Too Scary; Didn't Watch - MARTYRS (2008)

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

PRAY FOR US. THE DAY HAS COME. We are recapping Pascal Laugier's terrifying, heart-wrenching, nauseating film, MARTYRS (cue Henley/Emily crying). Join us as we discover just how bad the New French Extremity Movement can be!! Trailer Recap beings @ 28:13 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.fmSee 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, you're really not going to want to watch this one there was no warning given i would just want to say there was nothing to prepare us i've been absolutely out of my mind stressed at the thought

of ever having to do this movie and the fact that it's just casually dropping in just a random week in may like no no signs but this is your war this is your warning folks oh my god this is like a double black diamond it's a double black diamond but before we get into that did anything scary happen to us this week i just want to say the other day i got home from school and i was like i'm gonna exercise and i put on the jake dupree video which sammy knows well jake dupree jake dupree pop sugar check them out your fucking ass and i was like i'll just do a 30 minute one that's like fine I can do that and like the warm up is like really fast

he's insane and like but okay so I get five minutes in to this video and I got like the worst cramp I've ever gotten on my side my whole

like left oblique basically started like seizing. Oh no. That was really hurt when that happened. I thought I had a hernia. I was like, oh, I have a hernia. This is what, you know what? This is what this is. A charley horse the other day. Was it like, did it feel like that? They hurt so badly. Is a charley horse in your foot? Yeah. Usually. Not all the time. mine was in my or you're like mine was in my hip uh can it can you have it in other parts of your body i guess when your muscle like freezes and like and it like and because it was on my side it like made me like it sounds like it was a charlie horse it was a charlie horse and it was they're awful they're off and it was like like i was like oh i have a hernia which thankfully i didn't but i would so after i like dealt with that and of course it was like

well i'm not doing this video i just was i look i'm not the world's strongest person but i'm not like inactive and the fact that that happened to me I just was like okay this is this is how it starts like my body is deteriorating oh I had that moment I feel like ten years ago moment like it was like my body like I was like truly like oh this is like I need to look up what this is and see if I need to like go to the hospital you know it happens it just happens it's fine I think a charley horse is like not just a random thing yeah is it I'm gonna say something that's really annoying which is which is warning had you had enough water that day okay okay because i get charlie horses in the arch of my feet so fucking annoying i find it extremely annoying anytime i have like an ailment

or feel any certain certain way and someone's like did you drink enough water it's like shut the fuck up yes i had enough water wait you. Wait, you know what? I'd had more coffee than usual, too. So I was probably dehydrated. That contributes to my Charlie horses in my. I don't get them that often, but no, it really is, I think, makes a difference if you're not well hydrated. Wow. So there's nothing wrong with me and there's nothing to worry about. There's nothing to worry about. Absolutely not. It's not the end. It's the beginning. There's nothing to worry about. Absolutely not.

It's not the end. It's the beginning. It's only the beginning of more water. Wow. I'm going to drink some water right now. Charlie Horses always make me think of, do you guys remember in like Seventeen Magazine, there'd be one page that was like embarrassing stories from our listeners and there'd be little blurbs. Oh, yes.

Yes. Always. Listeners submitted embarrassing stories. One has stuck in my brain forever. And I think about it every time i think of charlie horses it was a girl on a soccer team at school who got a charlie horse and went up went up to her coach to ask to to sit out for a bit or whatever but forgot the word for charlie horse said, I have a camel toe. Can I be, please be excused. That's very funny. And she said that he was just like, um, yeah.

Okay. Sure. That is really funny. That's really good. I thought you were going to say Sammy that it reminded you of, um, I don't know if they were in 17 magazine, but they would be in like Cosmo. There would be that one page of like the sexy story in the back of the magazine. I would love to have those collated and given to me as a book.

Yes, a short story compilation of all of the like two page sexy Cosmo story. That would be great. Yeah. The archives. The archives. The scary thing that happened to me this week is that I really feel like the doors have opened for me recently to the concept of international shopping online.

What? What do you mean international shopping online. What? What do you mean international shopping? What are you talking about? I've never used that phrase before in my life. That was the first time those words have come out of my mouth, international shopping. But I can't think of another way to describe it. So shopping across borders. What are you talking about? What are you buying? Shopping across borders. Okay.

What are you talking about? What are you buying? So. What are you importing? First. Exactly. First of all, I like hate everything I buy all the time. So don't no one like take any of my suggestions.

all the time so don't no one like take any of my suggestions but i feel like there are a lot of clothing brands based in australia especially that are providing that are like providing something that we're just not getting in the united states um and i never have purchased anything from australia shipping costs on these things well that, I've never purchased anything from Australia because I'm like, the shipping is going to be crazy. I'm going to have to pay crazy duties or taxes. It'll take forever to get here, etc, etc. Well, this benefits the customer. Probably really bad long-term effects for whatever this is. But the supply chain is now so that you don't have to pay shipping. Like I just bought stuff from a couple different brands in Australia. It arrived in a matter of days. It didn't cost me any shipping.

But all the clothes that you wear are made not in the United States. Obviously. No, of course. Of course. There's a difference between like where they're made and where the brand is located. You know what I mean? True. But I mean, like clothes get to you that fast from anywhere, you know? You just don't see it. Well, but usually it's like a brand is located in the, it's like a United States. Sure.

So there are lots of stores that are based in Australia. How did... So just like little independent Australian brands? Yeah, actually. How'd you find them? Through Instagram, mostly. Nice. But also there are a lot of like TikTok influencers who are based...

Okay, here's where we're... It's TikTok. Yeah, it's TikTok. So there's also one... Really buried the lead. You're TikTok shopping. There's one Spanish TikTok style influencer who I really like, who I follow, who's from Barcelona. And she buys all of the things that she's getting gifted and promoting and wearing, etc.

All of them are just from brands I've never heard of before. And they're based in Spain. Well, one I just bought from three dresses from called Daughters of India. And it's really cool. They use fabric that's like dead stock fabric from India. That's like very beautiful patterns. It's just like I feel like it's just providing. It's providing options.

I'm seeing a lot of the same things over and over again. And, um, this kind of opened the door to me. However, when I'm not pregnant, I would like to just go shop like in thrift stores or something where I can try clothes on, but right now I'm pregnant. And so I'm like having to get a little creative. Um, so anyway, I just bought three dresses from this place, Daughters of India. I really like it. I recommend it. And I've been really wanting these boots from Mexico, but the shipping's like $80.

And I'm like, I can't do it. Yeah. Well, then, of course, not everything is going to have. Also, the environmental implications of this. I know. I know. No, no, then, of course, not everything is going to have. Also, the environmental implications of this. I know. I don't love. No, I know. No, no, no.

I'm not. I'm not saying that this is necessarily a good thing. This is why. This is why it's scary. This is why it's scary. Exactly. Like, I'm not sure. Also, that brand Baba, which is based out of Spain, which is an environment, very environmentally friendly brand.

They make those beautiful sweaters out of that absolutely gorgeous wool. Nothing's environmentally friendly if it's being shipped on a plane, you know? But that's everything. That's literally everything. It's like everything. It's like everything you get at Rite Aid. No brand.

Almost no. So I'm in a global sourcing class right now, and nothing is made here. And there nothing is made here. Like, like nothing is made here. No, no, no, nothing. And I'm not saying I'm not saying the stuff that we're buying in the U.S. is made here. That's not what I'm saying. I just mean like in terms of it's not I don't think I really don't think if you're thinking about like shipping it from Australia.

Obviously, that's that's bad. But even if you're buying U. u.s brands your clothing has been shipped all over the fucking world right maybe the things made in australia were like made in australia and then shipped from there to the u.s in which case that's probably better than a brand that was from the u.s made in a factory in china shipped overseas for some other part of the process but like it's all very bad right it's all it's all very bad um yeah okay oh the other one that i just bought stuff from is something called piyama piyama which is a pajama brand and they're designed in australia and they're made in bali um but i've just been loving discovering these like little brands that i didn't know anything

about and i'm having a great time and again i really i mean someone's gonna tell me i'm wrong but i just feel i'm like so recently so overwhelmed by how terrible the fashion industry is on the environment so i really honestly i really i think there's there's i mean if these brands are smaller brands there's probably a lot of benefit to buying from them if that because like chances are they're more ethically produced in the process of the clothes being made so it's like well i don't know all shopping is bad but you should support the people who's i don't know shit you like and that is hopefully made ethically yeah i or just buy second hand but it's not always easy for everybody to do that yeah i would i would like to just shop secondhand moving forward.

Once I have like a takes fucking work, man. Once I have the time to do that. Exactly. Yeah. Which will happen maybe approximately like five years from now. That's when I'll start. Great. Great.

Until then, you got Piyama and Baba. Exactly. Wow. Sammy, how was your week? and baba exactly wow Sammy how was your week um my week was good I gonna take it back to bodies great um something that I did last

week or I guess it was two weeks ago I'm cheating um was that I had a colonoscopy tell us everything it was a my second I'm cheating was that I had a colonoscopy. Tell us everything. It was a my second colonoscopy because I recently got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and just wanted to tell everybody. Is this the public announcement? This is the public announcement.

Sharing it with the world. I'm sharing it with the world. I'm sharing it with the world. This is making it Insta-official. That's right. Because I would like to know more people with ulcerative colitis. I don't see a lot of people talking about it in... I bet people are going to be really happy to hear you talk about it. Yeah.

I tell almost everyone that you have it. Thank you, Henry. That's so true. I really spread the word. I feel like it's come up. I feel like it has come up in conversation multiple times with other people. And I obviously never say you have it, but I'll be like, oh, my friend has ulcerative colitis because it's like somehow come up in conversation. I feel like it's a very common thing out there. Yeah. So it's an inflammatory bowel disease. There's also Crohn's.

And it's an autoimmune disorder that causes ulcers in your colon. Really fun stuff. But anyway, so the second colonoscopy showed that I have significant improvement. So that's very exciting. Notably improved. We are thrilled. Emily picks, Emily is my, my medical contact and she picks me up for my colonoscopies when I'm. I get a little call.

It's as high as this Emily. Samantha's going to be ready to be picked up. Your medical concierge. Yes. Your little chauffeur um and yeah so i just wanted to say shout out to uh people with ibd it fucking sucks fucking sucks and um just commiserating about it can be healing in itself so yes and but the true scary thing that i wanted to say about it can be healing in itself. So yes. And, but the true scary thing that I wanted to say about it was that as I was

taking an Uber to the colonoscopy, because you're not allowed to drive yourself. My Uber driver, as we were getting on the freeway, did the sign of the cross across his chest, like blessed himself as we got onto the freeway did the sign of the cross across his chest like blessed himself as we got onto the freeway as if it was like he'd never driven on a freeway before and was like terrified and i just smiled in the back seat like okay here we go here we go that's how i felt the first time

i drove in la i felt like i going to die any second the whole time. But it's so funny to imagine Uber driver feeling the same way. You weren't a driver by train. So funny. It really made me laugh. I was like, this is either a very funny joke of his or a very scary thing happening right now. Doesn't inspire confidence. Not one bit. But I mean, he was great we the drive was smooth

i think he did a great job great we all arrived took him took him over the freeway yep took you to your colonoscopy yep thank you thank you god our. Thank you, God. Yeah. And speaking of God. No, no. No, no. No, no. Let's talk about today's

movie. Oh, my God. We're going to be talking about Martyrs and this I feel like is going to be the worst movie we've ever talked about. Human Centipede. Oh, awesome. Human Centipede who? Oh, awesome.

This is so much worse. Oh, cool. But that said, I like Human Centipede. I think it's funny. And I also liked this movie, but it's not funny, not funny at all. Don't even, there's not one ounce of good time in this film.

I remember I first heard of this movie when we had our guest and Emily's good friend, Rebecca Robertson on, and she did it follows, right? And she loves horror movies she was telling us how much she loves horror movies but the we asked her if there were any like she couldn't handle and she was like well one that's absolutely horrendous and you should

never do and never ever see is murders like and i remember her just going on about how awful it was and i remember thinking well we'll never do that one. I mean, I must have forgot that. I really remember. That was the first time I'd ever heard of the movie. And since then, people have occasionally recommended we do it or been like, this one's so scary. You can't do it. Don't do it.

Yeah, stay away. But fuck, the day has come. The day has finally come. It's just like how much we've grown on the podcast. Like I've probably stayed away from this one for a long time intentionally as well. And so I feel like I've reached a point in my horror journey where I'm like, give me the best you got. Give me your best fucking shot. It's time for fucking martyrs. I got it up.

My tolerance is just climbing. And so. Oh, God. fucking martyrs i got up my tolerance is just climbing and so oh god and this is a really interesting one for that state of mind because i think another thing you guys are gonna hate is that i feel like it has some thematic similarities to funny games no no are you fucking kidding me not in the same way but i think there is a question of like are you liking this you fucking want this you want this is this what you want you fucking freak you're sitting here watching this yeah at least a questioning of the audience and why we enjoy horror movies in particular. And it had me questioning. It had me questioning. Valid question.

Oh, okay. And especially like harming women specifically, why we like to watch that so much, because that is across all genres. We see that everywhere. And this is just taking it up to the highest decibel. Yeah. Possible. Fuck. Yeah. that everywhere and this is just taking it up to the highest decibel yeah possible well fuck yeah we'll get into all of that i'll tell you that martyrs came in came out in 2008 written and

directed by pascal laguier starring moriana alawi um melaine jamponoy, and Catherine Begin. Probably said all of those wrong, but it's on Shudder.com. What's the language of this film? It is French. It is part of the French New Extremity. We've spoken about that before. God damn it. In such company as films like High Tension and Irreversible and Inside. And so the reason I picked it for this week was actually because I was like, what's a good Mother's Day episode? What?

It has to do with mothers? No, no, it doesn't. But I was going to pick Inside because Inside is a movie told from the inside of a pregnant woman's belly and it's another new french extremity film and i was curious about it but then i had also martyrs had just been put on shutter and so i was just like in the headspace for that type of movie and ended up going with Martyrs, but I'm still curious about Inside. Maybe next Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day. We have a year. You'll be further away from pregnancy then, Henley, so maybe you'll be able to... Oh, I'll be fine. You won't even care. You won't even care about it. I won't even bat an eye. We've done Possession, and now I can do anything.

I don't know, man. After this, we can, you can say that. We can just, we can see. We'll just have to see. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be so bad. Emily, do you even know how bad this is about to be? This is going to be really bad.

No, I, um, I, I don't know whether you're properly worried. Cause I feel like I'm really worried. I know. I'm doing the thing where I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't even care. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, I'm wrong. But I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess. You're like, I got it.

Whatever. Okay. Bad movie. It's fine. I will be very upset. I think it's genuinely probably the most upsetting movie. fine. I will be very upset. It's genuinely probably the most upsetting movie I've

seen. It's like this and the Nightingale for me are like hitting the same spots. She keeps adding things on. I know. It's just Is it short? Nope. Fuck. Give us some good news. I know. It's just, is it short? Nope.

Give us some good news. The good news is that I loved the first half of it. I liked it all. I liked it all. I think the first half, it was genuinely like, is this my favorite movie? Like, I love this movie so much in a dark,

dark way. Still in a dark and then a dark way still in a nightingale type way yeah and uh and then it goes to some places that i think are really interesting but just like so hard to even come close to enjoy oh my god um so what's gonna happen it's really bad no it's really bad it's gonna be bad emily like i just my hand is like cramping and sweating yeah we have to take sips of water throughout this episode today um for our for our health and wellness. This movie has a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 22% on Metacritic, and a 7% on IMDb. Whoa!

7%? All over the place. Pretty high on IMDb. Yeah. Interesting. Above average. Budget was 2.8 million euros and it made 1.1 million dollars. You lost dollars, so you can do the conversions yourselves. I didn't do it.

Less, but you know. I guess, how strong was the euro in 2008? I know, I was like, well, in 2008, what was that conversion rate? It was like a double, right? I mean, it was double the dollar. Yeah, that's okay i was actually in europe in 2008 and i do feel like i was like man she's expensive here that's expensive that would have been when i was yeah studying abroad but part of why it lost money is because it got basically the equivalent of an x rating in france They've like barely ever give that to any movies.

And they eventually argued their way to getting a equivalent of an R rating, but it still hurt the box office. And then the Weinstein company purchased the North American distribution rights following its screening at Cannes. But Bob Weinstein was ultimately so revulsed by the film that they chose not to release it. It was too disgusting for the Weinsteins.

Oh my god. So they sent it straight to DVD. Too gross for the Weinsteins. A bridge too far. what a fucking fully fictional abuse on women too much harvey loved it he's not quoted we don't know what he thought we don't know how harvey felt about it yeah um okay okay you know i it feels like there should be different tiers of our ratings or maybe we need to make X rating or whatever the NC

17 like because it's this can't have the same rating as as like super bad like that's like fucked up right yeah it doesn't make any sense it doesn't make any or like even the same as like scream you know like that's not okay well it gets also back to what we rate as being

needing are like where it's like you show one boob and it's one boob it's like the equivalent is like of like extreme violence yeah it's not right one boob it's just singular boob a little nip slip little jada jackson situation just the one um and then this is i mean you hate to hear it but it's not shocking both of the main actresses in this movie said that they would never work with this director again oh no i'm glad i didn't know this before watching one of the actresses gonna make it harder to hear about one of the actresses fell off a soundstage and broke three bones and oh my god they had to delay shooting for six weeks while she healed um that's awful the director wrote this film while he was, it won't surprise you, incredibly depressed and in a borderline suicidal state.

The film's sound designer, Benoit Lestang, committed suicide right before this movie came out. Oh, my God. This movie is like so, it's so bleak. It's so nihilistic. It's just like existentially very, very tough. I wouldn't call this movie torture porn. Maybe that's some good news for you. I was expecting it to be full torture porn.

I think based on everything else I've just heard, I don't know that that matters. Yeah. I'm surprised to hear you say that, though. I was surprised to feel that way because I was expecting that a bit. And I think probably some people do label this as torture porn. I think there's an argument to be made that it is not, which we'll talk about more at the end. But our trailer reaction is going to be available just on Patreon, patreon.com slash TSCW podcast. But we're just going to get right into this movie.

I can't believe this is how I'm spending my Sunday afternoon. I can't believe this is how I just spend like every Sunday afternoon. Now Henley's having an existential crisis. Yeah. I mean, this is how I spent my Sunday morning was like re-watching Martyrs. And I was like, just a regular Sunday morning activity taking notes on Martyrs. I cried so many times watching this movie. I'm probably

going to cry retelling it. Trigger warnings for self-harm and suicide. Notably, though, no sexual violence in this film. Another piece of good news. Oh, huge. Yeah. Surprised by that as well. This movie really surprised me in a lot of ways.

It's like not at all what I expected it to be, which is cool, I think. In the past few years, I have hit a point where I only want to be wearing clothes that are comfortable. It happened. It happened to me. But you know what? I still also want to look cute. And these are two desires that are often extremely opposing. And I don't want to have to sacrifice. I want both. I want comfort and I want to feel cute and confident. And guess what? Skims has freaking done it again with their soft lounge collection. I am currently very, very obsessed with, I have the soft lounge tank

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extra small through 4X. And if you haven't yet, be sure to let them know that we sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select too scary, didn't watch in the dropdown menu that follows. If you're a new parent, a bad day means you either ran out of coffee, diapers, patience, or all of the above. Stocking up on cold brew and deep breaths are all you, but at least Hello Bello's got your baby's butt covered. Hello Bello believes all families deserve premium, affordable baby products. With their ultra-convenient diaper bundle subscription service that includes seven packs of diapers and 4 packs of plant-based wipes, you'll never run out of supplies. Ever again. Better yet, they're delivered to your door. Set, change, and cancel your delivery schedule whenever you want.

And these designs are so cute, you guys! I did not think it would be possible to be jealous of a diaper. Named Best Diaper Subscription by New York Magazine and winner of the 2022 Good Housekeeping Parenting Award, Hello Bello will keep you well-stocked on diapers and wipes. Go to hellobello.com slash too scary to get 30% off your first customized bundle and a full-size freebie product of your choice. That's hellobello.com slash too scary to start bundling with 30% off your first order. Don't forget, that's hellobello.com slash too scary so let's get into it let's do it so i'm gonna be probably a little more detailed in the in the beginning because i loved the first half of this movie so much and i think it's so good and i want to recreate that for you. And then the second half, we'll kind of zoom through because I don't want to spend too much time there.

OK, love that. Love that. So we start with a shot of a girl running, screaming and crying, looking like she's just escaped something very, very horrible. like she's just escaped something very very horrible she has cuts and bruises all over her she's limping um one of her eyes i think is like swollen shut like something clearly very horrible has happened to her this is what like we're essentially starting on the final shot of texas chainsaw massacre which i think is really interesting. Yeah, yeah. So this is like kind of as if it's a final girl, but we're starting at the end of the movie, picking up where most movies leave off. I love that.

Yeah. That's cool. That's a really, really good idea. How old is she? She's a teenager, probably 13 or something. Ooh, young. And then we cut to some

Super 8 footage of, it's like almost a documentary that they're like a movie that they've made or like a news report type thing that they've made. whoever this reporter is or uh is going into the site where she was found or where they where she like directed them to like this is where i escaped from but this building has now been abandoned so whoever was hurting her abusing her has gone and um but we're seeing the facility that she was held there's she was held in chains on a chair with a hole in the seat for her to like go to the bathroom into a bucket below and like strapped onto this chair do you see like wounds on her wrists from where she was bound and he tells us that there was not she was not raped or sexually abused but was obviously like other than than that, basically every other type of abuse you can think of. And she kind of doesn't really talk about what happened to her.

She's obviously extremely traumatized. And she's in like an orphanage facility and befriends another girl named Anna and Anna is becomes kind of a caretaker for her even though they're the same age Anna really uh is like very very kind to her is like you see this footage of them playing together and Anna like like really holding lucy and calming her when she gets stressed and it's like this very sweet friendship uh then we see that the the film stops and they're showing it to anna we like cut into the orphanage now and anna's watching that movie and it's basically police show or like detectives showing that to her being like do you know why we showed you this video she says you want to find the people that did this to lucy and they say yes like what can you tell us has she told you anything

they're basically trying to investigate but have no leads and like have hit a dead end and anna's basically like it was always really dark um she like just remembers their faces like there's not any not any really defining things for them and so i don't know it seems kind of like they're not gonna find these people so after she speaks to the detectives anna goes back to the room that she shares with lucy and we hear lucy crying in the bathroom and uh anna like goes in it's like lucy and we see there's blood all over the bathtub and lucy has like cuts on her forearms and anna again like holds her and is stroking her and saying it's okay calm down calm down or she says like why did you do that to yourself and Lucy says I didn't it wasn't me and Anna is stroking her hair into like soothing her

and gets her cleaned up and into bed and says do you want to sleep in bed with me uh lucy gets in her own bed anna falls asleep and then we hear something in the room with them and there's kind of a we see like a little scuttling something and lucy is like a like a creature yeah and lucy is terrified and it's like a traditional kind of jump scary horror vibe which i was not expecting in in this movie i feel like in what i think of as torture porn movies it's like there's not that type of scares usually um so this was like genuinely a very scary scene where she's something is in the room with her it crawls under her bed she's like looking over the edge of her bed and can't see it and then jumps like pulls the covers over her head but then hears the bed moving and pulls the covers down and we see crouched at the foot of the bed this creature that looks like

human form ish but crouched in a very animal pose and like hisses at her cut to black and this is lucy lucy just experienced all of that okay do we get a good look at what this creature is it looks is it too dark human but it's dark it's nighttime like could it be anna um no we see anna is like in her bed sleeping okay okay sorry i'm like parched i'm gonna get a freaking charlie too yeah you gotta avoid those charlie horses drink your freaking water um so okay then a title card comes up 15 years later uh oh shit it started in 1971 and now we're in 1986 which um doesn't matter too much but i think for historical context i was listening to another podcast about this and they talked about how the French and Algerian war was right around like just before that time. And that war was like marked by a lot of torture.

And so I thought that was just interesting in terms of torture porn becoming popular here when torture was happening for real in the historical context. And so I think like setting it at this time is interesting in terms of that. I just always find that kind of fascinating. So 15 years later, we hear a girl screaming and we see her running down the stairs. She falls and she's scrambling to get away. We see a boy chasing her and like getting on top of her

and pinning her down and she's screaming and then she starts laughing and we hear a man's voice like, break it up, you two. And we realize that these are brother and sister and she had like stolen a little note from his crush and he's trying to get it back from her.

I thought it was very clever little fake out and how old are they um probably 15 and 18 okay so this older brother younger sister and we see them now get their dad calls them into the kitchen it's time for lunch they all sit at the table together we see a newspaper cut out on the fridge that the girl has just won a swim meet at school and was printed in the newspaper like that. She got first place and the whole family's in the photo. And we see her mom come in from the yard and they're like. A seemingly like pretty happy family everybody's making jokes they're making jokes about the son wanting to be a pastry chef instead of a lawyer and like being really unnecessarily mean about pastry chefs i feel like seems like a pretty cool job yeah

very dignified Profession Right but They want him to be a lawyer And they're all laughing poking fun at him Doorbell rings dad goes to answer it Gets shot through the chest Camera reveal A woman in a Beanie and

Black like dressed in all black With a double barrel shotgun Comes into the house Shoots the mom kills the mom Beanie and black, like dressed in all black with a double barrel shotgun. Comes into the house, shoots the mom, kills the mom. The girl runs screaming like covered in blood into another room. She narrowly escapes and like gets into the other room. We see the person with the shotgun has a scar on her eye. So we assume that this is Lucy 15 years later because we know she had an eye injury as a kid. Wow.

And she comes into the kitchen. The son is there kind of frozen in fear. She's pointing the gun at him. And she says, how old are you? Says 18. And she looks like she's kind of debating in her own mind what to do. She says, do you know what your parents did to me? And he looks kind of an unreadable look and she's trying to figure it out. And then she shoots him. Whoa, whoa. So parents. So it was the mom and the dad. And yeah. And then she goes into the room where the daughter is hiding under the bed.

She shoots through the bed. Daughter screams, but isn't isn't dead and then runs for runs for the door as Lucy is reloading. And Lucy shoots her through the back as well. Oh, my God. And then after she kills all four of them, she drops to her knees and just like lets out these horrible moans. And like start sobbing. And then she's like hitting the mom's dead body saying, how could you do that to me? How could you do that to me how could you do that to me

and screaming and she is like starts screaming so much and she like grabs her shotgun again like she's gonna shoot them again she's so angry and then she just like shoots up into the ceiling and it matched or like cuts to these birds flying off trees it's a nice cut but then made me think of um hot fuzz when they're like you ever fire your gun up into the air and say oh um and i just held on to that um laugh at this moment because it's just absolutely devastating so this is 15 minutes into the movie and this is what i thought the whole movie was going to be this is literally like basically the opening scene and i thought the whole thing was

going to be her trying to get revenge on the people that hurt her she she did it immediately so already i'm so surprised and it was very unexpected do we get any context of like who these people are how she found them what why they did that to her anything um eventually but no right now we're like confused how does she know that these are the right people

like we don't know anything that's happened and so she then calls a pay phone and Anna is there waiting, answers it. Lucy tells Anna it was them. I did it. And Anna's looking really panicked saying, you did what? What did you do? And Anna's looking scared and says, you're supposed to just observe them. Like, what are you talking about? Like, what's the address? Like, I'm coming there.

I'm coming there right now. And I think she mentions here that she recognized them from the photo in the newspaper. Oh, from the swim meet. Yeah. Wow. There it is. This is why you should never win awards. Never be seen publicly.

The acrid will save you. Especially if you've tortured someone and they're looking for you. Don't get your picture printed in the paper. So Anna gets the address. She's on her way to come to come to lucy and as lucy is waiting in the house she we hear something move scuttling around and looks around the corner and we see it's like a woman's body with cuts all over it essentially and she's moving in this very like primal crawly like descent type way and lucy looks very scared and switches to or she drops her gun and grabs a switch blade and she's moving slowly trying to approach the creature.

The creature is scuttled away, but she dips her hand in a pool of blood and is showing her bloody hand now as like an offering or like proof. And she's yelling out, I did it. Look, I did it. And the creature jumps on her, attacks her, grabs the knife out of her hand and starts slicing her back. Oh, Jesus. She's screaming and like is able to kick her off and runs into the bathroom and is hearing the creature outside the door and crying like. And then she turns her head and sees herself as a kid chained to the chair. And we go into a flashback and someone comes into the room with her,

with sitting on the chair and grabs her mouth to like push, pull her mouth open. mouth to like push pull her mouth open and it match cuts to her back in the bathroom that she's shut herself in with her like holding her own hands over her mouth now from screaming and i just i love a match cut and think this movie's edited very well she's just calling that out and she doesn't hear the creature outside the door anymore. So she's like very slowly opening it, seeing if the coast is clear. And as she like reaches her hand out, the creature stabs her through the hand. Jesus. And she runs out and runs out of the house screaming into the woods and is like running screaming through the woods and run straight into Anna they collide and like collapse onto the ground uh Lucy is in a complete state of

panic and Anna again is like holding her and like stroking her immediately and is like it's okay it's okay like calm down calm down it's okay Lucy's saying she's in there she's in there she's in there and it goes I know I know I, I know it's okay. Like calm down. And so at this point I'm like, assuming that this creature is not, uh, in reality and that it's like part of Lucy's trauma. Yeah. Cause Anna is completely unafraid and like aware of this. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Like this has been something that has happened before and so she kind of soothes lucy a bit and says it's okay it's okay like i'm gonna go inside i need to go and and lucy is like no she's in there you can't go in there she's like it's okay it's okay like i'm gonna be okay you're gonna be okay i need to go in and And Lucy says she hurt me even worse than before. This like this time is even worse than last time. And Anna is like, it's OK.

She goes in and sees the very bloody, violent crime scene that is in the house of all the dead bodies. She sees the dead kids and Anna's really crying and at this point I'm feeling doubt about if these are the right people and it seems like Anna is as well. Anna seems like very upset

by this outcome and then eventually Lucy comes back in anna sees her her back is all sliced up and she has starts like tending to her wounds and stitching her up get out of there that's what i'm thinking they seem completely unconcerned with this crime scene. They're getting like DNA everywhere, touching shit. And I think at some

point Anna acknowledges that because she called her from there. She's like, they're going to know it was us. But there's not as much attention paid to the police. They're not really scared of the police They're like scared of something else

Right yeah exactly So yeah they're like If we call the cops You're gonna go to Jail for murdering This family So they're trying to Stitch up her or she stitches up her back

It looks very bad and uh anna starts moving carrying the bodies into a bathroom getting them all four in the same room and as she's doing this she's crying and lucy comes in and sees her crying and gets upset and basically like why are you crying for them like they hurt me you know how much they hurt me and anna kind of tries to nod and say yes like you're right and hide that she is feeling these mixed feelings or that she's feeling doubt or torn and lucy pulls out that newspaper ad and shows it to her and she's like it's them I know that it's them Anna softens and is like okay okay like I'm sorry and they hug and then Anna kisses

Lucy and Lucy pulls back like what are you doing and Anna just like hugs her again. And Lucy starts crying. And Lucy says, will I ever be free of this? And Anna has a moment of like looking very sorry for her friend. And then she says, yes, yes, you will. She's hugging her, comforting her. We see later that Lucy wakes up in a bed in the house now and looks. That same house? Same house. They're still in the house. and looks. That same house? Same house. They're still in the house.

And she like. Do they have somewhere else to go? She looks out the window and Anna is disposing of the bodies. She's dug a big pit. It's raining outside and she's dragging each of them one at a time into this pit. Wow. Anna is a really good friend. She's into this pit wow anna is a really good friend she's a really good she's a really good friend as she comes in for the mom she sees

that the mom is still alive what no yikes and the mom screams when she comes to consciousness and lucy hears it and lucy comes down and and anna is telling her like be quiet be quiet please like you have to be quiet and it's clear that anna wants to help this woman and and it's like you have to be quiet and she takes the daughter's body and is carrying it out and lucy comes in is like what i heard a scream and she's like oh no it's fine like it's okay and she's like i thought they came i thought she was back and anna says no no it's okay get your get your stuff like where it's time for us to go soon i'm i'm just finishing up she's like no no it's fine it's no big deal i'm just got one more body also though like you go get your your stuff. What life is there for this woman? I'm sort of like, maybe kill her.

You definitely want to be dead. This is a... You want to be dead in this situation. Yeah, I think put her out of her fucking misery. So she's carrying out the daughter and dumping the daughter's body now into the pit.

I hope she's really well hydrated. She's got to be very strong. She has so many Charlie horses. Oh my God. This is a really big risk for Charlie horses. This is a huge Charlie horse risk. Charlie horse risk. I haven't seen her take one sip of water.

Okay. And she's been crying. I'm worried. I'm worried as well. I'm worried. And rightfully. It's taking me right out of the movie. I need to see some water breaks.

Otherwise. Yeah. I actually do have a note later about water and we'll get there. So then we see that as Anna is outside dumping the body, she hears Lucy screaming inside and runs inside to to help lucy and lucy has locked herself in a bathroom and we see that she's in there with the creature this is like a very scarily film scene there's like a clawfoot tub and the creature's on the other side of it like climbing around putting it's all like putting the limbs in the tub and then looking under it. Just as very spidery kind of crawly.

And Lucy is screaming, screaming, Anna, help me. She's in here and Anna's trying to get in, but the door is locked. And she's like, you unlock the door and she's trying to bust it down. The creature grabs the knife and stabsy through the leg and then through the shoulder what the fuck and anna is able to finally bust down the door she grabs pulls lucy out of there and then lucy like lunges with both of them into another room and locks the door like she's running from the creature and she's panting and she's like yelling through the door now at the creature and she says leave me alone i killed them i killed them and she like whimpers and says i even killed their kids oh my

god it's so sad i'm gonna cry um and she like Starts to cry At this moment and we get another Flashback Of her in the chair And a woman comes in And is feeding her Some nasty looking slop Actually kind of looks like split pea

Soup but she We know from Lucy's Face that it is horrible tasting is this is a huge pivot from what we're talking about but recently i had a can of split pea soup and it wasn't the best split pea soup you know it was just a can of split pea soup but we had it and i was hungry and we didn't have much other food in the house and so i i was eating this split pea soup and joel and we didn't have much other food in the house. And so I was eating this split pea soup and Joel had apparently never had split pea soup.

What? I love split pea soup. In his life. And so I was like, oh, well, you should try it. And he took a bite of the soup and was like, why would anyone?

He was like so much more confused having tried what I was eating. It's truly like, you are ill. Like, what's wrong with you? And it really made me laugh. Because when I was a kid, I used to think split pea soup was horrifying. And again,

this can of split pea soup, not the best split pea soup, but some split pea soup is really good. Yeah, it can be good. And Joel just like, doesn't understand. Anderson's pea soup. Pea soup Anderson's. Pea soup Anderson's. It used to be like my favorite place when we would take road trips as a kid.

Be like, we got to go to Anderson's pea soup. Pea soup Anderson's. I forget that. Pea soup Anderson's. Pea soup Anderson's. Oh, but yeah. So Lucy's being fed what looks like pea soup, but based on her face. I mean, maybe based on her face, it is split pea soup, but she has a face.

And she pushes back and the woman gets her ankle caught. There's like some metal protruding out of the ground, like a, I don't know, wire thing. And it twists her ankle and she falls down and collapses and it gives lucy the window to like grab the keys from her she unlocks herself as the woman is like screaming on the floor like stop it no no no you little bitch and lucy frees herself and is running and as she's running she doesn't know which way to go but she sees light like through a door like daylight like that seems to be the right way but then from the other direction she hears the sound of a woman whimpering and so she turns around to look through this other door as the woman with her broken ankle

on the floor is yelling like no don't go in there don't go in there and she goes into this other room and sees another woman tied up to another chair with i think her mouth sewn shut ew what the fuck cuts all over her body oh my god is it the creature and she runs she's like afraid and runs and this is intercutting now with her in present day like yelling

at the creature on the other side of the door and she's saying like forgive me forgive me it wasn't my fault and so yeah she's saying like forgive me forgive me it wasn't my fault got it so yeah she's being haunted by her guilt as a person she didn't save this person because also when we first see the creature in the house she has the shotgun and she puts the shotgun away and she pulls out a knife so she like gives the knife to the creature basically right i mean

right it feels like because she's really she's really gonna cut herself and punish herself yeah for it yeah oh this that's really awful it's very very sad i just really grind through a lot of this of just um the metaphor here of even after she has gotten her revenge or justice um that trauma never goes away there's nothing you can do out running it that's gonna be with you forever. So Anna gets out of this room and locks Lucy in it as she goes back to try to save the woman that's downstairs. And the woman is asking, why did she do this? Why did she do this?

And she's, she's got her like hoisted over her shoulders. She's trying to carry her out of the house and Lucy's banging banging on the door like let me out anna anna what's happening and i think lucy hears that the mother is still alive and so she's getting angry and we see her like banging on the door like no no no like anna and she lucy sees an open window in the room that she's in and we go downstairs with Anna and

this mother and the mom is saying like please like an ambulance for my for my children please oh honey no yeah it's too late for that no they're in a pit they're dead in a pit oh no they're in a pit I would but they're in a pit oh girl they're dead in a pit

and as she's carrying her through the living room lucy pops out with a hammer smacks the mom in the head and then just absolutely pulverizes her head and is just bashing her head in over and over and over as Anna is screaming, Lucy, no, please. And crying. And after Lucy has for sure killed this woman this time, she turns back and looks at Anna like she's feeling very betrayed and looks at her with this look. And she says, you didn't, you've like never believed me. Have you? Like, you don't believe me that this is them.

Like, you're just like the doctors. You think I'm crazy too. And Anna's like pleading with her and being like, no, that's not, that's not true. Lucy, I'm sorry. That's not true, Lucy. I'm sorry. And Lucy is crying and says, it's over, Anna. It's over. And she hears the creature moaning. And we now see the creature crawling towards her very slowly and they go and kind of face each other and it's almost like making up after a fight it looks like they're kind of being tender with each other now and she touches the creature's face and she says they're dead they won't they won't hurt you anymore and she grabs the box a box cutter hate to see it and we get like our first very good look at the creature and we see that it is the woman we've the stitched lips and

same cuts and so they're now face to face sitting on the ground and the creature takes the box cutter and is slicing down the full length of lucy's arms what the fuck is anna here anna they had just gotten in that fight and i think at the end of that lucy shoved anna and so she's on the other side of the room and kind of hurt so she's trying to crawl over to lucy at this moment and calling out to her like stop and we see for the first time from anna's point of view that there is nobody there and that lucy is doing this to herself she's cutting herself and it's cutting back and forth between luc's POV and Anna's POV. And so we see the creature grabbing Lucy's head and banging it into the wall. And then we see from Anna's POV that Lucy's just banging her head into a wall.

And she eventually runs from the creature and runs through a glass window into the yard where it's like pouring rain and anna's chasing her and lucy looks up at her they're looking at each other and is saying no lucy no and lucy takes the box cutter and slits her own throat oh great and dies and it's very it's in slow motion and is like running out towards a very beautiful scene of it's like absolutely devastating um but yeah so that's like the first act of the movie and that was i thought our protagonist so again i'm just like yeah like what is this movie what's happening gonna happen next is anna gonna be haunted by lucy i was kind of thinking anna was gonna go and get the revenge that um lucy wanted and like find out facts for real because right now we don't know

like were these maybe these aren't the right people anyway yeah yeah so uh now anna brings lucy's body inside is cleaning her crying it's like this very emotional scene of her cleaning her crying it's like this very emotional scene of her saying she's sorry and she falls asleep at her side and then the sun rises the next day house yeah they're really just concerned this is our house yeah no one's coming to this house really unconcerned stopping by jesus then anna calls her mom and her mom answers As a mom? I'm confused. I thought she was an orphan too. That's what I thought too and I don't, I think

Maybe it's an adopted mother? Possibly or it could be a birth mother that like put her up for adoption or something like that and this mom is immediately like very angry and yelling at her like no word from you in two years and now you're calling me like what's the what's the deal you think i haven't suffered

enough for like what i did you think i don't think about that every day like are you still mad at me yeah probably the mom who put her up for adoption yeah and anna is very meek and crying and saying oh like it's nothing like i just wanted to talk to you i just wanted to hear your voice she's and she says are you still with that girl are you still with are you under you're under her spell and she calls her she says she's a a bitch and a pervert and a loser. And as Anna is on the phone, and it's, I think, one of the bedrooms, she hears a noise and sets the phone down and looks for the source of this noise

and locates it to a cabinet and opens a cabinet and there is a hidden trap door to a fucking and opens a cabinet and there is a hidden trap door to a fucking torture basement. Wait. What? It's all metal. It's like a long hallway down deep underground

and so this was them. Oh my god. Oh my god. Again, I'm shocked and surprised and just the twists and turns in this movie. Wow. Whoa. Well, I mean, Lucy was never going to find peace regardless. But.

Anna, I'm thinking this is a good time to call the police. Now would be the right time. Don't go down into the torture tunnel. But she does. She does. And she takes the weakest little flashlight ever, barely doing anything. And this basement is going down and down like there's ladders. There's a good thing that you have to open and lowers this ladder.

So it's really going down there. And she's hearing a noise following that same noise. And it's a whimpering noise. And she finds. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I think the fucking same woman. Yeah.

But now for real. Are you fucking serious? Mm hmm. She's been down there this whole time? Oh, 15 years. With her mouth sewn shut? I don't know. Or is it a different woman where they've done the same?

It might be a different woman. Because her mouth is not sewn shut, but it's covered in scar. Like, she's covered in scars. They could have. So it could have been taken out. They could have taken the stitches out. She now has a metal blindfold on that's like drilled into her skull. What the fuck?

And a metal diaper. It's really bad. So, so bad. Oh my God. She hears Lucy and is, and she's. You mean Anna? Oh yeah, Anna. And it's like reaching for her.

Oh my God. for her oh my god she can't she's can't speak and anna finds the keys to her chains and and unchains her and just carrying her out of there takes her upstairs and this woman is so extremely wounded and uh it's really really horrible And she gets her in a bathtub and she... Still not calling 911. Still not calling the police. Emergency services don't exist in this universe. Which is really crazy. She's like, it's all my responsibility.

Like, I guess I'm in charge now. She's a martyr, baby. She likes to suffer for others. Oh, my God. like i guess i'm in charge now she's a martyr baby she likes to suffer for others oh my god and in moving the this woman now upstairs she passes by lucy's body and like kneels at her side and says like please forgive me forgive me forgive me because she was doubting her before and she was telling the truth and so lucy or excuse me anna feels very guilty about this now she goes now to this uh new woman and is bathing her very gently it's very again tender and she's like being very

saying the same things that she used to say to lucy of like it's okay it's gonna be okay like you can calm down and like you're safe now it's not gonna be okay nothing's okay this is the least okay it could ever be no well i might be wrong about this i think this is probably the most upsetting part i mean i don't know it's a take your pick it's upsetting at this point to finish are you still you're still like i love this movie or did that end with the first act i think i was still on board here but less so it's kind of waning you're getting a little nervous and so she gets a fucking screwdriver and undrills this helmet from her head this is not your responsibility i'm sorry the woman is like screaming in pain probably not

something that should be no no outside of a hospital what the fuck ah she wraps the woman in a towel and says, like, you can rest now. She puts her in one of the bedrooms. Does she take the thing off her face? Yeah, and she has, like, a shaved strip down her hair, like a bald spot, otherwise very long hair. Okay, so Anna is scary. Yeah. I'm scared of Anna now.

Anna is something is fucking going on up there. You don't really feel scared of her in the movie. I feel it's like... Oh, okay. I'm very upset by what she has the choices she's making. Yeah, I think that is fair, but it happens all very quickly and it's like clear

that she's also in a state of shock and panic. That's true. She's in unbelievable shock right now. And so it doesn't feel necessarily, certainly not sinister, but I think she's making, I think she's making dumb decisions, but I think it could be attributed to the absolute insanity of the situation.

Clouding her judgment. Fair. So now she's at Lucy's side again, crying, asking for forgiveness. And then she hears a noise coming from the room that she's laid the woman in. That doesn't sound good. And runs in there to check on her. The woman has found a knife and is cutting off her own skin. She wrestles the knife out of her hand.

And the woman is swatting atatting at her and and fighting her presumably this woman can't see really she looks like completely feral yeah she's like i don't know if she can see but she is not well it's not it's not good and she runs into the hallway the woman does and is now banging her head against the wall um she's like dragging like wiping her blood because her hand is now partially skinned and she's kind of dragging her face on the wall like as if she's trying to rub her skin off. What the fuck? And Anna is chasing after her, trying to stop her, get her to stop.

And then you hear a gunshot and she is shot through the head. Anna is completely shocked. And we turn and see like five people in suits with guns walking into the house. Suits? Like what kind of suits? Not like.

They're like almost combat suits. Okay. Like. So they could be like. Businessmen. CIA or something. But we don't know. Oh my God.

Oh my God. Oh my God. And a woman with a gun comes to talk to Anna. Points to Lucy. Says, who's that? She says, that's Lucy. She says, what's your name? And she says, Anna. And one of the men behind her says, we've been trying to reach the Belfons all day.

Like, this shouldn't have happened. And like, what are you doing here? And Anna is in complete shock and the woman grabs her and drags her into that basement and handcuffs her to the to a wall no no you should have gotten out of there so long ago. There were so many moments. So many moments. There were so many moments. No. So this is like a torture syndicate. Yeah, like a organized.

They were like middlemen in this fucking torture organization. Yeah. Okay. Great. Great. Great. So an older woman comes in there's photos on the walls in this basement of like people essentially in various stages of torture and an older woman comes in and sits at the table with uh anna and this is mademoiselle they all refer to as mademoiselle and she basically says lucy escaped 15 years ago at a time when we were shall we say less organized oh my god oh my god

oh my god and she says but lucy was uh or she says like that takes a lot of spirit for her 15 years later to like find them like I'm impressed that takes a lot of spirit. But Lucy was still only a victim like all the others. It's so easy to create a victim. You just put a person in a room and make them suffer. And increase the suffering. And she says their trauma makes them see things that don't exist what did lucy see anna says she saw a dead girl mademoiselle nods ah yes and the girl that you just found saw cockroaches she'd rather cut her own skin off than like bear to feel the cockroaches crawling on her. And she says, people no longer

contemplate suffering. That's just the way the world is now. There are so many victims. Martyrs are so rare. Martyrs accept suffering and bear the pain of the world. And she brings out this file and starts showing her photos that are essentially the same photos we saw on the wall of people being tortured. And she's saying, describing basically what happened to each of these people. They're all women. Some are children. And saying they died in these different or they're alive in these photos. And she says, look at their eyes.

Look at their eyes. These are, I think we're being told that these are martyrs true martyrs and you can see it in their eyes these people were alive when these very disturbing photos were taken you can see it she keeps saying look at the eyes look at the eyes and anna is horrified by everything that she's seeing. Wait, she's saying she's saying look at their eyes because they're truly alive in that moment because they're feeling so much pain. Or like, isn't it amazing they're still alive despite all this? She's saying that you can implying that you can recognize martyrdom through the look in their eyes because they have transcended something to be able to survive in that moment of such extreme suffering and like want the suffering isn't martyring someone who

like wants the suffering um do you know what i mean or has at least like surrendered to it is like not fighting it at all yeah okay okay so maybe not wanting it but just like accepting it i think maybe either because i wouldn't say that like her trying to avoid cockroaches and by cutting off her own skin is like accepting suffering wouldn't it be her like accepting the fact that no she's a victim that's that she's a victim she's not a victim she's not a martyr i see i see martyrs are very rare i see i see i see okay okay got it got it and so yeah she's basically revealing that they've tried all these ways they're basically a syndicate that's trying to create martyrs because they think that in reaching that point

that you might be able to get a glimpse of what lies beyond. Well, mademoiselle, I would like to sign you up for this little task. Let's see how you do under these conditions. Maybe you're the one.

So they're like religious zealots? It doesn't feel particularly religious but i suppose so i suppose that's probably part of it they're at least in search of answers of what happens after you die and they think that they can get there by bringing people to the brink absolute brink of death over long periods of time awesome cool cool cool cool cool cool some people come in some henchmen and uh what do you call chloroform anna she wakes up in the same room we saw earlier we go chained to that chair with the hole in it it's so much worse when you like know what's gonna

happen do you know what I mean yeah yeah she's being fed the slop now it looks so fucking nasty I mean it looks like split pea soup which I again I think is good but like her reactions to it are just really upsetting

ew ew ew we see time is passing. This keeps going in and out of fading to black. Time is passing. She is down there for a long time. We see her peeing in the little bucket. And then

a man comes down at some point and uncuffs her and is basically looking like he's kind of challenging her to run for the exit. And then as she does, he punches her and basically basically looking like he's kind of challenging her to run for the exit and then as she does he punches her and basically beats the shit out of her anytime she tries to escape and this is now just like the fucking worst montage in the world of just her repeated suffering and torture i mean yeah i guess it's torture but it's mostly she's being beaten by this man and um some things that really upset me great yeah yeah yeah i want to hear it tell. Were that you could see that her underwear is wet because she has to pee through it because

she can't like take that off. Yeah. She's like UTIs probably all the time. That was very upsetting to me. Which would be. That would kill you. Eventually. Yeah.

That would just fucking kill you eventually. I mean, that would be great. If you could. Yeah. If you could die. I mean, that would be great if you could die. And this is where I wrote that it seems like they're giving her like three sips of water a day. Like it's not enough.

Full of Charlie horses. Think of the Charlie horses. And again, in the UTIs. Yeah. They cut her hair all off at one point. And there's a part where the man is punching her and clearly knocks her out and then punches her again as she's falling to the floor. That I really hated, obviously. And at some point, a woman comes in and gives her a very aggressive sponge bath. And that was very upsetting

just like a mean sponge bath yeah when you're already covered in wounds yeah it's awful now we see her head is fully shaved and this whole part is this is like drawn out and we are we are suffering and this is the part where i'm like really reflecting on my own choices and why i like horror movies and why you're like why have i done this to myself yeah and am i the martyr um oh interesting interesting yeah and you know what actually i'm pretty sure that I'm the martyr in this scenario because I'm the one who really doesn't like horror movies. And yet here I am every week. No, I'm the martyr. I think pick me. I think pick me.

It's me. Choose me. Love me. Oh, no. Her wounds and bruises are getting progressively worse there's like the makeup is so gnarly her she has a black eye so intensely that her like nose is also black and as she is in strapped to the chair again this like really gentle piano comes in all of this has been basically just sound design silence and like this really gentle piano starts coming and it feels like so nice like one that you're like oh what a nice thing like one nice thing

you're so desperate for it at this point and we hear anna is hearing a conversation between her and lucy as kids we're hearing the audio of them talking to each other i'm gonna cry oh no no no this is when they're like 13 ish or are they younger than that i think they're 13 maybe a little younger actually and we hear lucy asking anna saying like why are you not scared? And Anna says, I didn't go through what you went through. And Lucy says, how do you stop being scared? And Anna says, you let yourself go.

I think just let yourself go. And she's like looking so beaten down and she like something in her eyes changes. And we hear Lucy say, you're not scared now, Anna. You're not scared anymore. Oh, oh, motherfucker. oh oh motherfucker and now we see like again a montage of her

going through her horrible routine but now she's like incredibly well behaved and submissive to everything she's eaten her slop right up okay and the man comes in and still just like punches her over and over previously we've seen her kind of fight back or try to run away now she is just sitting and taking it so much so that they no longer have to have her in handcuffs she is no longer even trying to

escape oh and this is what they want they're're calling martyrdom. It's like Stockholm Syndrome is martyrdom. It's like the same result. And a woman comes down and strokes her hair and says, basically,

you're doing such a good job. Your suffering is almost over. There's just one more stage. No. And the man comes in and carries her into this very medical looking room and straps her into this contraption that looks kind of like those things astronauts train in that are like those circle things that spin around. So she's kind of strung up a little christ-like also and they cut her clothes off and we get a close-up of her face as it looks like something very painful is happening to her but she's not screaming she's just kind of grimacing and we reveal that they have cut

they cut all of her skin off they skin her skin her alive what and i wrote here in my notes looks like like my julia halloween costume will come in handy again oh my god um and we see in her face that she looks completely surrendered to what's happening her eyes she's let go she's completely let go and they called mademoiselle and like the guy that punches her comes in and they all seem like very excited by this and mademoiselle's like I'll be there right away he said how long can you live once you've been skinned yeah it doesn't seem long

I have no idea and I hope to never know I don't want to know but I can't imagine you would bleed so much you would think she's. You would think. She's not really bleeding.

I don't want to think about it too hard. Okay, sorry, sorry. And so we see her strung up, like, basically on a crucifix. And we zoom into her eye. And this, like, it goes into this very abstract, abstract kind of almost like a computer screensaver type thing it reminded me of um the scene in annihilation where natalie portman sees the alien and it's just very hypnotic and it feels like what seeing God might feel like in a sense of just like,

it's, it's kind of not of this world. And, uh, Mademoiselle comes in and, and finds her just after this vision. And she kneels at her side and asks her did you see did you see the other world did you see the other side and anna turns her head and whispers something in

mademoiselle's ear and we see all these cars pulling up outside and all these people in suits now coming it's like uh basically yeah like a like a cult that Jesus Christ is being called to. Now we've got a we got a live one. We got a martyr. It's happening. It's all like old white people. Very scary. You know, and a man comes to address all of them. They're all gathered in a room and the man says, today, Anna so-and-so was martyred. In 17 years, she's only the fourth to reach martyrdom, but she is the first to relay what she has seen.

is the first to relay what she has seen and she saw what lay beyond death she told mademoiselle mademoiselle is going to tell you all in a moment here I'm going to go get her everyone's just so excited and so this guy goes

to get mademoiselle she's in the bathroom taking off all of her makeup and he's through the door asking her um are you ready did did she say something did she tell you mademoiselle says yes she told me he said was it clear she says crystal crystal clear it was precise and he's like giddy with excitement. And she asks him, can you imagine what happens after death? He says, no. And she says, keep doubting.

And she pulls out a gun and shoots herself in the head. And then some text comes up, says the definition of martyr is based on a Latin word or something and it means witness and we see a final shot of Anna still alive just with that look in her

eyes that we recognize from the other photos and that's the end of the movie what actual fuck what the fuck what okay so what do we think she said to mademoiselle that's the big question and there are a lot of theories out there. I like went into Reddit and there's just so many theories and I think the ambiguity is what's, you know,

the point of it. But I feel like either she told her something very bad or very good, right? But kind of no matter what, you can poke holes in it. There's no real thing that feels like oh yeah that's what she said because if she said something really good you would think that she would want to tell

all of her friends and then maybe shoot herself because she'd be like i want to get there that sounds great but also you're not going to heaven bitch yeah or maybe she said no i was thinking she was just gonna say nothing but then also it's like why would you shoot yourself and rush to get there then but yeah i think that's maybe more likely but it's also i think yeah you can think really hard about this and i did a little bit and i still just feel like it's better to just have it be an unanswered question because i can't get a good answer but that was very sad very sad i feel like the first half is like such a powerful depiction of trauma.

And I think the second half is very interesting. It's completely miserable. Well, it is a big twist, too, that it's like an organized crime unit. There's also theories that it's kind of like about

capitalism and about these like people on top causing all the suffering in the world in order to gain something for themselves. Interesting. Yeah. I wouldn't say I loved it. Wow. Deeply upsetting.

Deeply upsetting. Yeah. I mean, I've got to say the experience of watching it is like absolutely horrible. I just can't believe how. Oh, there's just nothing nice in it at all. It's so fucking bleak. It makes you feel like absolute shit. But, you know, I got, you know, I like to feel like shit, but then it's all, it's like made me feel like such shit that it, it quite questions like the nature of that desire and suffering. And I feel like that's kind of the point of the whole movie is like,

what is the point of this suffering and pain? And like, why do I like to sit in that feeling? The deep, deep, deep well of suffering that this movie create, like creates and like is real in the world. Like there's so much suffering in the world and it's so fucking sad.

And I feel like this movie just really it makes you feel it makes you feel it jesus fucking christ i feel like i need to go to sleep yeah it just made you depressed it sent you into an extreme depression i'm sort of just like ready i i yeah it's good to I need to you need to go make yourself some more split pea soup I'm like shutting down I'm like I guess yeah see you guys I'm gonna go like I'm just um

I'm it's like pulling you into the the pit of depression yeah it's like I've like This movie has like broken my spirit. Yeah, it feels that way. It's just like a fucking weight pulling us down into the depths of despair. A quote from the director.

He said he intended to make the film's audience feel real pain and share it as part of an honest process of communion it was a very catholic process i have a very catholic mind yeah well so it's bringing us together suffering is bringing us together thank you to the director i don't like it oh Oh my God. What do you guys say? Worse than Human Centipede? Good. It's different. I was able to talk. Yes and no. It's different.

Different. Human Centipede was physically more difficult for me to endure. This one is absolutely emotionally more. I was pretty much able to walk away from human centipede being like that was nasty and bad and this one i'm gonna be like well i am sad and i don't know how to recover we have our own trauma monsters now. I think that I was expecting

there to be some kind of bigger or more severe upsetting betrayal that happened between Lucy and Anna. And I thought that was going to be part of the martyrdom. And that didn't happen. So I'm relieved in a way.

I'm glad I didn't see anything get screwed into anybody's head. Seeing it screwed out is, I think, just as bad. Yeah. Well, I mean, yes. I was worried we were going to get that again. You know, I thought we were going to do more. But do you kind of see what I mean about it not being torture porn?

I know that there is a lot of horrible things happening in it, but I feel like torture porn kind of implies that somebody is enjoying it. Right. Right. Yes. Yes. And nobody is like, even the people that are, are working there,

they like look like nobody is delighting in anybody's suffering. This is, this is a means to an end for them. They are look like they're at the office. They're like doing their job. They're very emotionless about it and it's just it's just uh an oversimplification of this movie to call it torture porn because i feel like there's a lot more going on the thing that bothers me is that there are easier ways i mean i know I know part of part of it is, I mean, the whole thing rests on this idea of martyrdom, which would require extreme suffering. But if you want to know if the whole point is what you want to know what happens after death, wouldn't you just try to, like, kill people and bring them back to life?

Wouldn't that be like what your goal is instead of this other crazy goal, which seems a lot harder and more time consuming. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you'd end up killing a lot more people if that was what you were trying to do. If we want to start a cult, we could do that. Just feels like more rational choice to... I agree. Just focus on that instead.

I agree. Do they ever acknowledge that? Do they ever say like that doesn't work because No X, Y, and Z No, nobody even thought of that They needed you there They needed your guidance That bothers me That really bothers me

This organization needs some restructuring Yeah, boy oh boy What a fucking... I'm sad. I'm sad. I'm sad. I'm sad. I know. I'm curious because I was going to do Inside. I was like, I bet Inside is

not as fucking sad as that. But maybe it is. Who knows? Again, in a year, we'll find out. I bet we'll find out. Yeah we'll find out yeah just give it give it time god damn it um but okay we did it and we never have to do it again great proud of us never again ever again i'd say that this movie really surprised me i'm glad that i saw it i don't really recommend it to anybody no i'm putting it out of my mind as quickly as possible i'm forgetting i'm forgetting it already

i'm already losing the details okay great that's gone and it's gone no voices no voices oh my god can you imagine trying to do a silly voice right now after that no oh yeah no no no

we will say a very somber from all of us here at too scary to watch goodbye we love you you know hug

give each other we love you take care yeah take care of yourself drink some water stay hydrated um and goodbye bye We love you. Take care of yourself. Drink some water. Stay hydrated. And goodbye. Bye.

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. That was a HeadGum Podcast.