says she hates computers. When I saw her at first, I was like, what a cool look. I wonder if like she's loosening that tie or like that's fashion.

And then I realized it was just loosening the tie after work because she looked good with that like very loose tie. She sure did, Paul. Sorry. She sure did. But he brings all of that to her and says, can you look through every, a list of all of these places that logged on to data net at this

time and see if anything, I mean, that seems like a really, to ask this woman to cull through that amount of data. And then immediately she's like, Southside hospital. And she connects information that I think he knows too. She does work that so many different governmental agencies have connected the dots for. And it is based on a nothing. But I will say the strangest thing in regards to that character

that he does that is even stranger is, he arrives at his brand new job late in the pouring rain in a convertible. I believe in Marlin, is this how you do it in Ohio? You're like, this rain's not that bad. I think that the convertible roof was stuck just like the pool cover. And I thought this movie for doing that to that dog.

That's where I honestly was like, no, no, no, no, no. But I have a thought. I have a thought about that dog. I have a thought about that dog. Did the serial killer somehow get the tape, the VHS tape of like dogs learn how to swim? Because like, why was that in the VCR? Is that a video?

Well, Jessica Walker brought it over. Oh, she brought it over. She brought it over because she is like this. Okay. Yeah. Needling mom who is like, and this is for your dog. Like for the dog to watch because the dog seemed like the dog was like, got it.

No, I gotta go swimming. Paul, no offense. But as somebody, and we talked about it last night, as somebody who did write and create a TV show for cats. Meow TV, television for cats by cats. Look it up. You can unfortunately find it. Are you that shocked that there's a dog based VHS?

Well, I am because the dog based VHS was like, hey dogs, swimming simple. It was like, was it to the dogs in English? If you put a dog in a top hat and he was like, I like swimming, I would have gone for it. Okay. In the very opening scene, in the very first opening scene, idyllic suburban home, we don't know it's the guy yet,

but a creepy guy in the shadows pulls up. Does he eat a pixie stick? Yes. Why is that? Why isn't he the pixie stick? That, I don't know, but honestly, if you're an adult eating a pixie stick, you are a serial killer.

That I was like, oh, that's authentic. By the way, if you're a kid, here's the deal. If you're a kid, you're having a pixie stick. If you're an adult, you're having a pixie's dick. Too far? Okay. I want to throw some movie logic at you and see if this makes sense. I believe that this movie opened up with the kid in the Lotto scam,

and then it went right to the computer store, and then it went to the first murder, because what happens is we open up on the murder, and then as soon as he closes the trunk, it starts to rain. And I think on the way home from killing those people, he gets in a car accident. But the movie was too slow, so they're like, oh shit, let's put the murder up front,

and then walk it backwards. So I believe the first family killed is related to Karen Allen, because it would be like this. It would be Lotto scam, computer store, lost book, first kill, rainstorm, and then it goes on. Well, that's the case. They made the right decision, the editors. Here's where that fails, I think,

is only because then he is singularly only basing it off of her address book, and I think they start like that because they're saying he's killing people in other people's address books. Then why is it raining so many concurrent nights? Ohio? Ohio? What's the deal? I'm sorry, is this Seattle?

Rainy, I guess. Because it did seem like that rain was indicating something. When he goes, when he gets into the accident, and is upside down, Karine and laughing. Okay, so just so you know, I spent the rest of the movie in my mind, I was thinking that was a suicide mission.

Oh yeah, he was driving into oncoming traffic. But why? But why though? Okay, so but why? Because he was on his way to do his favorite thing, kill a family. Right. So why not take your time,

leisurely drive their slavery? Okay, so the only thing I can think, and this is crazy, but I'm like, is it because he overheard his boss selling this new software program, and knows that he's going to be obsolete? Like his work, is that it?

His work here on this plane is done, so we gotta go. When we see Karine Allen's address book, this guy must be so hard. It's so thick. He could spend five years killing people just from her book. But what I think he's understanding,

it's that moment you realize you're a dinosaur in your own industry. Right, it's like the moment in Boogie Nights when they say it's going to video, and Kurt Reynolds is like, never. That's right. Well to me, this is how I see it, he had that pixie stick,

he murders that family, and on the way home, he's like, oh that pixie stick is kicking in, if we go with my original edit of the movie, and then he's like, ah! And then he kills himself, like I think he's just so jacked up. On sugar?

Yeah, sugar and murder. Take a look, watch, think of it like that, he just murdered a family, he just downed a pixie stick, and... ... Oh, it's a cemetery, I forgot. He is flying through a cemetery. Wait, what?

What's happening? This audience has coordinated some Ohio chants. Okay. I don't like it! I don't like that you guys are banding together. It doesn't make me feel safe. So he's been through, you know, a really serious accident,

and he must have, I mean he does have some major issues, and I imagine trauma to his body. They seem to want to get him into that MRI machine so quickly, and I'm like, don't we need to stop the bleeding? He doesn't seem to have any bleeding, they describe him as having

severe bruising on one side, and Toby Ziegler from West Wing, the incredible Richard Schiff, give it up for Richard Schiff, says, we gotta check his vertebrae, we gotta check his brain just to make sure there's no swelling or anything, but they don't seem particularly like worried. Which is crazy, because when he first comes in,

when the paramedics are taking him in, we hear him voice over a nurse saying, what should we do? And I'm picturing his body is completely mangled and beyond repair. Well, I mean, is it because he's spent most of the accident laughing? And you know what they always say, and this is why, by the way, fuck drunk drivers,

because they usually do survive, because they are relaxed. Oh, you're sitting up because he's drunk, you're saying, but because he's crazy? No, I'm saying because he's not bracing for impact, that he has a better chance of surviving. Well, I'll say this, all they could have done in that scene was have a line like, I can't believe he has not a scratch on him. Well, we better check him in the MRI.

That's all you needed. And then he passes. Well, he dies because of the electricity. Oh, he's electrocuted in there? Oh, yes. If there was an electricity power surge scenario, would anybody inside the MRI be murdered by electricity? But lightning went from one of those electricity posts

all the way into the room. Like lightning, they were like lightning bolts. The way that lightning moves in this movie. I would argue lightning is the villain of the movie. I'm sorry, electricity is the actual villain of the movie. Can we just talk about the best scene in the whole fucking movie, which is the microwave dinner? And we're talking about electricity.

This is, I want to say just very briefly, this movie has a number, a number of classic, how did this get made tropes? Oh, yes. One of which, and we just saw one a few nights ago, is a guy, a man alone who subsists entirely on microwave dinner. Honest to God, we're 11 years into this nightmare. But I said tonight, I took an Uber here. Flex.

What a flex. To give my wife some extra time. So we didn't, you know, I gave her, I got here and on the way there, he goes, what are you in town for? And I'm not going to beat around the bush. I said, oh, we're in town to do a show. And he goes, oh, you're going to do stand up comedy. I said, no, we, so it's so hard to explain.

The answer to that is yes. Yeah, I know. And I go like this. I said, oh, we're actually doing a podcast alive. And he goes, oh, I didn't know they had open mics at the MGM Northfield. And I said, yep, they do. I got here. I got here.

I drove myself here. I parked in the bank and I had still some of the movie to watch. And so I sat in the rental car and I'm watching the last, whatever, 12 minutes of the movie. And I'm like, I'm in it. And I'm like, fuck, I'm late. Okay. I'm watching the movie. And then like, and I look up and there's a man outside and he goes, can I help you?

And it was as if I'd been caught jerking off in a parking lot. I was like, ah, I'm in the show. I'm in the show. I was so, I'm a terrified and B, I reacted like I'd been caught doing something filthy. I was just watching the end of this trash movie. He goes, go to the machine. Good flick. You're good to go, buddy.

All right. So the microwave scene is amazing because it starts off with a man going through his freezer, which is full of microwave dinners. Now he has not every way, it's almost like a library collection of a microwave dinners. And then he takes one, no, two, no, three. Yes. He thumbs through it. Like he's looking for an album.

I rewound it. Which album am I going to listen to? I rewound it because I thought is where he kept his porn. I thought those are porn VHS tapes. Go on. Because of the titles. Well, because I just saw him paging through them and I was like, oh, this guy's like a perv.

So he keeps his porn in the freezer. Oh, so you thought he was like lovingly flipping through his porn? To be like, what is tonight's main course? And then I rewound. You married this man. I know. Believe me. I know.

Well, it's so interesting. These movies, you know, we're always, before someone gets killed, we have to be able to, I don't know, turn against them or feel like they're better off dead. Right. So for him, he seems so lonely and there's so many TV dinners. It's just so many. But he's happy to me. And then I know, but then, but he's lonely and so.

Lonely people must die. He's better off dead. Yeah. What's hard about the movie is the address book killer. Oh God. The address book, we never get insight into the mind of the address book killer. The why the, there's no exposition as to why he does this, who he was, how this happened, what his MO is in the way that in so many serial killer movies, we do.

And we also then, because it seems random, we're watching people. We don't know who are truly innocent. Yeah. We murdered for reasons we don't understand other than that they are next in the address book. Yeah. As a movie, that's pretty unsatisfied. I do think that there's an attempt, an attempt made to get into his interior life when the

landlady delivers that monologue as she's walking Karen Allen around his apartment. Which by the way, bold move to show just a stranger. Like, like she's not a cop. She has no business being there. I couldn't believe, I mean, again, this man has killed about a thousand people. 24, 2400 Ohioans. And she's running that like a fucking local haunted house. She's like, I'll show you around.

At the end of this movie, they're like, Ohio doesn't have enough people. We're just, we're just going to declare bankruptcy. We're done. She does say, and I was obsessed with that woman and her performance. I thought she was amazing, but she does say something about systems of care, systems of caring, which so, so then I was like, okay, he's so upset that people have systems of care around them that he's, that's why he's reaching for address books. But the flaw, of course, in his thinking is that everyone you love is in the address.

That's the thought. Yeah. Right. But I don't think that's true. One's is the babysitter who can't work Saturdays. And well, she's also a recycler. She's also, thank you, June. She's also a recycler.

Yes. Hot girls love sustainability. She's a recycler who is not above taking a few bucks to show her the top of her boots. Well, listen, she had to do that because we knew she was going to die. By the way, she also had a DUI. Oh, well, she had something license was revoked. Oh, I missed that. Yeah.

They were, they were terrible babysitter. They were going to expunge her record and pay her $37. Like she got a record expunge. Like you can show top boob for that. She's also now what I'm just saying. Like there is. I can't describe to you how much I would have like lost my mind to see my babysitter's top boob.

Come on. That would have been insane. I was really uncomfortable with that. Those boy, I mean, maybe it's just having kids now, but I'm like, they look like they were 11. Like I was really quite disturbed. This is what I was going to say before with the spotlight. That kid's a dick.

I don't like that kid. He's an asshole. Oh, that kid, that kid is, that kid's no good. He, and he's actually such a dick to his mom. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's not a good, you don't want to root for him. Like, Hey, kill this kid.

He's hooked up to the engine at all time. By the way, you're advocating killing the kid. Yeah. By the way, though, why wasn't his dad in the address book? I thought for sure was only one page because she only scanned in one page. But he had her address. No, no, no, no, because once he's inside, he only had access to one page. Both are.

I see. Both are true. I see her address physically, but when he dies, he only has the one page as the example from the store. Yes. So then he goes and does this weird program of crossing them out or going, ha, ha, ha. It's like, wait, he's like adding program information there. He can find everybody because you know, because the camera tells you, you can zoom, he can

zoom through any kind of cable or electricity or plug or device or, or, or dishwasher or micro anything is available to him. Well, again, back to the microwave. This serial killer. Oh my God. Okay. So this man is making three Salisbury steaks, three. He puts it in the microwave and then leaves the room.

Now I always understood that a microwave dinner is supposed to be quick. Like you pop it in, you're not like leaving. You're not going, I'll come check on that in 45 minutes. That's like that's, that's the whole idea is that it's like seven minutes. Yeah. And then he leaves the room to, you know, queue up whatever he's going to queue up. And in the, in that moment, that microwave oven explodes and turns the entire kitchen into a microwave.

Yeah. The entire kitchen becomes a microwave. Well, yes, because like elect, is it a microwave? Yes. It's just throwing out electricity because electricity is no, it's microwave. No, because microwave, the girl gets it, but this guy gets micro because I know this because if you put a peep, like one of those marshmallow peeps in the microwave, they go and that's what everything does.

The banana goes like everything was a microwaved and he bubbles and he bubbles to let's take a look. Yeah. By the way, such an LA kitchen. Oh yeah. I know it's a microwave because the microwave popcorn starts popping too. Oh yeah. I don't like those eggs.

Grossest thing in the entire movie. Bananas. Walk out of the room. Walk out of the room, my guy. Your grapes are turning into raisins. Walk out of the room. There are doors. Did he need to slip and hit his head?

He looks like he was going to explode anyway. And why so violent? And then the rest of the movie is pretty benign. Like that is like a straight up final destination kill. Yes. And it's also early. This is one of the first kills. So I was like, oh, okay, this is going to be exactly to your point, final

destination kind of like, oh, grizzly murders. And actually the first murder, though you don't see a ton of like how it happens, it is pretty grizzly. He kills that family and there's blood everywhere and stuff. So I was like, oh, okay, this is going to be a true horror movie with this. And then nope, that's not, that's not it. It's just a bunch of nonsense computer graphics. I mean, I did get upset when they, when they were going to kill the guy who

wants to date Karen Allen. And I was upset they made him such a dick. Why don't make him a nice guy? Because I think part of the tragedy is like the nice people are being killed too. Nice Ohio, Ohioans. But that guy, like that guy is like wants to bring her out to a nice salad bar, a great place for a first date.

Oh my God. That made me think like it did bring me back to 1993, like early 90s. I feel like the craze of we can have salads as dinner. Salad bars and also baked potato bars. Oh yeah. Remember when like baked potatoes were like actually so healthy. Yep. I mean, you know, it was weird though that her boyfriend that they faked that

they faked us out with that crash has dummy sequence, you know, cause I was like, if we're going to kill him, let's kill him that way. The fact that, that our serial killer was able to control the hand blowing machine in the bathroom. And I'm just not sure what came out of that air. What killed him exactly? A fireball. A fireball.

I mean, that's the real answer is a fucking fireball, but I don't know how that's possible. Not only that, and the movie never answers any of it. The movie, the movie obviously knows if we investigate any of this, it falls. This is a house of cards. Can we still say that? Here's the thing.

I think for the movie's sake, they're like, no, anything that has any power, electricity, anything, the Kurt or whatever Kurt, the bad guy in the internet, they're basically banking on nobody knows what the internet is. So the internet is available, has control over literally anything, any machine, at which point Karen Ellen should take her son and her mother and anybody else and go to the woods. Yeah. Well, they do the next best thing, which is tape up the electrical

outlets. Yeah. And we get to see that multiple times in the film, electrical outlets with tape over them, because, well, are we saying that even if the tape, could he not get through the tape? Well, I don't know. I think it was more of a reminder to themselves, like, don't even fucking think about it.

Well, but then she's at the moment where they unplug everything at the mom's at Jessica Walters house, they unplug RIP, a legend, they, they unplug everything and don't plug anything and don't do anything. And then Karen Ellen's like, okay, I got to go. She's like, I'm going to go to Walker or whatever. And she's driving and her cell phone rings in her car. And she's like, haha, she's happy. She's happy the cell phone is ringing.

She doesn't think to herself, oh, this is the exact methodology with which the killer has been communicating with me and myself. Well, no, phones work on phone lines and cords work on cord lines. And that's, that's the difference. You see, we were the simpler people back then. I was really fascinated by what happened to Jessica Walters after the swatting incident. So she was in shock.

I mean, I guess I don't know medical professional what shock looks like, but it looks like locked in syndrome to me. Honestly, it looks like just death. And I was like, how do they define shock versus like a coma? Like, do you think the Karen Allen was just in denial? And then her mother had passed. Honestly, it made me question you're in shock. They needed to figure out a way to show her caring, but also get the fuck out of

there because also they're in another place where they can be completely attacked. I mean, it seems like at this point, the character is getting smarter and smarter that he could go and just follow them anywhere. But he seems to be like constantly lost. Like, oh, wait, they're there. Like he doesn't like just get him in the hospital. Get anybody anywhere.

It would seem so easy because he has so much control. He can he can light fires. He can electrocute people he can do. He can cause, you know, both the dishwasher to overload and the electricity to be. Well, this is a question. He also can infiltrate dreams because what Karen Allen nightmare is about that this man's like, I mean, first of all, weird church to be

cremating right in front of the entire boy. I wished so much that this had not been a dream. Oh, I was like, oh my God, the movie we needed it to be. But I mean, but she's dreaming before she knows, I think that he has control over electric. She's dreaming that he's controlling the electric that she can see the future or she can or she can she was a she's everyone's ahead of it. Everyone's ahead of this.

And then the one who solves it is the boy who just looks at a piece of paper and goes, oh, it's a dress book. Oh, they're going in order. Yeah. Oh, he's a genius. There's fucking four names on there and three have been killed. The movie does have some things though. But what helps it, I think for everybody is there are some things that

are tethered to reality. How many of us at some point in our life have were at an ATM and we were overdrawn and blast doors came down from the ATM, covered the entire thing and said, that's it. As if it was trying to protect itself from a nuclear annihilation. I mean, what is this now? Like for real, like I do want to talk about the end before we go to the crowd and ask them some questions.

So this is a movie that climaxes with the villain going out of the internet, like we said, as a balloon animal in these like little like DNA strands. The plan is to like his take down his atoms, but I feel like he's not. He doesn't have atoms anymore because he's in the thing. But okay, whatever. But then he becomes this bits and bytes and whatever. And the kid body slams him.

Like he body slams bits and bytes. They also do a thing which is like, well, the only thing we can do against any threat is shoot it with a gun. Yeah. And it's like this is a digital entity. Well, I'm still confused by the plan. So he Bram releases a virus into the Internet. Yeah.

Okay. That shuts down the four other outlets of the Internet because the Internet has four outlets and he closes the exit signs on four of them. He's trying to corral the bad guy into the magnet. The the big the the super collide. Is it a super collider? What is sure a magnet? Yeah, big magnet.

It's a big giant magnet that is some sort of, you know, super collider or whatever so that they can kill it so that he's like siphoning it into one place, which is successful. So, okay. Well, what they didn't account for is him to be shooting out of all the ports. Yeah. Like Play-Doh.

If I'm them, there's nothing to there's no value in just like turning off the electricity. No, they got to shock it out. Okay, because he wouldn't die necessarily. Well, here's the thing. Here's here's the reality. There is a prolific serial killer who is now exists in the digital realm and is able to kill seemingly anyone anywhere.

And the people that are trying to stop him are a suburban mother, son, and a disgraced hacker who can't even get his convertibles. And here's the thing. How do they do it? The kid's a hacker. No. The mom has a gun. Cool.

The mom is shooting a computer program. And then it all is figured out. The hacker goes, yeah, magnets like that. Magnets doesn't say. She comes up with magnets because the kid said, don't put that magnet on my computer disk. Geez. Like nobody like literally nobody has this is an epic failure on every

level for people to be able to stop. Honestly, the serial killer deserves to win. He deserves to kill every person in Ohio. Let's go to the audience. Let's go to the audience and see who has some questions. All right. Okay. So what's your name?

Megan. Megan, welcome. What's your question? So we talked about top boob for the babysitter. She received $37.28 to unbutton her top, which is the equivalent of about $77 now adjusted for inflation. Do we feel that's a fair deal? And by the way, wait, wait, you have to also say they're going to get

lower her insurance and expunge her, her DUI. So that, so for that's a lot. Well, I mean, I think not to be such a capitalist, but it's like, what's the market going to bear? It was an offer that was right in front of her and I'm just saying, yeah, I'm just saying I have a crisp 100 in my pocket. Before I go to my next question, June, I have two people here for you. Get up, Ernest.

We got some Ernest right here. Oh, you do. Dueling Ernest. I don't know. Can you do an Ernest without a hat? Oh, it's good Ernest and bad Ernest. Oh, it's sexy Ernest and, and, and, and, oh, I love this. Well done.

All right. So what's your name? What's your question? My name is Adam, but I'm also Dr. Guts on discord. Oh, hey, welcome Dr. Guts. This is great to meet Dr.

Guts. This is amazing. Dr. Guts on whatever discord is. We know Dr. Guts. We love Dr. Guts.

Okay. Welcome, Dr. Guts. Thank you. I wanted to ask there's when they visit Bram's hotel room, he's got a nude painting on the wall. And I wasn't sure if that was the hotel's decor or if he is decorating up because, you know, I'm looking at it right now.

Because the Marlin is also up there. The Marlin was in the trunk of the car or in the convertible. So I think he is putting erotic art on his walls. And what a great observation. It's a velvet painting of a bare naked ass. Take some candy. And he is the love interest. That's what I'm saying.

You guys are like, you guys are like, we're dancing around it, but the movie doesn't imply that they got together. No, but it implies that there's a connection. Yeah, sure. But I want to say this. You guys are like, oh, Karen Allen deserves so much better. She deserves so much better. Like this guy lives in the fucking motel with velvet nude

pictures. The other guy is a fucking scientist for Toyota. But he's one of the... Listen, she can deserve better than Bram Walker too. We're just saying she deserves better. How about the guy who runs the computer store? Listen, she deserves Indiana Jones. That's right.

Yeah, that's our standard. Indiana Jones deserves her. Your name, your question. My name is Thomas. So he's been address book killing for three years. But don't you think you have a lot of friends and relatives from out of state? So is this a national concern?

Interesting. Or is he just kind of half asking it and just doing what's local? Boy, would that be great. That's such a great question. Boy, would that be great. Because yes, of course, in your address book, it's alphabetical. So yeah, you could have people all over the country,

all over the world. And the Pacific Northwest is usually blamed for most serial killers and serial killings. And maybe it was the address book killer the whole time. Yeah. Maybe Ohio should be blamed for a lot of the deaths all over the country. Clearly, we had an opinion about this movie,

but there are people out there with a different opinion. And it is now time for Second Opinions. I want you to know my five star review about a killer who blew a fuse. Does your microwave need maintenance? It just fried your work acquaintance. You're in mild danger. No more time for denial.

So go and unplug your shit and find a big-ass magnet. Thank God one's plausibly in the middle of Ohio. And although the killer isn't able to maintain a form that's stable, it doesn't mean he won't try to poke your eyes. Poke your eyes. How will you survive? Well, Paul, share my review with the nerds out there because they ought to know.

Amazing. Great job. Medical professional. All right. Great job. Incredible. All right. Well, there are 111 total reviews.

66% are five star. How? And this one written by Wendell starts like this. Classic 1990s sci-fi thriller. As it says, ghost in the machine. There is a ghost in the machine. But it's actually in the computer, and they need to find a way to get rid of it.

One to watch with your feet up. Five stars. What does it mean, feet up? Like you're enjoying it so much, or you're going to be scared that you're... Oh, so that you don't get electrocuted. Oh. Because everybody who gets electrocuted,

their feet are... The water or the whatever gets... That's true. So if you keep your feet up, you're going to survive. Well, this is an interesting... You brought that up because Edwin Teague in 2016... ETG? ETG in 2016, December 22nd, right around Christmas,

chimes in to say, classic horror. After watching this, you'll want to unplug everything in your home. A very unique way to be a slasher, through electricity. I mean, you got Chucky, who used a doll, and others somehow came back to life, but this killer gets in the electricity. Plus, you can't go wrong with classic 90s style. This movie, you must own.

Five stars. Classic horror. And finally, Brian Bagby, March 30th, 2015, writes, I'm satisfied with this movie. Five stars. I often don't read from, like, the Catholic review website, but I wanted to quickly just point out that it got a lot of negativity here, you know, for blasphemy, for evil, for gross immorality.

But the other thing was this, politically correct dialogue referring to Nixon-era protests. They did not like that the mom was an anti-Nixon protest. So was Bram. Was one of the people that got naked and jumped in the... The fountain, or the reflecting pool. Yes, thank you. This movie cost 12 million.

Opening weekend, it made one. Worldwide gross, 5 million. Top three movies in 94, Lion King, Forrest Gump and True Lies. This movie was beat by Street Fighter, Color of Night Junior, The Shadow, Disclosure and Time Cop. It only beat Double Dragon, which you did not do in the show. And the tagline for this movie is, last night, a serial killer died.

Dot, dot, dot. I don't know if that's gonna get me to go to the movies. Seems like the movie's over. There's no movie. And I just looked it up because I wrote something to my notes that I just saw. And I was like, oh wait, what is that? So the movie structurally is, you said 93? 94? What is that?

1993. Came out on New Year's Eve. Structurally is basically putting a virtual reality or an internet skin on T2. Right. Because Karen Allen is basically, it's basically the story is they're being chased by somebody and it's a kid and a mom and at the end she's like, get your hands off my fucking son and shoots him. There's so many, I feel like, T2 moments.

But in a way that I was like, oh, I feel like that's how they sold it. They were like, it's T2 plus virtual reality. And it's nonsense. It is not that. Right, because it loses all the things that we like from T2. Gun don't matter, nothing. Yeah, nothing about T2 is, none of the fun of it. And it's not fun even remotely.

So I guess my question to you is, would you recommend this movie? No. So it's hard. I will say because we're on a tour right now with this podcast. It's hard to believe, but we are. We're doing open mic rooms across the country. We've seen such terrible things in the last two days. I mean, last night, what we saw.

How you are so lucky. You really are. We should all say a prayer of gratitude. We didn't make you watch the Oogie Loves. Oogie Loves made me physically ill. I love that. I felt nauseous. I haven't slept in days.

Yeah, so. Because when I close my eyes, all I see is Toofy, Oogie Loves. Don't even say it. Goofy, Oogie Loves. Don't even say it. Jay Edgar. He's. Shloofy.

He's. Wendy, Wendy, window. These are real characters from a nightmare that we lived through. It was so hard and it was so nauseating. The experience that when I watched this today, I enjoyed it. So I can't, I can't recommend or not recommend because I know I'm not well. Yeah. I will say that I recommend it with a heavy fast forward because the death scenes.

Like they took my breath away. The fireball, the microwave, the baby in danger, the top boob, all these are moments. But if you watch it on like two speed, but I listen to my audio books on, that's what you can kind. Wait, what? You listen to audio books times two times two point five. Listen to everything times two. Two point five, Jason.

Two point five. I build it up once I get familiar with the voice. I'm like two point one, two point two. I know somebody, I know somebody who, who reads a heart heart the book while listening to the audio book and then increases the speed until they are speed reading and so they're processing a book two ways. Wow. So they are, they're, they're internalizing the book both by reading it and by hearing

it. I want to do that. And it is like a, apparently a game changer for like loading information into your head, just like the serial killer, just like this podcast. Can I just say one more thing? I want to thank everybody for your patience in rescheduling this show. I know it was super difficult and really fucked a lot of people's plans up. Thank you everybody for your generosity, your well wishes in your patience in coming back.

This was well worth it. Thank you. I saw your phone too. Eat shit, Cleveland. Happy Halloween. Thank you everybody. Great work, Jason's. Great work, Jason.

Great work, Evergood's Karaology. You're the best. Go home. That brings us to the end of The Ghost in the Machine. If you are looking for more content to devour while you're driving at your job or just stuck in a relative's house that you don't want to be at, or maybe you're just alone and you're like, you know what, I finally have some time to catch up on some stuff. Let me throw something at you.

Rob Hubel and I hosted this giant event. It was the front page of Twitch for two days. It was called Celebrity Yard Sale, where we invited celebrities to come on and sell their junk. And we packed it full of great people like Camille Nanjiani, Carl Tartt, Lauren Lapkus, musician Ben Lee. We had so many great people. Eva Anderson played our appraiser.

Rob Briggel showed up at the end. We gave away a car. It was massive. Two days, four hours. You can watch it all on my YouTube channel. Or if you are watching this video, you can watch it on YouTube. Or if you are inclined, watch it on Twitch at twitch.tv slash friendzone. If you don't know what Twitch is, don't worry.

Don't stress yourself out about it. That's why I put it on my YouTube page. But that's four hours of extra material with some of your favorite people. I think you'll really dig it. And it's not super visual, so you could actually listen to it and get what is going on. People, that is the end of this episode. I want to give a shout out to the great washing machine in this movie. As a matter of fact, we have immortalized that washing machine with Agitate Explode and Die

with its very own shirt. Just go to tpublic.com slash stores slash HDTGM. You know how it works. And it is a great looking, I think actually a great looking sticker. Put it on your own washing machine. Let the next person who lives in your house deal with it. Anyway, a big shout out to everybody. I hope you have a great year.

Thank you for a great live show. And as we say goodbye to Devin, we also say hello to our brand new senior engineer, Alex Gonzalez. Welcome, Alex, to the show and we'll see you next time.