Too Scary; Didn't Watch - BARBARIAN with Zach Cregger

Episode Date: September 14, 2022

A double-booked Airbnb leads to the most bat-shit horror movie experience we've had in quite some time!!!!!! The director of BARBARIAN, Zach Cregger, joins us at the end of the episode for an interview about the making of this insane film.  TW: Rape Recap begins @ 22:24 Interview with Zach Cregger @1:30:10 BARBARIAN is now in theaters TRAILER Follow the show: @TSDWpodcast on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes and additional content! Rate Too Scary; Didn’t Watch 5 Stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Emily, Henley, and Sammy. Advertise on Too Scary; Didn't Watch via Gumball.fm Podcast artwork by @EllaTalkinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. This is Emily, Henley, and Sammy, and you're listening to Too Scary, Didn't Watch. Hi everyone, welcome to Too Scary, Didn't Watch, the horror movie recap podcast for those too scared to watch for themselves. I'm Emily, and I am too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Henley, and I'm also too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Sammy, and I love watching scary movies, so I watch them so that you don't have to. And today's movie is another new release. Wow.

Spooky Summer transitioning into Spooky Fall. Wow. Absolutely love it. And I think you guys are going to like this movie. I'm excited. But before we get into it, did anything scary happen to us this week? Real quick for me, the scary thing was that Tim, my husband, asked that we watch a reality TV show because he's been listening to a bunch of interviews with Nikki Glaser. OK.

She's been doing a whole press tour, I guess, hitting up all our favorites. She was on Marc Maron. She was on Conan. She was on, I don't know, something else. And she's promoting this reality TV show that's on hbo that she hosts called f boy island have you guys heard of this i've heard of f boy island yeah i have heard of it elon gale is one of the creators i feel like i talk about elon gale a lot you really do i would never know who elon gale is were it not for you what else did he create or she he was like one of the main producers on The Bachelor during a golden era.

And then he wrote, I believe, an episode or two of Midnight Mass. And he was he was in a cameo of in Haunting of Hill House. Yeah, you do talk about Elon Gale a lot. Well, he wasn't he was involved in two things that we covered. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, I guess just one. But still. Midnight Mass comes up all the time.

I guess I just closely follow his career. And so I know that he made F. Boy Island. It's a memorable name, too. I don't know that you necessarily talk about him more than anybody else. So much as it's just Elon Gale. You know, it like sticks in my head when it's mentioned yeah and if anyone hasn't watched F

Boy Island it's so far deeply entertaining yeah I've heard it's a lot of fun it's the concept is it's three women looking for love and there are 24 men which I gotta say is a little scary like the ratios are a little terrifying.

I don't like those numbers. Don't love the numbers. 12 of the men are so-called nice guys. 12 are F boys and their job is to sort out who's the nice guy, who are the F boys. And I've never heard F boy said more in my entire life. It's all anyone talks about. Even just now, I'm like, Oh my God.

Do they even, do they say fuck boy on the show or never? That's a good point. It's on HBO. Why couldn't they just call it fuck boy? They always say F boy. They probably say fuck boy too, but they mostly say F boy. And it's so funny because the conversation, the conversations between them, it's the woman or whoever it is being like, are you an F boy? You seem like an F boy. You have F boy energy. Like the conversation centers around this idea of being an F boy in a way that is revelatory. Like it's like it changes the whole dynamic. And there's

something about the show that there it's, you know, in The Bachelor, it's so constrained. And like, even on Love Island, too, it felt like very scripted almost. Or there's something about F.Y. Island where things are being said that are a little surprising. I think a first season of things that happens because first season of Love Island is real loose, too. And I think if you go back to the earlier seasons of Bachelor, the same can be said. First seasons are the Wild West. I think on The Bachelor, they can probably, I know they're like getting drunk. They're drinking a bunch. But on Love Island, I know they're limited with how much they can drink. Two drinks a day.

Yeah, that's really shocking. On Love Island? That changes the dynamic. Isn't that crazy? Well, that is the opposite of The Bachelor. Bachelor probably has like a minimum. Bachelor, I think it's two drinks an hour. Which is also insane. But it's really entertaining and it's proving the point, which is that the concept and everything can be extremely fake and the setups extremely fake. But then you put people in these real situations and they're just humans.

It's so funny to watch. And I'm just shocked that Tim even wanted to watch it. I mean, Nikki Glaser's press tours really. She succeeded. Made an impact. Yeah. And I'm having the time of my life. So anyway, that's just what I wanted to tell you guys about FBoy Island.

I might check it out. I have not really been watching much TV these days. I don't know. I don't know why. Because you're busy. You got movies to watch, baby. I've been watching much TV these days. I don't know. I don't know why. Because you're busy. You got movies to watch, baby. I've been watching more movies. You know, I've watched four movies in the last 48 hours.

Holy shit. I watched this week's movie. Wasn't even one of them. But yeah, I've watched a lot. I watched that new Gerard Carmichael directed movie on the count of three with Christopher Abbott in it. Loved it. That one seemed sad. Yeah, it is sad. It actually, yeah, it made me feel really, really sad. Yeah. I don't like that. I read the plot for that. And that was definitely one of mine that it's too sad, too sad for me to handle. Too sad. Didn't watch. No, that's pretty yeah my vote on most things

but my scary thing is quite different this is a real weird one i was walking around my apartment and i felt something in my foot that hurt like a splinter and walked around with it for a bit and it like started hurting more and i was like I got to get the splinter out of my foot. I sat down, got a little pair of tweezers and was searching for it and couldn't really find it. And then eventually found it. And it was not a piece of glass. It was not a piece of wood. It was a cat hair.

In like a quarter of an inch into my foot. A cat hair in your foot? Yes. How? Like I had to extract a cat hair from inside of the ball of my foot.

No, it was a plain cat hair how did it have the strength how did it have the structural strength i don't know and it's reminding me of like when i drew blood with a piece of sourdough bread and your body like made of paper mache these really low chance of happening things just happen to me sometimes like it seems like that must be a one in a million chance of one in a million to step on a piece of cat hair at such an angle with the correct amount of force that it it goes into your skin have you googled this is this a phenomenon is this a thing that Could you Google it? I would like for you to Google it because... Cat hair in the foot.

Cat hair in the foot. Hair like a splinter. Splinter of cat hair. Uh-huh. A real question mark? Can it be? You can find anything on Reddit. Or is it a glitch in the system?

Is your body proving there's glitches out there? Hair splinters happen when a strand of hair embeds itself under your skin. This can be painful and lead to an infection. Can hair become a splinter? Hair splinters can be asymptomatic or quite painful. I've got an asymptomatic hair splinter.

Seems like there's a lot of... The second one, did you hear how excited i just got yeah on cora how is it possible for a dog slash cat hair to penetrate the skin of a foot and cause significant pain this has absolutely happened i just googled because i had a pain on the sole of my foot got my flashlight saw a hair from my chihuahua stuck on my foot gave it a little tug because i couldn't believe it was the cause of my discomfort and it hurt. So I pulled again with a good grip from my thumb and my index finger and it came out.

The detail. Wow. A good grip from my thumb and index finger. This person should write novels. I would have never believed this could be true until I found one of my dog's hairs embedded in the top of my foot. Wow, you guys No I didn't even think to google it I really just blew past it

Thinking well I'll talk about it on the podcast And that's where I can process this I don't have to think about this right now And honestly I'm glad you chose to process this with us Because I am floored We're learning something new This is all new to us I mean I have four cats worth of cat hair around.

I don't even know the potential risk. I thought for sure you were going to say it was a cat claw because sometimes I find little cat claws. That would make a lot more sense. A hair. A lot more sense. This is shocking.

It's shocking. I hope you guys have good vacuums do you don't know i really i i thought about investing in a better one mine's pretty shitty it's i don't know kind of the cheapest one you can get on amazon i think it's worth it when you have pets to get like a dyson they're so Yeah, basically every time I vacuum I'm like, well, this isn't doing shit. Yeah, you're just moving shit around. I do need a better one for sure. With four cats, Emily? It gets some stuff up.

It's basically just we have to just do it very frequently. Yeah. Two days go by and I'm like, Jesus Christ, there's cat hair everywhere. Emily, tell us yours. After this happened, I said to joel i said i don't even think i can say this on the podcast because i've been i really feel sometimes that i am i well look it wasn't until i talked about cheddar sweets that i realized i maybe am revealing too much of

the intimacy of my relationship. We got a lot of DMs about Cheddar Sweets, though. People loved it. They loved the idea. They supported it. I feel like we got feedback from both sides. People saying you, people saying yum. Yeah.

Some people are horrified. But it's really just like it's a real I just I've shown I feel too much of the inner workings Of my home life But here's the deal I'm going to do it again This is relatable People sing to each other Oh god I need to know

So you know how When you live with someone Any someone You have your own little language. You have your own. You just get into your own habits. Things become the same. Things are to seem normal that are maybe not actually normal to anybody else, but it's normal for you. And that's just fine. And the pandemic has been such that most of our time has been inside time and most of our time has been in our home time. And so, you know, what was maybe an occasional at home language has become a 90 percent of our time has been in our home time and so you know what was

maybe an occasional at home language has become a 90 of the time home language and and but we do go out in the world and so um so a thing that joel and i do a lot is sing about things sing a line that could be spoken is is said in song all the often and not any real tune just sort of like oh yeah it's time for pasta that sort of stuff and so we went out of the house to dinner the other night and we were we were sitting at the bar and joel's on one side of me strangers on the other and we were talking about something i i don't even remember what, but it had to have been learning in some capacity because I started to sing a song. It's good to learn.

It's nice to learn. Which is a normal thing that Joel and I do in our home. But I started the song looking at him. And as I was singing, I turned the other way. And someone was like. And the person next to me looked me right in the eyes and i direct eye contact as i had finished singing this song and i truly i think my eyes probably got huge i turned back around i was like oh my god

i was so caught and it and i i didn't even realize I was doing something weird until I saw it reflected back in a stranger and was like, oh, no. Direct eye contact with a stranger is scary no matter what is happening. What was the stranger like? I feel like you could have just laughed and it would have diffused that moment. I think I looked away too quickly to know. I was just like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. It just was like, I don't like when I have forgotten

that I'm out in public you know what I mean like it happens more and more often now where I'm like oh my god I forgot I'm not at home like I just I'm at home so much especially when I'm with Joel I can be out in public alone and act normal but if we're out in public uh oh

uh oh but you know it's fine. It happens. It happens. This is reminding me and this is so stupid, whatever, but I'm going to tell you anyway, Silas has been having a real hard time eating. Sometimes he just gets really upset when he's in his high chair. He doesn't want to eat. And so my whole family, we were at the beach last week and, uh, uh, we, I was like desperate trying to feed him something. He wasn't eating literally anything. So finally I made him toast and my mom or my sister, I don't know, someone started singing salty buttery toast, salty buttery toast. salty buttery toast.

And then aren't everyone, me, Tim, my dad, my sister, my mom, the whole kitchen singing, salty buttery toast. Look, it's just a more fun thing than talking a lot of the time. And sometimes you just need to sing just to calm yourself down. Sometimes words must be said in a song.

It's soothing. And I that's salty buttery toast has been stuck in my head for days and days and days and days and days. It's catchy as hell, Henley. I had a hard time not singing it just as you salty buttery toast can blame you.

Well, if you want to throw into your repertoire it's good to learn it's nice to learn you know you that's another fun tune i think it's great i think you should um embrace we need to embrace these sides of ourselves don't feel ashamed don't feel embarrassed thank you i think you can just have a have a little laugh Share a little laugh with that person And say oh my god Can you believe it Oh god oh well Enjoy your evening And I hope you did

Alright well a couple pretty Pretty good weeks You looking for that transition into the movie Just couldn't find it Nope, it doesn't exist I'm not good at the transitions It's interesting, I have to try to do it every week And you know, usually I'll just go with

Alright, should we talk about the movie now? Yeah, let's talk about the movie Yeah, I don't think you need to put pressure on yourself to come up You know, you've got to Self-prescribed anxiety We we've not we've not we don't need it we don't need it so we're not gonna have it we're not gonna do it but we are gonna talk about this week's movie which is barbarian a new release written and directed by zach crager starring georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård,

Justin Long and Richard Brake and it is in theaters now. It came out September 9th and you guys, yet again we have a exciting surprise, an exciting treat for all of you.

Which is that we will be speaking with writer director zach crager himself and he will be answering some questions about this movie giving us some behind the scenes info and all that good stuff so that will be at the end of the recap stay tuned for that you're not going to want to miss it. It's going to be great. This is sort of like a director interview podcast now. Yeah, we're kind of professional interviewers. Yeah. But we only interview directors of movies.

Yeah, that's right. We leveled up really quickly. What do you guys know about this movie before we get into it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Isn't that kind of fun? It's so fun. It's my favorite way to find know about this movie before we get into it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Isn't that kind of fun? It's so fun. It's my favorite way to find out about a movie.

I love when I don't know anything. I will say that this movie has a lot of surprises and twists and turns. And it's actually very fun to go into blind. So if you are of the brave variety, I highly suggest just going to see this movie before listening. Otherwise, keep listening.

And if you go see it first, come back and listen. Make sure you do listen. But also go see this movie because it's super fun and I think will be very fun with an audience. But because it's a new release, I don't have any of the stats. And we're actually recording this before it comes out. So I don't have even the Rotten Tomatoes or budget or anything.

It's we're really going in blind here. Oh my gosh. Sammy got to go to a screening. Excuse me. I got to go to a screening. So we're just going to jump straight into this trailer. Wow. I can't wait.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Yeah. Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Yeah? This is 476 Barbary, right? Yeah, I'm renting this place. No, I booked it a month ago. Are you sure you have the right place? Yeah. What are we supposed to do?

Why don't you come inside, and we'll call these idiots. Why don't you just crash here? Oh, no. I don't know if you got a great look at this neighborhood, but I don't think you should be out there by yourself. It's dry and there's a lock on the door. By the way, I'm Keith. Tess.

You take the bedroom, and I'll sleep out here on the door. By the way, I'm Keith. Tess. You take the bedroom, and I'll sleep out here on the couch. Sunshine, true. Oh, god. Keith? Keith? Help me! Help me! Keith! Help! This process might seem overwhelming. But with a little practice, it can soon become a pleasurable experience.

This is perfectly natural. What? That looks so good. Thank God we do this podcast because after watching that trailer, I'm like, I must know. I must know what this movie is about. I will die if I don't know what this movie is about. Same, same, same. And I get to know and ooh, baby.

I get to find out so soon i i truly think this is a perfect movie for this podcast specifically we love it we love a twist we love a surprising horror movie and it is pretty scary so i don't yeah it looks fucking scary yeah it's scary it's also pretty funny um zach is a comedian and so there's a lot of humor in it but But it's also very scary. Oh, my God, I'm excited. Also, your boyfriend Pennywise is in it. I know. I was going to ask, is he hotter here or in it? I mean... That clown makeup's doing a lot. It's doing a lot.

It's really good casting, I'll say, because he is this kind of questionable character in it and i don't know if he's scary or not yes exactly like i think he's supposed to be like well he's like he's hot but he's also pretty scary and for the premise of this film of her double booking in airbnb and having to like go into this house with this stranger like i think it's a really good casting choice even specifically that we as the audience know that he is pennywise yeah yeah i mean i think he's hot in both obviously okay all right all right we'll decide after we'll decide a real special place in my heart i am so glad i get to know what happens in this movie. I am so. In the past few years, I have hit a point where I only want to be wearing clothes that are comfortable. It happened.

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Baby, let's get into it. Let's do it. Okay, so we start with our protagonist, Tess. This is Georgina Campbell. She is arriving in the middle of the night at an Airbnb. They're somewhere out of Detroit. It's raining. She's got her suitcase and phone and she's looking to try to find the code for the key box to get into the house. to try to find the code for the key box to get into the house, figures it out. But the key box is empty. And she's like, fuck, God, like, God damn it, calls the Airbnb, like the number that they gave her, goes to voicemail. She leaves a message saying, I'm here. I can't get inside. And goes back in her car. She's like shivering and wet now. And then she sees a light inside turn on. Goes back up to the house. Knocks on the door like, what the fuck?

Who's in there? And a man opens the door. And he looks kind of groggy like he's been sleeping. And he's like, hello? She says, who are you? And he gives her an equally like, what the fuck look? And I was like, who are you? You were knocking on my door in the middle of the night.

She says, is this 476 Barbary? And he says, I think so. I don't know. And she's like, you don't know your address? And he's like, I rented this place. Sorry, I don't have the address memorized. But basically, they figure out that through different booking websites, they've both booked the same place. She doesn't know what to do about it. And he...

Get back in your car and go somewhere else. Sorry, that's what you do about it. Just saying. I mean, she says that. She's like, okay, okay sorry i guess i'll leave and he says i don't know if you got a good look at this place but we're in a pretty um shitty part of town if you want to like come in and just use the internet to look and see if you can find a hotel or something and she decides to go in and he's like, we'll call the people and figure this out.

Call these idiots that double booked us. So she she looks really reluctant. She looks nervous. She doesn't want to go in, but. She agrees and she goes inside, she stays in the living room, sits on the couch, and they're going back and forth saying, is this the phone number you have for the person who booked this for you? They say, yeah,

same number. I already called them. They're not answering. Are you suspicious of this guy at all? Yes, but a normal amount of suspicious like you would be, you know, for any man that you're about to go into an enclosed space with. Yeah yeah he's a creepy looking guy he's like equal parts hot and creepy i'd say yeah he's doing both and so part of you

is like i don't know he's also very tall like all the scars guards they're tall just big big men and so we're for sure suspicious. She's definitely suspicious. She doesn't want to be there. She's very quickly on her phone making calls to all the hotels in the area. He introduces himself as Keith. She says, my name's Tess. He says, oh, that's a really pretty name. And you can tell it like she doesn't like that.

He said that. She calls one hotel. They're fully booked. Also, like, is it? It's a nice name. It's a name. Tess isn't,

I think Tess is a good name, but Tess, it's just a sound. It's really simple name. It's very weird to be like, that's so pretty. Like I'm going to be like, ew,

what's your deal? Weirdo. He doesn't say that's so pretty. He says it pretty offhand. He's like, that's pretty name. And kind of moves on. And everything's like very subtle Yes I mean she clocks it for sure She's like don't love that

He then offers Can I make you some tea? He's like there's a bottle of they left a bottle of wine here He shows it to her with a little bow on it And He's like just saying I don't. I just want you to know, since we both booked this place, like this is,

I guess just as much your wine as it is my wine type of thing. And she's like, I'm fine. I'm fine. No, you don't have to make me tea. No, I don't want any of the wine.

And she's calling more hotels. And then eventually he says, Oh, Oh shit. I just remembered there's a convention in town. Like, I think probably that's why all the hotels are full. And she is seems like frustrated and clearly doesn't want to stay there. But she says, I think at one point she's like, maybe I'll sleep in my car or something.

And he's like, that's not going to be safe. He's like, you can you can sleep here. You can sleep in the bedroom. There's a lock on the door. I'll sleep on the couch. And she's hesitant, but. Eventually agrees. eventually agrees and she says that she's got to she wants to wash the sheets first because it's clear that he was already sleeping she woke him up in like the middle of the night so he already

was sleeping in them and so he takes them off and they start doing laundry and they're talking for a bit longer before they go to bed while she's in the room as he's like putting the bedding in the washer she finds his wallet and driver's license takes a photo of it his name is keith on the driver's license so he wasn't lying about it but she takes a photo when she comes back out he is sitting at the dining table with two glasses of wine or two glasses and the bottle of wine. And he's sitting like sitting up straight, looking nervous. And she looks a little suspicious, like what's going on? And he stumbles with his words a bit.

and he stumbles with his words a bit. And he says, I wanted to wait for you to open the wine, because I thought if you didn't see me opening the wine, you wouldn't want to have any of the wine. So the only way we could have the wine together is if you saw me open it, which I totally understand. That's totally fair for you to think that. So I just didn't want you to think that I put anything in the wine. Oh, Jesus Christ. for you to think that so i just didn't want you to think that i put anything in the wine jesus christ because earlier he earlier he did make her tea and she didn't drink any of it he's

like i just noticed you didn't drink any of your tea which makes a lot of sense i get it and i think that's probably really smart but if you did want to have some wine you could see me open it and you could see that it would be safe for you to drink it. She says, it's fine. I don't want any wine. Like, don't worry about it. He's like, OK, I'm going to have some wine. And he opens the bottle, pours himself a glass. And they just are sitting and talking while they're waiting for the bedding to dry. And he asks her what she's in town for.

and he asks her what she's in town for and she's there for an interview to be a documentary filmmaker's research assistant or something and he asks what documentary filmmaker has she made anything that i would know of and she says this like very small film about jazz called, I don't know, Blue Streets or something like that. And he's like, oh, I love that movie. She kind of rolls her eyes like you haven't seen nobody's seen that movie. And he's like, yeah, with the kids that play on the rooftops like I've seen. He says specific details about the movie. She's like, oh, my God, that's so crazy. Like nobody I've ever spoken to has known what that movie is

and he's like well what's this documentary about that you guys are making and she says it's about the music scene here in this part of Detroit and how people are moving to the outskirts to build like

jazz communes or something I don't know I don't know. I didn't don't quite quite understand. But he says, oh, that's so cool. You know who you should interview for that. And she says, who? He says me. She's like, what do you mean? He's like, well, I'm like, it's me that is doing that.

Like I'm and he says some organization, jazz organization. He's like, I started that organization. And she, her eyes get wide. She's like, no fucking way. Like I know of you. And that's so crazy. That's what a small world. What are you doing in an Airbnb?

I thought you lived in the places. And he's like, well, we're out like looking for new places to stay. So I'm like out scouting basically. And she like totally relaxes because now she knows who he is oh god hard cut to them now on the couch both with glasses of wine laughing chatting and she's telling him how being a man and being a woman is so different and it's so crazy that he just let her in and he says like he says you wouldn't if it were if it were you that got here first you wouldn't have let me me in and she's like hell no i wouldn't have let you in anything i'm fucking insane like of course not like i would be terrified and they have this like they're like flirting now it's

getting cute right you don't feel quite so stressed uh but you know with a little still little hint of suspicion and the bed sheets finish drying and they go to the room to put them on. And he does this thing where he puts himself inside the duvet cover as a way to flip it out. And it's like pretty cute. Like, it's like, I need your help. Like, help me find corner and corner. And he goes like, and like wiggles it off. And he's like, that's how you do it. And they're like a little tipsy and laughing about it.

And by the end of this they've had like a pretty nice evening but they're she's got an interview in the morning and so she's like alright well I better get to bed and there's a little lingering moment between them where it's kind of like are they gonna kiss or and then

they're like okay goodnight goodnight and she goes to bed and she does not lock that door. God damn it. She trusts him now. You gotta lock it anyway. Always lock it. Always lock it.

Be safe. It's maybe also because she's a little bit drunk. Maybe she just forgot. But we definitely noticed that she does not lock the door. Damn it. Damn it. Middle of the night, that door creaks lock the door. Damn it. Damn it. Middle of the night, that door creaks open.

No. No. She wakes up, notices it, looks out into the living room and can see Keith sleeping on the couch. And he's kind of moaning like he's having a nightmare. And she gets up and is tiptoeing towards him looking around like, what the fuck? Who opened the door? And he's like very clearly deep in sleep having a nightmare and tossing and turning. And

she goes to wake him up and he jumps awake and it really scares her and really scares him. And he like starts yelling at her like, what the fuck are you doing? And she said, my door's open. Did you just open my door? And he's like, what? Like, no, I'm asleep. Why? Why are you touching?

Why did you come and touch me? He's like, also seems really freaked out by it. And she's like, somebody opened my door. And he's like, well, I don't know what to tell you. Like, there's nobody here. I didn't do it. And she's like, I'm sorry. She like is embarrassed.

It's like pretty clear that he didn't do it. Like he was very much asleep. And she goes back into her room and this time does lock the door. Okay. Great. Goes to sleep. Love it. Great. Wakes Okay. Great. Goes to sleep. Love it. Great. Wakes up. Great. The next morning and there's a

note from Keith. He's gone already. He went to his like scouting thing. Note from him saying had a nice time last night. Please leave the key in the lockbox. I'll be back later. And

see you when I get back. They're both staying another night. And so she gets ready for her interview, heads out, and we see the street in daylight now for the first time. And it looks rough. Everything is abandoned. These are like run down buildings. Literally nobody else and no other inhabitants here. A lot of horror movies take place in Detroit. Yeah. It Follows is also Detroit. I wasn't, um, the Don't Breathe. Don't Breathe. Don't Breathe. Detroit. Yeah. the don't breathe don't breathe don't breathe detroit yeah yeah so she goes to goes into town

for her interview and she's scrolling through her phone and i just thought this was funny her she's on zach crager's instagram fun instagram cameo and then the woman comes the interview looks like it goes really well we just like see them talking through the glass she comes back out they're saying their goodbye she's like the woman is saying so great to meet you like we'll definitely be in touch and where are you staying and she says the name of the neighborhood she's in and the woman is clearly very concerned by that she's like you're joking right why are you staying there? And she says, I'm just at like a, it's a pretty cute little Airbnb.

And the woman is so confused by this. Like there's Airbnbs there. That's like, what? And she just says, okay, well be careful. And she says, I have a roommate. Like, it's fine. And she's like, okay. She's like, okay okay does she tell her who

her roommate is wouldn't she like bring that up wouldn't that be like the first thing you say oh yeah maybe maybe she's gonna wait till she gets the job first okay but yeah maybe it could have helped her helped her get the job it does seem like she's going to be getting the job yeah but no she doesn't seem to mention it but she goes home afterwards and keith is still gone she gets out of her car and as she is walking to the front door we see a man running down the street yelling like running towards her and he's yelling little girl little girl and she is freaking out and like oh no because the keys are in the lockbox and she's freaking out and she has to like type in the code into the lockbox one of those very stressful scenes where she's like fuck fuck fuck trying to get the keys and he's like right there she gets inside

just in time and is closing the closes and locks the door. He's banging on it, saying, little girl, get come out that house. Oh, girl, get out the house. And she calls the police. They won't send anybody. He like eventually leaves and she's like, I think he's gone. I can't see him. But can't you send someone to check? And they're like, if there's nobody there, like we're not sending anyone.

What? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, they don't come. Oh, God. Was he trying to warn her? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, they don't come. Oh God, was he trying to warn her? Yeah, for sure he's trying to warn her. This is like the classic gas station or something attendant. The old warning from a stranger. Yeah. Oh, I'm like

Yeah. I'm scared. So she's also scared. She's pretty freaked out and is kind of nervously waiting for keith to get home she goes pee and the bathroom is out of toilet paper she goes pee i'm not just including that for it's because the toilet paper thing okay but i don't know i did actually kind of enjoy the shot of her.

Peeing is just such a vulnerable thing that I feel like in a horror movie it is just inherently scary to see someone peeing because it's like, well, something bad's going to happen right now because your pants are down. Pants are down. It's going to take a minute.

And she notices there's no toilet paper. She's looking around in all the cabinets. There's nothing. And she finds this one door that she hasn't around in all the cabinets there's nothing and she finds this one door that she hasn't looked in yet and it's a basement door and of course she can see toilet paper in the basement right at the right at the bottom of the stairs and so she goes down to grab it and as she does the hallway door closes behind her

and it's automatically locked and so now she is oh no she is locked in this basement wow it's on that's fucked up fucked up and she is thinking like okay I gotta call keith realizes she left her

phone on the table after she called the cops doesn't have her phone with her she's like well he's gonna come home eventually i'll just wait here on the stairs basically but realizes she did not put the keys back in the lock box for him and so so the house is locked and Keith will not be able to get back in. Fuck. So there's a little basement window, like a floor ground level window that's high for her that she's kind of can see

basically right where the front door is, but she can't get up to it. It's too high. And she's just sitting on the stairs looking around like this place is fucking creepy it's uh you know standard looking yeah dusty basement scary and as she's kind of looking around she notices a rope coming out of the wall. Looks at it, confused. Oh, God.

Grabs it, pulls it. It's a trap door. Of course it is. She opens it, opens into a dark hallway. She looks into it and goes, Nope. Which is funny after Nope just came out. But she says, Nope.

It's just a real thing. Goes back to sit on the stairs. But it's, you know, an hour later, she's like down there for a while. And eventually she comes up with a plan to she makes a good little contraption where there's a ceiling light in the middle of the basement she finds a floor mirror that she uses to reflect the ceiling light into the dark hallway and she's able to use that to illuminate it and she sees that there's another door

in the hallway she sees the glint of the door handle in there and she thinks maybe possibly that could be a way out i hate this so she uses a little ladder and a bucket and some weights to put the mirror in place so that it continues lighting the hallway for her. And she walks into that hallway. We get scary music. The music is actually great. But she walks in slowly and eventually gets to that door opens it and oh man this room oh no oh no oh no there's a light switch fluorescent lighting you better believe it oh no oh no this room just has a twin size nasty bed with just the mattress on it.

Stained mattress. Oh. A video camera aimed at the bed. And a dirty bucket. Oh, God. That's fucked up. That room is terrifying. That is the scariest thing I've ever heard in my life.

Is absolutely terrified runs back sees keith coming home now and is banging on the glass window keith keith keith he notices her kind of laughs like what are you what are you doing down there she's like i'm stuck i'm stuck down here and he can't get in but they are able to press on the glass from either side and like open it enough so that she can hand him or no. Does she have, she has the keys. Yes.

She has the keys with her. So she hands him the keys. So he's able to get in and let her in. And she is like level 10 fucking panicked, freaking out. She's like, we got to go pack your shit. Like we're getting out of here.

She starts packing her shit. He has no idea what the fuck's going on. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. What happened? she's like we got to go pack your shit like we're getting out of here she starts packing her shit he has no idea what the fuck's going on he's like whoa whoa whoa calm down what happened she's like there's a room downstairs with a bed in it and a bucket and like we need to go something's happening in this house and he's not like not really sure what to make of it he's like Tess you need to calm down like I don't know what's going on and he says this line he says I'm sorry if I'm not taking What you're saying seriously but I didn't see What you saw which I think is a pretty good line And he

She's like I'm do whatever fuck you want to do I'm Leaving and he's like will you wait Can I go see it so I know what You saw no no No and will you wait to make Sure I get out because you got locked In there I don't want to get locked in there.

And she's like, OK, fine. I'm staying up here three minutes. Go look at it. And then we're leaving. He's like, OK. Oh, no. Oh, my God. Why is this called Barbarian?

I just am so deeply curious. We haven't gotten there yet. Part of the reason it's called Barbarian is the street is 476 Barbary. So there are barbarians on the street. And so he goes in. He takes a little like cell phone flashlight or something and goes in to the basement, goes down. He's gone for a minute. She's not hearing him say anything, react to anything.

Eventually, she calls after him. Keith, do you see it? He calls back, yeah. And she's like, okay, come back up now. Stops responding. Keith. Nothing. He's not responding anymore.

She starts freaking out. Keith, like really yelling. And he's not responding. She slowly goes back down. No. And she looks. No, don't go back down. Simply do not. Simply do not. And he's

nowhere. He's not down there. And she goes, looks in the room with the bed in the bucket. He's not in there. He is nowhere. Oh my god. No. No. And she's very freaked out and like on her way to get out of the room. Uh-huh.

Of course. She bumps into another door, an even more hidden door within the hidden door, pulls it back and it leads to a now stone staircase that's going way down underground. Very dark. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. staircase that's going way down underground very dark oh my god oh my god and it looks almost like the entrance to a mining shaft type thing and she looks so scared she has her little cell phone light lighting it up she's yelling keith keith and eventually hears help tess help no no no no no no no if he's gone if he's gone if you're looking down there and you don't see him two two things are possible he's a bad guy or a bad guy there's another bad guy so so you gotta you can't you gotta you can't don't poke around don't don't scream don't call attention to yourself you mean don't walk down a

hallway screaming keith keith keith where are you yeah um you You turn right around. If I see a room with a single bed in it and a bucket, you better believe there's no way in hell I'm going back in that room no matter what. No matter what. No, of course not. Especially not for someone you just met. Who's like a tall man. You know what I mean? Maybe if one of you had gone down into that basement to have to take a look at that room first of all i'm slapping you across the face and i'm saying no no no you don't

go down there but if you insist and then you stop responding and you're not in that room maybe then maybe then as i'm calling the police as they have been dialed yes i go down and look for you but they i have made a call oh for. And I expect you to do the same. Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure. She does not. She goes. She goes down.

She goes down those steps. Those stone steps into the darkness. Still screaming Keith. Oh, my God. He's yelling. Tess, Tess over here. Oh, God. Like, what does she imagine happened to him?

That he wandered through another room and then fell? I don't know. She seems very, very scared. I'm sure she's not thinking straight. Sure. But it looks like there's a lot of tunnels down here. It's big. It's a lot of space.

It's big. It's a lot of space. And as she's walking through them to her right at one point, she sees a bunch of empty cages with like dog bowls in them. Oh, no. What? No, no, no. She's trembling, terrified, getting closer to Keith's screams and is being a little quieter now like that'll do it and eventually he on his hands and knees like is crawling towards her it's quite a scary shot he like comes out of the darkness at her and he's looks absolutely

terrified he's like she's like stop yelling stop yelling and he's looks absolutely terrified. He's like, she's like, stop yelling, stop yelling. And she's going, Keith, what's happening? She's being too loud, way too loud.

And he's like, there's somebody else here. There's somebody here. And she's like, come on, we got to go back. We got to go back. We got to get,

go this way. And he's like, no, no, no, that's the way, that's the way she came from. That's the way she's from.

He's trying to go back deeper into the tunnels. And she's saying, no, no, no, the way out is here. Like I just came from the way she came from. That's the way she's from. He's trying to go back deeper into the tunnels. And she's saying, no, no, no. The way out is here. Like, I just came from the way out. And before they can choose what direction to go, we hear a loud screech. And from the darkness comes a very tall, large, naked woman. And she grabs Keith's head and bashes

it into the wall over and over and over and over completely pulverizing his head and we just see Tess's face watching this in terror cut to black what

okay wait a tall woman is she a normal sized tall woman or is she a normal size tall woman like massive pretty massive pretty massive yeah i'd say like human looking yes maybe like a like a javier botet type size okay okay and and so keith is dead keith's absolutely dead, yes. Wow, so Keith wasn't bad. Keith wasn't bad. Keith wasn't bad. I really thought Keith was bad. I really thought he was bad.

That's part of the fun. That's part of the fun. I love that. But uh-oh. Uh-oh. So, okay, cut to black. We come up. We're on the California coast.

Fun music is playing. The sun is shining. We see Justin Long driving along PCH. forgot justin long's in this in a convertible this is aj he gets a phone call on his car uh system what do you call it the bluetooth yeah and it's his agents and he he's like, hit me. Like, what's going on, guys? Like, very upbeat. This guy's loving life. They say, AJ, we have some we have some news. There's been a bit of a development. Like, are you sitting down type of thing? And he his demeanor changes. Like, what's going on? What are you talking about? and he his demeanor changes like what's going on what are you talking about and they're saying well he's like is it something about the pilot like what's did something happen with the pilot and they say well yeah um megan the main actress in the pilot has there has been an accusation and he says what are you what are you talking about uh an accusation against me she said they say yes it's a it's a man and a woman that are on the phone and they're

like very like hollywood agent being like aj aj like it's okay like but just like pay attention, like shy, shy, shy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's like, well, what does this mean for the pilot? And they say, well, you know, they'll be doing a thorough investigation. And in the meantime, we're all just going to sit tight and see what happens. And he's like, well, like I was the first person signed on to this pilot. They can't. I'm involved in it, obviously. And they say, you know, I'm not sure that might not be the case anymore. And he says, are you saying that they are going to fire me?

And they say that seems pretty much like the most likely outcome. Yes, we want to make sure we handle this professionally. And he starts freaking out and calling Megan a fucking bitch. It's like that fucking bitch. What did she say? What did she say? And they're like, well, and he's like, what did she fucking say? I raped her.

Oh, Jesus Christ. And the woman agent says, yes, she's saying say I raped her? Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. And the woman agent says, yes. She's saying that you raped her. And he just goes silent. Then they say, there's one other thing. There's gonna be an article in

the newspaper tomorrow about this. Like, she talked to a reporter. It's gonna come out tomorrow. Like, you should know about that as well. He just goes silent. Says, I'm going to have to call you guys back. Hangs up. Pulls over to the side of the road and just stares into the ocean.

Then we cut to him at his accountant's office. Basically going over the financial implications of this. He's now having two court cases, one with Megan and a countersuit. And each of the court cases have an estimated cost of something like $75,000. And he's talking to his accountant.

What's this? What does this mean for me? And he says, basically, you're going to be bankrupt in like probably three months and he's freaking out and saying like what what what can i do and what about my properties in michigan like i could sell those and they he says well those will buy you a little bit more time but but not much. Like, those aren't super high value properties. And we also, like, nothing personal, but we are also going to be dropping

you and we suggest that you find new financial management. Oh, wow. He's like indignant about all this, like laughing, like oh my God, what a fucking joke. This fucking bitch ruining my life. Oh my God. I fucking bitch ruining my life. Oh my god. I guess which property he owns.

I also love this for Dustin Long because I feel like he is such a nice guy in every role he ever takes. The casting all around in this film is great. Yeah, I agree. It's very fun. The idea of him being like, oh, this bitch. I just don't... I can't even picture it. It's also

good because this was interesting for me. And I feel like a good reflecting moment for me. Like I I think because of that also immediately was like, well, it's maybe not true. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Like Justin Long is a nice guy. And we're immediately seeing Bill Skarsgård and going, uh-oh, don't trust him. Don't trust him. Right. Oh, boy.

So the next day, the article comes out. We see him now renting a car he has flown to Detroit. He's going out to those properties. He is liquidating his assets. And he arrives at the house for

7-6 Barbary. You better believe it. And there's a bunch of people's shit there. Like, I mean not a bunch of people's. Tess's and Keith's. Yeah, all their stuff is still there. Their suitcases are open. You know, the bottle of wine is still out. Like, very clearly people

have been here. He calls the property manager. What's going on? Are people here right now? The woman checks and the system says no, nobody. The last people were there a couple of weeks ago. And he says, well, what the fuck's going on? Like, there's people's stuff here. Do I have squatters?

And the woman says, like, the cleaners come before the next guests, not after the guests. So he's like, well, that's crazy. What if someone had vandalized the place? That's such a dumb fucking system. He's kind of yelling at her. She hangs up on him and is like, have a nice day, sir. And he's just clearly pissed about this as well. And cut to him at a bar.

So he's meeting up now with what we can maybe assume are some high school or college friends maybe and they're in a crowded bar it's loud and he's drinking a beer with his friend and his friend is zach crager another fun little cameo great and he's saying like no but man just like tell me what really happened like i read the article but tell me what happened he's like well obviously i didn't do it and he's like yeah yeah obviously obviously i just want to like hear what you like what really happened because you're my friend and i want to know like that everything's cool and he's like yeah yeah totally um it was totally cool she was like way into it and oh god he's like oh god he's like well did she ever like say no and aj says well yeah

first but like you know i'm pretty persistent and then she was like into it and then she was like really into it oh it's like a very gross conversation he gets home afterwards very drunk and calls megan it goes to voicemail he leaves a drunk call a drunk voicemail saying megan i'm so sorry if you think something bad happened i'm not even mad at you i just want to apologize if you call me i, I'll apologize to you. We can clear this up. Like, I'm sorry if you think I did something wrong and really not a good move. Having this phone call. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, From where in this moment I'm like Cool Justin Long I don't know why I'm like So impressed that he took this role Yeah of just like a Disgusting person

I don't know good for you Justin Yeah then He passes out wakes up the next morning Is he staying where is he staying Yeah he's at he's at Barbary 476 Barbary okay okay okay He's at the same house so He hears Something 476 Barbary. Okay, okay, okay, okay. He's at the same house, so he hears

something sounding like it's coming from the basement. Mm-mm. And he sees that the basement door is open and is like, what the fuck? Gets a flashlight and a knife and calls down into the basement like, if anyone's

down there, because again, he thinks he has squatters, and he's like, I'm gonna fuck you up i have a gun he doesn't but he starts going down the the hidden doors the trap doors closed but he also finds the rope and opens it and slowly walks into the first hidden hallway and finds the room with the bed and the video camera. Hard cut to him Googling, can you list underground rooms in square footage? Stop it. Stop it. And he is not scared at all.

He is delighted by the potential effect it might have on his finances being able to list his home. So crazy. That's really funny that's really really funny especially with that conversation they had at the beginning of like it's so different being a man and a woman and being like oh i can't wait to make my money off this room yeah so he grabs a tape measure it starts going down measuring all these rooms and as he's measuring that room he bumps into the second door and opens that and he's just like jackpot like holy shit and he's going he's walking the same steps that tess

wait this is very funny exact opposite attitude it's so funny this is hilarious just like measuring all these things going like oh what the like each room being like what the fuck hell yeah hell yeah just like imagining it just seeing dollar signs like oh my god my house is a mansion a secret mansion oh my god not scared at all and then in one of the hallways he sees a room open with a purplish glow emanating from it and he hears a little noise and he's like what's this room now? And as he's walking towards it, the tape measure is like pulled

from his hands. We just hear something pulling on it and that's like someone's pulling it so that it's extending further. Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. He's deep in the basement now. He's deep in. He's in the underground part.

Yeah, he's in the part that looks like a mine. And he looks into the room with the purple glow. And it's a TV playing an instructional video on how to nurse a baby. it's a TV playing an instructional video on how to nurse a baby. It's a woman nursing a baby, stroking its face, saying this should be a calm, soothing process. This is perfectly natural. And he, it's like he reacts to the smell in the room.

It obviously smells very bad. And there's a lot of blankets on the ground. Oh my God. What is happening? Oh my God. And then the same naked woman eventually runs out, grabs him, knocks him out. Also cut to black. Oh my God. This is insane.

This is insane. And now we come back up on a bright, colorful shot of the same house, 476 Barbary in like the 70s or 80s. like when this street was at its prime we're back in time now and i actually think this is the scariest part of the movie okay well great i'm braced and we see a man leaving the house and driving to a store this is richard brake who is he's in mandy he's the chemist in mandy i just really love richard break i think he's great and he drives to the store we see him by that instructional video that we saw playing in the room a woman at the store asks if he needs help he says yes i have a baby on the way so she helps him get

diapers plastic sheets all baby supplies he's super creepy too you know who else he plays is the night king in game of thrones he gets all the stuff and then he gets in his car as if he's about to leave and he reverses out of the spot and pauses and sees a woman in a yellow dress getting into her car packing her car up and he just sits there and waits for her to finish packing her car up

and then follows her home. No. And we see him now parked across the street from her house as she goes inside. He gets out of his car, goes in the trunk and gets a work wear uniform like a L.A. D.W.P. type uniform, goes and knocks on her door, says, ma'am, we've had some outages in the area. Fuck.

Is it OK if we come and make sure everything's working? Nope. No, it's not okay. Nope. Sorry, no. So it's the middle of the day. She lets him in. He goes into a bathroom and just unlocks the bathroom window.

And then goes back up to her and says, thank you so much. Everything looks fine. But do let us know if anything is out of order. And he goes back to his house and one of his neighbors is tells him that they're moving away, saying like this place is basically going to shit, like this neighborhood is about to go down in value. We're getting out while we can. And he says, I'm not leaving. And he says, I'm not leaving. Oh, my God. This movie is stressing me out. It's very stressful.

This is you know, what's great about it, though, is that I have no idea what the fuck is going to happen. I know that's what's so fun. That's why it's like a good one for the podcast. It's very unpredictable. It's deeply unpredictable. I love it. Except for what's probably about to happen to this woman at least in the immediate i feel like i can predict that

part yeah yeah well we don't see it luckily cut back to present day we see uh justin long aj is in a pit basically like a dirt pit with a metal grate on top of it. So he's locked in here and he has fallen onto his knife because he had the knife in his pocket or something. And so his arm is all fucked up,

stab wound, and he's freaking out in pain. And then from the shadows pops out Tess. Tess is still alive and she's like saying you need to calm down you need to calm down you need to stay calm if you freak out she freaks out and he's like what the fuck is going on what's going on and she's like and then they hear the woman the mother is what she's called mother coming and she comes and she sticks a baby

bottle down through the grate and starts shoving it into aj's face it has like nasty hairs on the nipple and he refuses to drink it tess is under under her breath going like, drink it, drink it. You have to drink it. And she's shoving it in his face. He won't do it. She turns it around and offers it to Tess. Tess drinks from it obediently and is like acting like she loves it. Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, I didn't didn't see this coming.

Is it the woman with the yellow dress? I think it is. But how'd she get so big how'd she get so big and the mother then turns it back to aj aj still won't drink it tess is saying she wants you to be her baby like you have to drink it and because aj refuses the mother rips the grate off the top and jumps in and it's like such a loud thump like she's big and she did she get so big she is in there now with them hovering over aj and she grabs him like throws him over his shoulder and jumps out with him and leaves Tess in there alone with it open jumps out

like is she superhuman maybe she I can't remember but she's definitely huge she does have a human man over her shoulder and she's also surviving down there with no sustenance at all wow we're gonna find out.

Besides these demons that she's eating. And why did she turn on our adorable Bill Skarsgård so quickly? He didn't even have time to show that he could be a good little baby. I know. He probably would have been a great little baby. Oh, little babies. And she takes AJ into

that room with the stinky room with the blankets. And she takes AJ into that room with the stinky room with the blankets. And she rubs her finger on his nose the way the person in the instructional video is doing to their baby. Oh, my God. And she's going. Oh, my God. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead.

I'm dead. And she holds him and starts putting her boob in this mouth. He's screaming. We see while this is happening, Tess is able to climb out of the pit. She is like starting to run away. She has to pass this room that this is happening in. So she sees this happening. Eyes wide, terrified, decides like, I'm not I'm not fucking with that. I don't care about this.

Learned her lesson. And she just like keeps running to try to leave and runs right onto that measuring tape. It makes a very loud noise obviously alerts mother mother chases her she runs and she's got like a good head start but she runs into the basement and the basement door is locked it's closed she can't get back into the house she's banging it it's not working and so she she just goes to that window she like quickly moves something below it for her to climb onto, breaks the window, just like with her hand,

full panic mode, like doing whatever the fuck she's like, I'm gonna do what it takes to get out of there. Crawls out of this little window just in the nick of time. And we see mother get there right afterwards, reaching out, but mother's like too big to fit. Can't get out too big,

too big to get through the window. It's a small, it's a small little window, um, like just barely big enough for Tess and as she gets out the man that chased her earlier grabs her and is like come on come on this way like I'll uh I can help you like oh no is it the bad guy is it the bad guy from the 70s no oh okay okay no it's like a homeless man that, that chased her earlier. That was like, get out of that house, little girl. Okay. I didn't know if it was the same guy. Okay.

Oh my God. No, it's not the same guy. They stand and talk for like, she's like, what the fuck's going on? What's going on? And he's explains to her, he's like, we need to get out of here. We need to get out of here. And she's like, someone's still in there. We need to call the police. Someone needs to come. Like, he's going to die. She's going to kill him. And he's like, if he's still down there, he's as good as dead. She's going to kill him. We need to get out of here. And he says, she's not even

the worst thing down there. We need to go. And Tess refuses and says, no, I need to go get help. No. Leave. And it's still daytime daytime and he says to her okay just he he shows her him they're like walking i think and he shows her where he lives like his little um he lives inside like a abandoned like silo looking thing i don't know like it's like an

industrial looking part of the street. And she's like, I'm going to go get help. I can't just leave him to die. I'm going to call the police. Do you have a phone? He's like, no, I don't have a phone. She's like, I'm going to go find a phone. And he says, whatever you do, just don't be around when it gets dark. That's when she comes out. around when it gets dark that's when she comes out we see now that as mother was trying to catch tess aj has taken that opportunity to also run so now he's running in a lot of the tunnels he doesn't know which way is out he's like totally lost and finds a uh a bell tied to wire, basically looks like a little bell that someone could ring from a room. And he follows it and he finds another door in these hallways. And as he does, he sees Mother now running down the halls towards him.

And he's got the knife still. I think he's like bracing himself to have to fight mother. But when she sees where he is, she starts to look really scared. And she backs away. And we like see, it's like, it's a very creepy shot of her,

like coming and get like coming into the light and then kind of cowering back out of the light. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. And then we see Tess has run to a gas station and a nearby gas station and asks to use their phone. She looks like crazy. She's,

you know, like covered in dirt and sweaty. And she's been down there for like weeks, right? That's the assumption. Yeah like covered in dirt and sweaty. And she's been down there for like weeks, right? That's the assumption. Yeah. They were the last people. So it really just was a fucking Airbnb mix up.

It was. It was an Airbnb mix up. God damn it. And so she is able to get the phone and a phone from them and call the police. Cut back to AJ now goes into this room no it is looks like a bedroom okay tv is on on just like the blue screen like nothing is actually playing scary he's looking around on the countertops and finds that yellow dress we saw earlier oh jesus and as he's looking at that like where am i he hears a cough behind him and we turn and we see uh his name's frank the man from

the flashback who is now like very old like 90 in bed rotting away immobile like he's not a threat he can't move and aj immediately assumes like this man is a victim and like runs to his side like oh my god man like are you okay like we got to get out of here we got to tell everybody what's going on down here that woman like she's so she's so crazy we're gonna get our vengeance on that woman like she can't do this to us and back to tess now the cops arrive and they absolutely don't believe her she's like we need to go to this place they they drive there to to the house and they're like this is an airbnb you're renting you don't have keys to it they're like you don't own this place and she's like are you listening to what i'm saying like i've been held prisoner for i don't know how long i've been down there i've been held prisoner and they're

like ma'am like you need to sober up oh jesus she's like you guys need to fucking listen to me and she's like freaking out more and more like there's someone in danger down there he's going to die and they're like if this isn't your house and you don't have keys you don't own this property like we can't break down the door to a property that you don't own like sorry and they get a call on the phone saying like shots fired on so-and-so street and they're like we gotta go like it's just sober up you're lucky we don't take you in oh my god take her in her in. Don't leave her there. Are they leaving her there? Take her in. They leave her. Take her in. What the fuck? And she doesn't have

her car keys. She doesn't have any of her stuff. She does have her car keys, I think. And but she's like still set on trying to help AJ. Why? No. Tess. We go back to AJ. We see him trying to help Frank.

He's getting him water. He's like, I'm going to get us out of here. And Frank is like gesturing to the bedside table. Like he's like. And. He scoots the bedside close enough that Frank can reach it. Frank opens a drawer and is like shuffling around through the drawer. And AJ is now like,uffling around through the drawer and AJ's now

like again looking around the room. He's like, man like this fucking crazy bitch locking you in here like she's going to pay for what she did and he then sees a bookshelf full of videotapes and

the names on these tapes. Oh my God. Names on the tapes are brown hair, yellow dress, Irish accent, no teeth, blind girl. Like so many. There's at least 50 of these tapes. And there's one already in the VCR and he pushes it in and presses play. And we don't see, thankfully, what happens. But we hear a bit of screams and it sounds horrifying and we can assume.

And based off AJ's face, AJ looks horrified, turns to Frank in disgust, says, what the fuck is wrong with you? And Frank, of course, pulls a gun out of that bedside drawer and miraculously doesn't shoot AJ. He shoots himself in the head. OK. So now AJ has a gun. AJ is super freaked out. But I mean, that could have gone worse for AJ. Yeah, it could have gone worse for him. Yeah, for sure. Yep.

We see Tess outside. Now it's dark and she gets in her car and reverses facing the house. And as it gets dark, mother comes out of the house and Tess floors it into mother like straight into the house like plows her through the house basically and mother at first is like not dead and is banging on the windshield and

then kind of collapses and we see the light kind of go out of her eyes and she seems to die. Seems to. Is this one of Frank's victims or is this Frank's weird supernatural mother? I don't understand

who this person is. We're going to kind of find out. We're going to kind of find out and then we're going to ask Zach, what the fuck is this? What the fuck is going on? What the fuck? Now T, what the fuck is this? Now Tess thinks the threat is gone.

And she. No, you can't ever think that. So she thinks she can just strut right down through those halls to go rescue AJ. Remember when the guy said she's not even the worst thing down there? Do you remember when he said that? She struts back into those halls. Feels like now you can go to cops and be like see this big moment do you see this thing yeah true that would have been a good time with the evidence piece of evidence a really big piece a really physically big piece of evidence absolutely

enormous piece of evidence and unfortunately as she is going down those halls aj is also going down those halls with a gun aimed in the direct in the direction that he's walking no he hears a noise and shoots and he shoots tess of course and as he gets close enough to see what he's done, he starts freaking. He shot her in the stomach and like the side of stomach, basically. But it looks very bad. Looks very serious. And he's like, oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

You're going to be OK. Like, come on. And he he hoists her up and starts carrying her out. And his car is there, too. And so he's like about to drive her to the hospital. And she sees mother is gone. And she's like, fuck, she's gone. And I think because they know she's nearby or something, they they test says, I know where we can go and takes directs AJ to the place that the man was living earlier

that showed him. His name's Andre. But she needs to go to the hospital. I know, but Mother is like roaming the streets. Anywhere else. Yeah, but there's a car, though. But there's not your responsibility. Maybe his car's dead or something.

I feel like there was a reason they couldn't take his car. Okay, there's gotta be a reason. And her car's fucked up. And so they're just like looking for safety. And so they go to Andre's place and he now gives them more backstory. And he says, Frank has lived there for decades and he would kidnap women and make babies with them and then make babies with those babies

and continue that cycle how did he know what happened because he's lived there the whole time too i guess and like seen her what hunting for victims he says she comes out at night that's when she gets she usually eats like animals and. Because she's so just genetically fucked up. I guess so. She's like really, really inbred. Yep. Oh, my God. What the fuck?

Oh, my God. Yeah. It's like he says, like, you make a copy of a copy of a copy and then you get something that's not like what it was meant to be in the first place. And they're saying, you know, we just like need to stay here till morning. Like after morning, she won't come out anymore. We'll be safe. Like you just need to make it till morning.

They're like dressing the wound as best as they can. Oh my God. This movie is fucking insane. And AJ has this moment of being like, no, like this is my fault. I need to make this right. I hurt someone and it was an accident, but I still hurt them. And he's like talking about tests, but obviously it means more than one thing to him. And he says, I don't know if I'm a bad person or a person that just did a bad

thing, but I need to make this right. And like, you're not going to die. Like you can't die. this right and like you're not gonna die like you can't die um i'm gonna fix this i'm gonna do everything i can to fix this and at some point tess says how do you know that we're safe in here and andre says she's never come in here in the whole like decades that i've lived here that moment bam burst through the walls mother busts in grabs andre rips off his arm and beats him to death with it okay okay okay aj and tess run out oh my god this is the fucking craziest fucking movie i've ever heard in my entire life i know know I keep saying that, but it's blowing my mind. It is. No, it is. It's very crazy. They run out and there is a spiral staircase

up around the silo basically to like get to the top of it. And I think they must think like she might not be able to go up the stairs or something. She can do anything! I know. But they run up the stairs. She just ran a guy's arm off! They start running up the stairs to try to get away from her.

Of course, AJ drops the gun in this moment. And it falls to the ground as mother is following up the stairs behind them. And they make it to the top. Tess is not doing well. You can see like color draining from her face. Like she's struggling to keep up. And AJ looks at her and says i he like looks sad and he's like i can get away but you're gonna have to slow her down

and he grabs tess and he looks at mother mother's now getting to the top and he says come save your baby and he throws tess off the top of the silo. Oh my god. So much for being a good person, huh? Justin, I love this for you. And we hear a bad noise and he looks over the edge and we see that

mother was able to put herself between the ground and Tess. like grabbed her and turned basically but they both look dead i mean they're like it was a very fall far fall and aj like slowly goes down to like check if they're dead oh my god and tess is not dead she was she like gasps for breath and he very quickly it's like oh my god thank god you're alive you're alive like oh i can't believe you slipped like that was so crazy and she can't even talk i mean she's like so wounded now oh jesus and he's like i can't believe that like oh it sucks that you slipped like that um i thought i had you but you fell and and as he's doing saying all that mother

wakes up grabs him like moves tess aside grabs aj and grabs his head, sticks her thumbs into his eyes. She has like nasty long fingernails that have never been cut one day in her life. Jams them into his eyes and then uses her hands to basically rip his whole

head in half. Holy shit. And kills him. AJ gone. Donezo. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Holy shit. And kills him. AJ gone. Donezo. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Go mother. Yeah. Do I love mother now? Yeah. It's confusing. She returns to Tess and cradles her like

a baby and she's like making sad little grunts like like stroking her face and she sees the gunshot wound and she's like oh and tess sees the gun right next to them aj had the gun and so she like slowly reaches for it as mother is looking at her with like this very deep look of concern and starts like trying to pick her up to take her back to the tunnels little nest yeah to care for her and tess looks really sad also

kind of scared and sad and looks at her and she says i'm like i'm sorry i can't i can't go back and shoots her in the face and kills mother. Yep. And that's the end of the movie. Yep. That's how it ends. We get a few shots through the credits of Tess like stumbling home as the sun is coming up. So we are led to believe that Tess

survives. Oh my God. What the fuck isn't it so fun i had a great time it's very scary and very fun i love i loved it everyone was great in it it's so wild it's so unpredictable it's just a real fucking roller coaster yeah i had a blast had a blast. Oh my God. I really enjoyed every second of that, even though I also hated it. I did too. I had a fucking great time. I hated it. I hated

it. I hated it. I hated it. I hate anything involving holding people in your basement. I hate more than anything, but damn. God, that was fun though. I just, it's so fun. It's also so fun i love a batshit crazy horror movie i want to see mother i want to see

what justin long even looks like in this movie i want to see these tunnels yeah do you guys think now with the with the um things you've learned that you would brave it one day. Maybe not in theaters. I always find theaters more scary. Maybe I could fast forward through it. Yeah, I think I could do parts of it. I'm honestly fascinated by it. I'm fascinated too but only parts. I had a great time.

I really had a great time. This was one that like the fun is all that's going to stick with me me The twist, the turns You know, I'm not I'm not laying awake worrying that mother's in my basement You know what I mean? Frank on the other hand

Of course, yes, there's the overall fear Of men Terrifying, terrifying, terrified But I don't trust a single man At all, and so I know that We know this to be true Men are the scariest thing of all Nobody enters my home that's to be true we know this no nobody enters my home no no no no no no it's so interesting though because i like think about it and i mean i guess

i know all my repair men because the my landlords use the same people a lot but like they're all men and they all do come into my home and i do feel like probably if someone dressed in LADWP was like I need to check your so I also have all of the breakers for everybody's apartment in my home I don't like and so a lot of times people will be like oh I need to come in to flip the breakers and so I do just let people in it's terrifying absolutely terrifying yeah no thank you you should cut that out that piece of information is a little, probably cut that out. I just let anybody into my blaze. We,

we had a guy come and install our air conditioning units and he is like a locksmith and he was like, looked at our locks and was like, you should get stronger locks on these. You need, you need dead bolts. You need dead bolts. And I was like,

are you just trying to get business or are you serious? Am I in danger? Thank you. Oh, it's I mean, the world is a very scary place, but this was fun. This was fun. I really love I love that early line from Keith where he says, I'm sorry, I'm not reacting the same way. I don't know why that line like really stuck with me. He's like, I didn't see what you saw. So I'm sorry that I'm not treating it with the right. He's like, I didn't see what you saw. So I'm sorry that I'm not treating it with the right amount of respect.

But I didn't see what you saw. Like so much of this movie is just about like the importance of believing women. Yeah. And so that line just really hit it home for me. Like I can't just I cannot take your word and experience at face value. I have to see it. It has to be filtered through my experience of it in order for me to believe that it's real.

And you're being kind of hysterical right now. Can I see it for myself? Because I don't really know why you're freaking out so much. You didn't drink my tea and I'm not a bad guy so maybe you're unreasonable.

That's such a good point. Bravo Zach. like unreasonable oh my god zach we loved it zach we loved it we think it's crazy we want to hear you talk about it we all want to and guess what we get to we all get to so stay freaking i used to love back to school shopping so much that i would tell my mom that i wanted to work at staples when I grew up because I just loved getting all the things that I needed that I would use every day in class. I still to this day have nightmares about showing up in class without notebooks or number two pencils. Really scary stuff. number two pencils, really scary stuff. But luckily I wake up and I realize I don't actually need notebooks or number two pencils anymore. But this fall there is something that I will be using every day and would be terrified to be caught without. And that's Raycon's best-selling everyday earbuds. I've been trying to go on walks every day and so I need

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It's only going to take you 10 minutes. It's incredible. So go to buyraycon.com slash too scary today to get 20 to 40% off site-wide. That's right. You'll get up to 40% off everything on Raycon's website when you go to buyraycon.com slash too scary. Buyraycon. com slash too scary. Tuned for this interview with Zach Krieger. Right. The heck now. Zach, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you guys so much for having me. Really appreciate you being here. We are big fans of this movie. And congratulations. Thank you very much. We're really excited to talk to you about it well we'll start off since first time in the podcast you obviously have just created a horror movie but beyond that what are your feelings about scary movies have you always

been a horror fan did you have a very formative childhood traumatizing scary movie experience i i've always been a horror fan. I'm not exclusively a horror fan. You know, I love movies in general. So, um, you know, I've never been like, especially into horror, but I certainly seek it out. And I think that my, the, the hook for me was the shining, you know, I saw that at a sleepover at a friend's house and that moment where the, where Danny turns left and you see the two little girls at the end of the hallway,

it like sent, it sent an electric current through my body. And it was, I was so, so scared. I have been hunting that feeling ever since. It's such a bizarre thing that we want out of horror movies, you know, because it's like, it is unpleasant, but it is so desirable at the same time. Like I, the scarier the better for me, you know? And while it's happening, I'm scared. Like I'm not happy when it's over and I'm safe again. It's like the endorphin release lingers and I just feel like joy, you know? Oh, yeah. I love horror movies.

You know, my my goal is to give that joy out. You know, this was actually I think of the making and the writing of this movie as as truly a joyful experience for me. Like I I didn't outline it. I didn't think about one day, this is going to be a movie that people will watch. I just was having fun in my garage late at night, writing this the way a little kid colors with crayons. You know, I was just, just for me, just for fun. And, and I feel like that, that worked in this, in this scenario. Amazing. Yeah. And okay. I want to talk to you more about your experience with horror movies in general,

but I feel like you saying that your experience with actually writing it, picturing you in your garage, just like having a great time. I would turn my lights red. I have these like colored lights. I'm in my garage. It's all mood lighting. And I put on really sinister. I have it. In fact, if you go to my Spotify, you can hear everything I was listening to as I was writing. Oh, can you share that playlist? I'm actually very curious. It's called Write to This Now. I've had it forever.

And it's just like sinister ambient music. That's just like pulsing doom. And I just like to put that on and type away. And that's that's how it happened. I'm obsessed with that. You were speaking Sammy's language. I feel like. OK, so, Sammy, what was the soundtrack you listened to on a car?

I feel like it was the Mandy soundtrack. I feel like you listened to an entire. Love the Mandy score. You went on a road trip and you exclusively listened to a horror film soundtrack the whole time. I remember. And I was like, we're different. I listened to a lot of movie scores, like just in general, I prefer instrumental music

as well. so um there will be times where i won't even really notice that it's happening but yeah all of a sudden i'll be like oh i've been driving for the past hour listening to mandy the score i think you're thinking about henley was dune not actually horror but just like the most intense yeah just a very intense thing to be yeah and i was driving And all of a sudden Just like What the fuck Like I'm insane I feel weird Insane person

I love that That's great Oh I love that I'm a big fan of Creating ambiance For yourself And I don't do it With dread

Typically But What a fun Place to put yourself And be like Let's just see Let's just see what comes out when I'm in this world. And I was just trying to scare myself. And I kind of did like, I, you know,

I was, cause I didn't know what was going to happen. So as, as she's moving through the house, like I I'm just like, what is, what would scare me? What's going to happen? What would be the worst thing I could, I could think of. Okay. That, that was a big question for me is like, where did like, what's so fun about this movie is how unpredictable it is. And you're saying that you were doing that to surprise yourself. Um, was there an idea that came first? Like, where was the starting point for you? It's interesting. And I'm really happy to be having this conversation with three women because, um, it came out of a book I had read called The Gift of Fear. And it's this book that's by

a security consultant named Gavin DeBecker. And, you know, he works with people who like have stalkers or like corporations that are trying to protect themselves from, you know, espionage, things like that. But there's a chapter in the book that is primarily written to women. And it's and it's encouraging women to pay attention to their subconscious when they're interacting with men that they don't know well. And it's saying like your subconscious is clocking all these little red flags and you ignore them at your peril. And often society has conditioned women to ignore these so that you're not a bitch or you don't piss a guy off or, you know, you don't have friction. And so these little red flags can be as innocuous as like a man touching you

in a non-sexual way that you didn't ask for, a man initiating sexuality into a non-sexual conversation, a man doing a favor for you that you didn't ask, all sorts of these things. And he paints these little anecdotes that are terrifying. So as I'm reading this book. That's just terrifying. Yeah, it's the scariest thing in the world. So I'm reading this and I just,

I had a realization that I don't have to think about this sort of thing at all because I'm a man and I don't have to worry that half the population might pose a potential threat to me. And that's just a luxury that I have had my whole life. Yeah. And so I can exist in the same physical landscape as a woman, but a completely separate. Yeah. And so I can exist in the same physical landscape as a woman, but a completely separate psychological landscape. And so that was really interesting to me. And so the idea of of this movie wasn't a movie. I just wanted to write one scene that I could load between a man and a woman with as many of these tiny microscopic red flags as possible that a guy wouldn't think twice about, but that, that every woman would clock. And that was it.

I want to write just like 20, 30 pages of that. So I thought of a double booked Airbnb and she has a choice to either sleep in her car and a bad neighborhood or cohabitate with a stranger. That sucks. That's that's scary. So let's now get her in the house and let's go. And so I was like, okay, so he's making her tea that she said she didn't want. He's saying pretty name. That's inappropriate. He's grabbing her luggage and bringing it inside when she specifically said he

doesn't, you know, please know, which was not in the final cut of the movie, but he's just not respecting any sort of boundary that she has, but he's not being malicious. He's not being a bad guy, which is puts, I hope. And you guys tell me if I'm, if I'm right or wrong about this, but I think that puts her brain into hyperdrive. She is working overtime to categorize this, this guy, what he claims to be, or do I need to be like seriously on guard here?

And so that's what I was trying to do. Yeah. In the retelling very much you guys were afraid all through the first act oh my god oh we're so on edge every yes you so yeah not having seen it yet um you nailed that because i yeah you're so on edge just by the very nature of the circumstances and and wondering especially we know we're in a horror movie but it's like is this is this the threat because it seems like it's a threat but it also maybe it maybe he's just a guy and maybe he's just an idiot yeah he's just a sweet idiot and he thinks he's being really nice and that is like a big part of the fear for women out in the world is is that a guy's like wait i'm just i'm not allowed to be nice to you and then that escalates situation then. Then you're like, Oh my God, I can't even have my own. You don't know what's

going to set somebody off. Right. Oh man. And then, you know, there's this moment she comes out of the bathroom and he's sitting there with the wine and he's saying like, you know, you didn't drink your tea. And I totally get that. This is a really weird situation. And I thought maybe you might want some of this, but if I, if you didn't see me open it, you wouldn't want any. So I waited for you to open it. And it's like, dude, you are putting this person in such an awkward situation and you're talking about roofing her. Like, even though you're saying you're not going to put her at ease, it's like, dude, like shut your mouth. And by the way, I'm not going to act like I'm above it all. I wrote that scene as like, he's me. This is what I,

this is the dumb shit that I would say to a woman just trying to put her at ease and not realizing that I'm exacerbating the situation, you know? So I'm not claiming to be some like, you know, a guru here. Cause I wrote Keith, like that's what I would probably knee jerk reaction. That's how I would behave. I would behave very similar to what he does. Right. And that's something that we talked about a lot too, was the casting of Keith, because when you were writing this, did Bill Skarsgård ever pop in your brain as a potential person to play him? Because he's the perfect person to play this character he's perfect um i uh i i didn't dare to think of cast when i was writing because i didn't think this would ever get made so it wasn't it wasn't like that for me i was just thinking of honestly everyone is me everyone

i write is me so she's me. He's me. Mother. Yeah. So, so no, I didn't think about, I didn't think about casting, but when he was the first person we went to for, for the obvious reason that like the moment he opens the door, everyone in the audience is like, he's bad. And my only direction to, to bill was like, you don't ever need to lean into creepy because the creepy is there. The situation is creepy. I hate to break it to you, Bill.

Yeah. Your face is creepy. You got a creepy. So, yeah, that was that was just the joy of having him. You know, he he just he just had to be a nice guy. And that's all we need. He's the perfect balance of like attractive and like a charismatic and then also. Yeah.

Repulsive and terrifying and on edge. And are you Pennywise or are you not? He's a hot guy, but he's also very off putting. Yeah. Truly great casting. Really in the middle of like, I want to trust him, but I don't. Yeah. And how great is she, by the way? Also incredible.

She's so good. Incredible. And then also Justin Long is like a very unexpected choice, I think, for this role. Yeah, absolutely. So he was definitely not the direction I was thinking of when I first started to like put together potential cast, I was thinking of like, you know, I, I'm a little embarrassed to say I was thinking of like a Zac Efron or like some bicep jawbone and a haircut, like a Chad. Like who that guy in real life more often is like that kind of guy.

And that was the wrong picture. That was the wrong impulse. Cause I think it's, it's, it's scarier to me to have a true sexual predator, be very charming and be very disarming and likable. And the kind of guy who like, you're not going to go publicly against him because no one's going to believe you. Like that's programmed into like who he is. Right. And so I was thinking when I, when I had this epiphany, I was like,

I need Tom Hanks. Like that's the scariest version of this character. Can you imagine Tom Hanks agreeing to do a movie like this? I know, right? Tom, we're going to, we're going to age you down. This is your story. You just did Geppetto. We've got a new thing for you. Yeah. So when I had that kind of pivot in my mind, it was like Justin Long would be the perfect person for this. And I'm so, so thankful that I woke up to that idea and that he said yes, because he's he's phenomenal in this movie.

I kept saying I'm so I was so excited to think of him in this role. Just like being like I love because he is he's like the most lovable guy ever. He really is. He's delightful. To the point where, again, in the first scene where he is on, you know, you hear that he's been accused of rape. Your first instinct is no. You know, like you picture him. I think if you saw the movie, you might have a different experience. Sammy, you tell me a few minutes, but, but I,

a few women have come up to me and been like, I knew he was guilty in the first scene because when they say like, she's made a very serious accusation, she's accused you of like a sexual something. His first reaction is, so what about the pilot? Are we not picked up anymore? I mean, that's a bad guy. But it's funny guys take a lot longer to come around to the fact that he is guilty sure interesting yeah which is an interesting i don't

think that's telling uh but it is true that i like felt myself questioned like throughout his arc being like is he like changing is he is he going to redeem himself is he redemptive and that was really an interesting journey for me even to go on as like an audience member and yeah I just hopefully everyone has a point where they're

in the movie where they're like please tell me this movie's not going to fucking redeem this guy like this movie's losing you know like that's that's by design yeah i was like uh-oh uh-oh i so speaking of that one thing that i i mean i loved listening to sammy tell us about it i was on the edge of my goddamn seat the entire time like truly it was so unpredictable and i had no idea what was going to happen. And you guys kept guessing things and I'd be like, Nope, that's wrong. Can I interrupt? I have a question. I'm so sorry, Henley. I just,

I have to Sammy, how, so you watched the movie one time. How do you, do you have a photographic memory? Like how are you able to relate scene by scene? I write it down like right afterwards. Usually it's easier. I feel like usually the movie is uh either formulaic well that all that also yeah that's a big part of it because the structure of this film is also very unconventional which i loved by the way and but usually i'll be able to like go on hulu or netflix and scroll through and take notes from there couldn't do that in this Case but even So I just

Yeah usually Will do it as soon After seeing the movie as possible And I repeat Things in my head as I'm watching It like remember this remember this That said I don't I don't think it's Going to be a perfect retelling don't get me

Wrong It seems pretty perfect to me also she's been doing it for like three years so she's got she's got it down that muscle has been like built up yeah yeah she's working she's a professional retailer yeah okay sorry okay what were you what were you saying oh no just that like so speaking of justin long's character I had a very specific question, which is one thing that happens is that that's extremely surprising to me in the movie is that when he discovers that terrifying rooms beneath the house, his first instinct is, oh, this is going to make me more money. so fucking hilarious. Like what an insane reaction to have to seeing the scariest room that's ever existed in on the face of the planet. Where did that idea come from? Because it's just really made me laugh. And I just wanted to know, like, were you, did you have an epiphany at one point? Like that would be a hilarious way for someone to react or just how did that even happen?

I mean, that's the DNA of the movie. That's the whole, that's the whole identity of this film is the, is the, the different mentality. There's a scene when, when Tess and Keith are on the couch drinking wine where she says like, um, say I'd been the one to check in first and you showed up late at night. And he's like, what? You wouldn't have let me in. She's like, hell no, I wouldn't have let you in. Are you crazy? But, but you wouldn't have thought twice you would have just marched on in. And he's like, wait a minute, you just marched on in. She's like, hell no, I wouldn't have let you in. Are you crazy? But you wouldn't have thought twice. You would have just marched on in. And he's like, wait a minute, you just

marched on in. She's like, yeah, because I had to. And it was scary. And so that right there, that's what this movie is, right? So to me, the idea of jumping from the test storyline to the AJ storyline is not arbitrary at all. They are two sides of the same coin. They're twins, right? So her chapter is all about a woman who has to be hypervigilant. Her brain is working overtime to try and assess and decode and categorize potential threat and sexual aggression, right? So what's the opposite of that? A man who is completely oblivious to the sexual damage that he is wreaking all over the world. So, so they are, they are like total inversions of each other. So, so the idea that he would see the same very obvious rape room and have a reaction of profit rather than fear is like, that's,

that's what this movie is. You know what I mean? So I didn't think about that consciously. I, part of the joy of this for me was like really just like following my subconscious and like kind of doing the David Lynch, like meditate and just like go sort of a vibe. But when I'm done and I look back, it all seems very obvious to me of like what was going on with me and how it, how it came to be. So it's definitely an intentional thing, but it's not like a calculated thing. That was a long answer to a simple question, but no, no, I love that.

That makes sense. As someone who's searching Zillow all the time i like this really resonates with me thinking about square footage and houses yeah yeah yeah yeah i'm so i'm curious you have a comedy background right you've done comedy and you're a comedic actor and so i i've been thinking a lot about i come from sort of a comedy background and a lot of my friends are comedians and comedic actors. And so I've been thinking a lot about I come from sort of a comedy background and a lot of my friends are comedians and comedic actors and writers. But there is I've noticed lately this very interesting comedy horror connection. A lot of my comedian friends are obsessed with horror. They end up acting in horror or writing and directing in the horror genre. And

I'm so curious what you think about the connection between those two things, because I realize I'm thinking about it, they're actually very similar. Like it's all about the blowing out of a world to the furthest extreme. And like in comedy, you do that for greater laughs and horror. You do that for greater scares. And I'm just curious about how you feel about transitioning from one to the other.

Yeah. They're so, they're so linked, you know, they're both in a weird way and I'm terrible at math, but they're both like mathematic're so linked, you know, uh, they're both in a weird way and I'm terrible at math, but they're both like mathematic. So like, you know, they're both about timing and tone and like, they're little equations that yield visceral results. Um, you know, uh, there's like an equation I learned in college. I took a comedy writing class and my professor said,

he's like, everything you've ever found funny follows the same equation. It is an action with an expected result yields an unexpected result. And I've thought about that a lot. And I've always tried to like crack that and see if I could find something funny that like, that disobeys that I've never been able to do it. And that's fun. It's fun to think about that. And so then I think that like the horror equation is, is definitely very similar. It's like your brain, you know, our experiences, we live our life according to these patterns. And when those patterns are disrupted in, in, in ways I'm kind of going out on a limb here, I haven't articulated this before, so I'm not doing it very well, but I think that that is when something is scary.

You know, jump scares are interruptions. They're glitches in our like normal matrixes or whatever the fuck I'm trying to say Um anyway yeah They just feel like the anatomy of a joke And the anatomy of a scare they're not Very dissimilar yeah a jump scare is like Yeah it's like the the like you're saying it all About inverses like the exact inverse

Of a joke right it's like zigging When you're supposed to zag you know It's that simple it's like Why we laugh even unexpected, like, like unintentionally when someone like trips or fall, like, like why do people laugh when someone falls? It's because you expected them to not fall and then they fell. Right. And it's like so much of that is in horror movies, right?

Like you turn and Oh my God, there's this thing right there. What, you know, it's a very cool way to approach that structure. It's fun to try and break down. Like, so this is scary. Why is this scary? Like, so the shining, when, when we turn the corner and those two little girls are there, like, why is that so scary? Well, it's scary because, you know, they're wearing these sharp blue, you know, outfits that are, that are in contrast and all that. And it's scary because,

you know, the hallway is like old blah, blah, blah. What's really scary about it, I think, is that they're waiting for him. They're standing there in preparation. So when he turns the corner, they're already ready. And that tells me they're predator. He's prey. Like they know more than he knows that he's walking into some some scenario that's bigger than him and is ready for, you know, it's like little things like that.

So like I think of that. And then when I have her like walk out of the shower, I reveal he's already sitting there with the wine in the glasses. He's waiting, you know, just like little math equations. You can, you can build into these things that will help you like creep, make, make them creepier. It's fun to think of it that way. I love that. Yeah. You've mentioned the shining a couple of times. Were there any other movies, horror or not, that you found inspirational while writing this? Yeah. So the biggest spiritual ancestor to this is probably Audition. It's this.

Audition is an incredibly smart essay on male privilege and sexual misbehavior you know and it's about a reckoning that a that a very bad man has to has to go through um and it's also a movie that disobeys conventional structure and is traumatizing and so i i think it's a genius movie. And yeah, so that's a big one. Psycho, obviously. There's an Austrian movie called Angst, which you guys will not enjoy. If you did not say that about Audition, but you're saying it about Angst,

tells me everything I need to know. Angst makes Audition look adorable. Oh, shit. But i stole the visual motif for that like just lifted it and put it onto the the flashback stuff um a lot of sam raimi stuff you know for once we get down under the house a lot of that um i'm sure there's more that i'm forgetting but uh those are the big ones um and i'm just curious also uh the trailer for this is so great we always watch the trailer when we recap something and so many trailers give everything away and the trailer for barbarian very much doesn't i was curious if you were involved in

the making of the trailer at all if that was something you had to say in or if that was just uh happy it was happy i mean they definitely solicited my opinion uh they were very collaborative but like i had been working with their trailer team on crafting a trailer that quite frankly kind of sucked and then as we were kind of approaching the day like their main guy was like you know we've been tinkering with this and he showed it to me and it was like what it is and it was so great and i was was just like, guys, just do this one. This is this is awesome. Yeah.

I mean, they were on the same team or same page, like right at the gate of like, let's not spoil this movie, you know. And I was worried that that was going to have to be a big a big battle. But it wasn't. Yeah, that's great, because truly a lot of the time. I know. And it's such a shame. It's such a shame. Especially with horror where like

The payoff is the surprise the payoff Is mother and the Creature and so often I feel like studios will just be like well that's We want to use to get people into the Door yes but I Think like you said the scariest Part is the reality of

Entering a situation where you're not Sure who you can trust and if you need to be scared and to be so like to convey that through the trailer is like that's all you need to get me interested in what's going to happen yeah it just does that so well yeah it does yeah thank you um i gotta say i think the scariest

part for me is the richard break chapter oh god really that's so interesting i that flashback is specifically him in the car watching the woman and following her i was like yeah so absolutely terrified in that part richard break uh a terrifying man what is he like in real life i mean i love i love mandy i know he's the night king yeah yeah he shoots batman's parents and batman begins he's the Night King. Yeah, yeah. He shoots Batman's parents in Batman Begins. He's always the bad guy.

He's always bad. Oh, man. Done a lot of bad things. He is a sweet delight. I knew it. He's like a gentle, vegetarian, yoga, like little puppy dog. And he's so nice. And I just, I love him.

I love him to death. I absolutely, that to death I knew it He's a total teddy bear He really is It's good to hear Good for him Oh man We were curious where you guys shot this movie

It's always set in Detroit We filmed in Bulgaria Really? What was Detroit like? No no no no no no bulgaria is great um yeah so we filmed all of our interior so like the house and the basement and the tunnels are all on a stage in bulgaria um our our neighborhood our street is a street in bulgaria we built 13 facades uh and then when we did our flashback we had to be really specific on exactly what we would see

And then we had to like rebuild them To look like the 80s And then we did go to Detroit And we did film in Brightmoor in the neighborhood So it's not We're not total phonies So we filmed you know a lot of her Walking through the neighborhood

Driving through the neighborhood And that sort of stuff is in Brightmoor And then we shot in Malibu for a day right for the justin long stuff right of course of course yeah we've just noticed that uh a pattern where we've a lot of horror movies these days take place in detroit let's see yeah so don't breathe it follows barbarian. What else is there? Oh, those are the three. Those might be the three that we. That's fair. Those are. That's fair.

Those are all also pretty good movies. Pretty good movies. Great movies. Damn good movies. Did you have any like best moments or best memories from filming? Like any favorite days or experiences? You know, the first, um, I didn't get any rehearsal time cause Bill's schedule is so crazy. I mean,

he was, I only had him for one week. Um, I know. So I was pretty sure it was going to work. Cause I knew he's a good actor. I knew that George is a great actor. And I was like, this is gonna, I think it's going to work. But like the two days before shooting, uh, we just went down into a conference room at the hotel we're staying at. And we just had this whole conference, just the three of us. And I was like, let's just read this. Like, don't, don't act it. You know, we're just going to sit. We're not gonna do anything.

Let's just read it out loud. Let's just like hear what it sounds like. And it was, it was just like, great. It was immediately good. And I was just like, so relieved. And I was like, I'm not going to fuck this up. They're not going to fuck this up. Like as long as it's in focus, we got this it was such that was probably the highlight for me it was it was so fun to hear it for the first time um well you are correct nobody fucked it up it's nobody fucked it up nobody fucked it up i loved it truly i'm so excited for it to come out and for people to see it thank you and yeah just congratulations you made

a really great fun horror movie thank you so much thank you thank you guys and thank you for coming and talking to us about it we're we're really excited for everybody to go see it and i include myself in that okay good even scaredy cats out there even scaredy cats out there i just like building up the confidence i can do it i can do it. I can do it. You can do it. It'll be over. You know what's going to happen. It's fine. Go ahead. Release afterwards. You're alive.

It didn't happen to you. It's just the whole point. All right, guys. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Zach. Thank you so much. That was it. That was our chat with Zach. Oh, he's the best. He's the best.

No, that was so great. That was so fascinating. I really mean it. I really mean it. I'm going to see this movie. Hold me to it. Do you actually think I can't? Now that Zach's gone, do you actually think that I can? I think you'll be scared, but you will survive. I can

promise you that I will survive. And I do know what happens. Yes. Yeah. I think that I would try, but it might need to be one of those, you know, hereditary situations where it's corner of your screen daytime. Also have some online shopping up at the same time. You know what I mean? You want to be able to be browsing. Yeah. Wow. Well, for those of you who don't have to set, like, you know, what are the bowling

side rails, guardrails for yourself while watching a horror movie, you can go see it in theaters. It's out now. The rest of you can wait. I think it's going to be a very fun theater experience. I highly recommend. I'm sure. For those that you can wait. I think it's going to be a very fun theater experience. I highly recommend for those that are brave enough. I really like

oh god I loved hearing about this one. It was such a good one. It's a very fun one and I think we know what voice we've got to do. Let me practice it. Sammy you're too good at it. From all of us. I do scare.

This is the worst one yet. This is the worst one yet. This is the worst one yet. I'm haunted. Thank you, my friends, for listening to another episode of Too Scary Didn't Watch. If you had fun hanging with us, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at TSDW Podcast. And if you're interested in things like bonus episodes, video trailer reactions, and other cool content, head on over to patreon.com slash TSDW Podcast. All right. We love you all forever and ever, starting a while ago and continuing into eternity. Adios.