Too Scary; Didn't Watch - TALK TO ME with Spooko

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

Embalmed hands, malevolent spirits, and snapchat loving teens - we're recapping the new A24 Australian horror film Talk to Me! And what better guests to join us than our Australian horrorspon...dents Peach & Shag?? Grab our hands and join us for a special edition of Too Spooko; Didn't Watch! Trailer Recap begins @ 31:40 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.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 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 Spooko Didn't Watch. I'm Emily and I am too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Sammy and I love watching scary movies. I'm Peach and I'm much too scared to watch scary movies. They make me feel bad. I'm Shag and I've been telling Peach about scary movies for a little while now on this
Starting point is 00:00:43 podcast to the point where I'm currently being haunted. That is not good. We're on a crossover episode and it's an unfortunate crossover event that's happened to Shag that he's been speaking about ghosts for so long that finally host, open parentheses, 2020 style. He mocked the ghosts and then the ghosts came into his life so it's disappointing stuff he is in a dark spooky room right now too that doesn't help like and it's so dumb right because obviously like this is a podcast we do it's about scaring people it's about blurring the lines all of that stuff but can i tell you what actually happened and why i think i'm legitimately being haunted yeah i think i would
Starting point is 00:01:25 demand it so so so so i live in a house with an attic uh-oh why i know right well no it's actually really it's really handy there's so much storage you can fit so much stuff here it's great you just like it's like we have nothing in our house because everything's in the attic it's a giant magician's trick okay you sold me i need gotta get myself an attic i love saying that you're an attic skeptic i don't know about these addicts well i feel like i've only heard bad things about addicts there's reasons to yeah be suspicious so halloween in australia when when peach and i were growing up wasn't really a thing but slowly become more and more commonplace and because I've got a kid now and for kids it's like all kids celebrate Halloween
Starting point is 00:02:11 it's like okay well we have to have Halloween decorations and things ready to go so in the same way that we have like our Christmas decorations in the attic we also have Halloween decorations in the attic anyway a couple of months ago and is true. I documented this in a story. So, I have video footage of this. I woke up like really late, like maybe it was like three or four in the morning. So, really late at night, early in the morning. I woke up at a time when I should be asleep to this like music. And I wasn't like, I wasn't sure what it was at first. I thought, you know, maybe like there's a share house that lives next door or maybe we'd left something on or, you know, things happen, right?
Starting point is 00:02:55 But it was this kind of like creepy music that was like do, do, do, do. Yeah, yeah, a lullaby, like music box but with a every now and then going next to it this is sounding halloween decoration-y right and so so as i'm like just coming to and trying to work out what is going on i'm like i think that's our Halloween decoration. Yeah, yeah. So I get up and I go to like the sort of where the hole in the – I don't know what they call the hole in the roof that leads to the attic, but I go to the hole in the roof. A portal. Let's call it a portal.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Okay. Yeah, it's a portal. Yep. So I go to the portal and I open it and pull the ladder down and it's really loud. And I'm like, okay, hang on. And I go up the stairs and I look through everything and I find the Halloween box, right?
Starting point is 00:03:55 And it's just completely closed and it's out of the way. It's not near anything that we would touch. It's not near anything. And as I'm taking out things, I'm taking out like, you know, wrapping paper and I'm taking out like old bats and I'm taking out things, I'm taking out like, you know, wrapping paper and I'm taking out like old bats and I'm taking out that crappy old spider web that doesn't look like spider web. I'm seeing more and more like this like glowing light. And as I get to the bottom, I noticed that this old skeleton we have that makes this spooky sound that goes,
Starting point is 00:04:19 oh, has just turned itself on. Now, what's weird about this, it's not like a push button. It's like a slide button, which is not something you can just like turn on. It's not something that like, you know, like. It didn't get like knocked against something and push it on. But even if it did just get knocked, like still that's scary. What's knocking it? Well, exactly. What's knocking it?
Starting point is 00:04:42 Exactly. So it turns itself on. And so I go up and I turn it off and i'm like that's fucking weird that's really scary but then after that a couple months later we go back up into the attic and we notice the lights on and i'm like we always turn the light off and it's like even with adele i'm always like like, you turn the light off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're always with them off. But it's like you kind of can't leave the thing without turning it off. You can't just leave.
Starting point is 00:05:12 It's like it's completely bright or it's completely black. You can't leave the attic without turning it off. And so two separate occasions afterwards in the months that's followed, the light has just been inexplicably on, even though we like recorded ourselves turning the light off now like i i need to implode this is not a bit like there's probably a 99 chance we're not being haunted but it really feels like we're being haunted right now yeah it's not a hundred not a hundred percent not happening you want it to be a hundred percent and if it's not we don't like ghost ghost ghost stories aren't about the past, though, as we previously learned.
Starting point is 00:05:46 They're about the present. They're about the things that we carry with us, the guilt and the regret and the fear we carry with us. So, Shag, this is really a story of introspection, I feel. And I was just like. It's a metaphor. Yeah. It's really about dementia, Shag. Yeah, Shag, are we in therapy I think it's
Starting point is 00:06:07 time for therapy talk about our feelings oh I'm down speaking of what's going on with you guys yeah for any listeners who don't know what's happening right now who wouldn't like why these two things
Starting point is 00:06:25 are coming together. Yeah, great point. Spooko and Too Scary to Watch are kind of, you know, similar podcasts. And this is what, like our fourth time doing an episode together? You guys are correspondents, as we would say. Yes.
Starting point is 00:06:40 And we've been doing it about the same amount of time. I saw you guys are getting close to your 200th episode, right? Yeah, yeah. 200's around the corner. And I'm always down to credit Joel for the line of correspondent, which I think is just a complete treat. So I'm very, very down to accept that.
Starting point is 00:06:57 That was Joel. Credit to Joel. If we're sibling podcasts, sibling scaredy cat podcasts, a lot of people have favorite siblings or favorite children. I don't among the golden children but uh look it's not really a comparison that spooko really wants to raise because too scary didn't watch is right up there among my favorite so we love you guys so much and we're always delighted to be here my too scary didn't watch or too spooko didn't watch update is yep um i sort of have a second career i'm not just a scaredy cat uh horror film podcaster i practice law and i have to wear a tie
Starting point is 00:07:31 on the side on the side on the side just ask a little bit more from time to time yeah yeah and i like to wear a tie and since we last spoke i've evolved from uh legal uh as Shag's described it, legal TikTok influencer to essentially tie advocate. And the best ties I've got on my tie rack are M. Gonzalez joints. I get asked about them all the time. Oh, my God. I've gotten to make some ties. And, M., it's a great gift you've given, one, a podcast, and two, a tie collection
Starting point is 00:08:05 and we're going to have to exchange some DMs and make sure we keep the tie praise rolling. I'm like, no, a friend made them for me. So, what do you want? So far this, my ties have, anything I've made has traveled. So, it's a real honor. They're all the way across the world. The honor's mine. The honor's
Starting point is 00:08:22 mine. Happy to take it. It's a real treat. When you said, started the story with tie wearing, I was like, he strangled himself with a tie accidentally. My mind was in a dark place because of the haunting. I was like, well, he had a near-death experience with a tie. Oh, I know where this is going. So thank God. Yeah, it could have gone way worse.
Starting point is 00:08:44 I need an update from you because i'm only seconds into your silent hill episode and i'm just on the edge of a smoothie update i understand you're living that smoothie lifestyle most of the field but feel living the smoothie lifestyle club will be up to date with too scary didn't watch but if i could just press you for an immediate in the flesh or in the zoom flesh Update how did the Haley Bieber smoothie end up Haley Bieber smoothie it was very good It was a very good smoothie
Starting point is 00:09:12 Especially Now that I so today I got a smoothie As well I was yeah I was mentioning before we Before we started the record here that I'm on a smoothie kick Getting that Haley Bieber smoothie Really opened the door for me
Starting point is 00:09:26 Of smoothies as an option It was my gateway smoothie And there's a smoothie place which I have talked about That I really really love So I was comparing the Haley Bieber smoothie Against those smoothies That place is called Punchbowl It's great
Starting point is 00:09:39 I kind of like Punchbowl a little bit more A little less sweet A little more bang for your buck. But I was like, OK, I was nearby another smoothie place today. It's sort of all health foods, but they have smoothies. And I was like, I told Joel I was going to pick us up smoothies from there. So we could really start comparing and cataloging our smoothie preferences. And I did not like the smoothie.
Starting point is 00:10:02 It was not I didn't even finish it. I didn't even like the smoothie It was not, I didn't even finish it I didn't even Finish the smoothie And the flavors were good But it was It was like It was so Chewy and thick and like not
Starting point is 00:10:18 A smoothie, it just was like not It, it, the Texture was so unpleasant I was really disappointed Like melted soft serve ice cream Or something Yeah but like The chunky in like
Starting point is 00:10:33 Okay so I should have known The smoothie is listed as having granola in it Oh god Okay but I'm thinking If you're like a place that does that In your smoothies you must know what you're doing. You must blend it in a way that you're like, well, I know it sounds crazy, but we do it. It's on our menu.
Starting point is 00:10:54 You know, this wasn't just a spur of the moment idea. It's literally called a smoothie. Like it's literally called. It's in the name. It's in the name. It's in the name. I just, I'm, So it's like yes sure Shame on me I should have
Starting point is 00:11:08 But I'm also like you told me that you could do this But you can't So that was a disappointing Smoothie But I Won't be stopped smoothie summer continues And I will continue To find great smoothies
Starting point is 00:11:24 We take great inspiration from them and we're eternally grateful. And then one final bit of admin that we're kind of, you know, that I think is echoing through us as a kind of scaredy cat podcast. Shag and I and members of the Feel Bad Club, which is what we tend to call people who are paying attention to Spooko episodes, we've got a sort of dichotomy going. and members of the feel bad club, which is what we tend to call people who are paying attention to Spooko episodes. We've got a sort of dichotomy going and, and my fundamental question,
Starting point is 00:11:49 I think I'm getting to this podcast. It's only taken four years is feeling bad feels bad. And I'd probably prefer to feel good. And I was just wondering, I disagree. No. Yeah. Feeling bad feels good.
Starting point is 00:12:04 Sammy loves to feel bad. Feeling bad feels good. It's what I'm looking for in a horror movie or a drama, or it's why I don't really watch a lot of comedy movies or romantic films because feeling good is boring and I like to feel bad. Feeling good is boring. Feeling bad is good. Shag, what do you reckon?
Starting point is 00:12:22 That's it. That's it. I mean, I realize the closest experience that I can think of for feeling bad feels good is cringe comedy. Oh, sure. And I can't watch cringe comedy. I'm the person who has the hands over my ears, eyes closed, saying la, la, la, la, la. Yeah. Because I can't delve into that.
Starting point is 00:12:44 But I know people love that and i think it's probably a similar experience for people who love to feel bad due to disturbing and horrific content yeah that's interesting like a nathan for you thing is what i'm my brain is going to and i used to really struggle with nathan for you and now i like it and i wonder if that is because of how much i've watched horror and gotten used to feeling bad and uncomfortable. That's interesting. I had not. That is interesting.
Starting point is 00:13:08 I had not thought of that. Have you guys done Creep? Oh, no. No, I don't think I've ever seen Creep. Creep is a combination of both, I think. We described it as a Nathan For You horror movie where it's... Cringe comedy horror.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Cringe comedy horror. Oh, God. Highly recommend just to test this theory. I loved it. It's a feel bad club for sure. But feeling good feels really good. I guess is my point. I think so too.
Starting point is 00:13:36 Yeah, I think so too. Em, I'm pleased to hear you and I are of one mind. Yeah, I like to feel good. I think both can feel good. I really do.
Starting point is 00:13:44 I think feeling good can feel good. That's true. That's true. It's not that feeling good doesn't feel good. It's just that feeling bad also feels good. Yeah. You can have, but yeah. Porque no nos dos.
Starting point is 00:13:55 Exactly. It's like you can do both. Exactly. Yeah. And maybe that just means that you guys feel good way more often than me and Peach feel good. Because like feeling bad also feels good. You know?
Starting point is 00:14:05 Yeah. We're the optimists. This is the whole fucking point of this podcast, guys. Maybe you've achieved some sort of, like, personal zen that I have, you know, we have yet to get to. This is very much Hellraiser. Like, how it's kind of like, oh, we think stuff that feels good. You're going to have to suffer through stuff we think is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:23 It's going to be punishment for you to feel the things we think are good. This is perfect for us. Well, and I am to understand that this is going to be quite a feel-bad movie, I believe. That's right. All right. Well, look, this is too spook. I didn't watch, you know, we have two M's slash two peaches and two Sammy's slash two shags to discuss a film.
Starting point is 00:14:51 Henley's here as well, but I think she's lost her voice. So she's also on the call. Don't worry. She's here. Quietly watching and listening. Yeah. So basically we wanted to get back together today because I think this film combines two things that we love at Spooko, which is A24, but also shouting out Australian content. Yep.
Starting point is 00:15:16 And I think this is the first ever Australian A24, not only A24 horror film, I think this might be the first A24 Australian film. Yeah. Sammy, do you know much about this? Do you know much about where this film came from? I don't know if it's the only A24 Australian film, but I know that the directors, wait, have we said what it is? This film is called Talk to Me. We should mention.
Starting point is 00:15:43 We should mention. It's in theaters right now. And it's directed by Danny and Michael Filippo, written by Danny Filippo and Bill Hinsman, starring Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird and Miranda Otto. And so all I know about it is that this is their debut feature. And they were YouTubers. their channel is called raca raca were you guys familiar with that i mean not not really i think it ran between 2014 and 2016 that's which is a weird time to be on youtube really sure yes um i was not familiar with them either, but they basically have been making YouTube videos for like ever.
Starting point is 00:16:29 So they're really talented when it comes to, you know, low budget stuff and keeping things, having things keep your attention. And that's kind of the medium that they have perfected and handling a lot of things themselves like VFX and music. And I think it helped like made them great directors because they've basically done everything on a smaller scale before. Anyways, they had this script for Talk To Me and they pitched it to a bunch of American production companies. But everybody said no, except for one company that said yes and offered them a lot of money, but said, we want to make it set in America with American actors, get some names in it. And they wanted to change some stuff to be a little more generic. And the Philippo brothers said it was incredibly difficult, but they said no,
Starting point is 00:17:25 which is really impressive. They stuck true to their vision. And so it was financed, um, by screen Australia and various like Australian production companies and independent financing. And so they wanted to stay true to their vision. And then it premiered at Sundance where A24 bought it and
Starting point is 00:17:47 so this is the movie that they wanted to make which I think is really cool and I'm just very glad they they stuck to their guns about that there's a few really interesting things about this film as well which I'm really happy to be one of two Australian horror respondents for you guys. Because this, yeah, it's shot in Australia, but it's shot in a city called Adelaide. Have you guys heard of Adelaide before? Yeah, you guys remember my go-to Australian phrase is the, it's the biggest.
Starting point is 00:18:20 Yes. That's right. What was it called again? Baby, baby mum. Biggest Burberry baby shower. Biggest Burberry baby shower. Biggest Burberry baby shower in all of Adelaide. That's my go-to phrase. That's from Yummy Mummies.
Starting point is 00:18:34 Check it out on Netflix. A24 is going to pick it up. Yeah, yeah. So Adelaide, I don't know if there's an equivalent in either California or America, but Adelaide's essentially a city that's like a punchline. It's sort of like Phoenix energy. Like I reckon I'm kind of like a very second tier, slightly weird climate, like sort of no character.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So that's my Australian correspondence. But it's like a joke, right? So it's kind of like it's a city that's not really taken seriously. If people want to make a joke about a bad city, it's like, oh, don't go to Adelaide sort of thing, right?
Starting point is 00:19:21 Like it has that bad cultural rap. We're a national law firm, right? But we don't have go to Adelaide sort of thing, right? Like it has that bad cultural rap. We're a national law firm, right? But we don't have offices in Adelaide and that's kind of the like. Got it, got it. So it's really interesting how not only did they stick to their guns, they were like, no, this has to be from Adelaide. We have a friend with a daughter named Adelaide and I'm just, they're going to be devastated to hear this. She's named after a joke city.
Starting point is 00:19:54 People are going to take you seriously in Australia. And it's that really cool thing where it's like, not only were they like, we're repping Australia, we're repping Adelaide, which is a thing, right? And I think there's a moment in this film where they very conspicuously like hero Adelaide culture, which obviously we'll get to during the recap. What is Adelaide culture? Like a nice cricket ground, some like good wineries.
Starting point is 00:20:22 It's known as the city of churches. That's like the thing. Adelaide is the city of churches. That's like the thing. Adelaide is the city of churches. Got it. Okay. Reasonable rap scene like 20 years ago. Prime and Purpose are from there, Shay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:20:35 That's about it. But yeah. So, I think, I also think as well, you know, you mentioned before, they started making like horror comedy films on racka racka which was their sort of youtube channel yeah and i think beyond just being able to like work with like you know small scripts and like like have like a really like intimate understanding of filmmaking i think youtube in the like the noughties and youtube in the last 10 years has sort of been where like
Starting point is 00:21:05 Gen Z grew up like and you know even the generation beforehand you know they didn't watch TV they were watching YouTube they were on social right yep so I think there's a there's an understanding of young people in this film yeah that I don't think I've seen in horror films like I think horror film teenagers have been the same since like Scream and I think this film changes that completely I don't know what do you reckon Sammy? Yeah no I agree and I'm curious what your like initial this movie this I saw it twice. Oh wow okay. I saw it twice within 24 hours because and this is something that I feel like I do when something really affects me I'm like I immediately need to see it again to kind of continue to process it, I think is what it is. And so I was so I mean, maybe we
Starting point is 00:21:52 should talk about more at the end. But one way that I've been describing it is that we did a movie. We did the 2013 Evil Dead once and that was a movie that filled me with adrenaline in such a way that i felt like i was just getting off a really fun roller coaster i was like dancing around the house like this is amazing this movie filled filled me with adrenaline in a way that felt like i had just survived like a horrible car accident like oh my god like i would i couldn't sleep after i and it wasn't because i was scared i wasn't scared by this movie necessarily but i was just so tense and stressed the whole time that my body was like in a kind of survival mode afterwards that i really didn't anticipate but and then seeing seeing it the second time and knowing what was going to happen, I had a different experience. And I liked it. I enjoyed it both times, but I just had a pretty significant
Starting point is 00:22:50 physical reaction the first time that caught me off guard. And I feel recovered now, but it took me a couple of days. Stressed and tense are such bad feelings, Sammy. I guess this goes back to my central thesis that I'm sure there's a nice romantic comedy out there that we could all watch or we could just re-watch the recent Spider-Man. You know what? I watched Pride and Prejudice afterwards. That's where
Starting point is 00:23:14 this movie took me to because, and I have been putting it off for so long because of exactly that. It's not the kind of movie I'm usually after and I just needed it. I needed it. You loved it. I loved it i loved it it was great feeling good feels good which part of prejudice are we are we in kieran niley or are we i still can't believe matthew mccartney fadden like i've owned i've never seen it i've only
Starting point is 00:23:40 seen succession i can't imagine him as a heartthrob i'm telling you it's shocking but it fucking works it works it really does works i'll just tell us that uh this movie has a 95 on rotten tomatoes oh shit 76 on metacritic a 7.5 on imdb and we've been measuring our imdb on a six to seven scale because I swear to god Everything on IMDB is between 6 and 7 And this is Blowing the roof off it 7.5
Starting point is 00:24:13 The budget was 4.5 million it's already made 20 million in just over A week so It's doing well and the Philippo brothers have revealed that they've already shot a prequel which is like a x and pearl situation oh very cool don't know too many details on that yet but just yeah stay tuned i'm excited to hear it i know very very little about this movie i have seen
Starting point is 00:24:41 the trailer once it came on before Mission Impossible I think and I a friend of ours works in advertising and the agency she works for does advertising for A24 and so she had seen this movie months ago and we ran into her and she mentioned that how good this movie or she I think told Joel
Starting point is 00:24:59 the premise of it and I think the premise just the log line at least is absolutely genius. And I'm like very excited to see, well, to hear about how this unfolds. Well, I'm going to see a little piece of it because we're going to watch that trailer. Okay, let's do it. Have you seen the group chat? They're doing it again tonight.
Starting point is 00:25:26 No. No. Please. It's my mum's remembrance day. I just want to forget about it. Who's up? I'll do it. Cannot go for more than 90 seconds. I might clear what happens after 90 seconds They want to stay
Starting point is 00:25:58 Like the candle to open the door Blow it out to close it Open the door. Blow it out to close it. Put your hand on it. Now say, talk to me. What did the hand feel like? It felt amazing. I could see and feel everything on the other side.
Starting point is 00:26:47 So my mom, she was trying to reach out I'm here Still been seeing stuff you mean saying stuff What if we open the door, but we didn't shut it? Oh my god, they followed us! I like you. They're not gonna stop. No, they're never gonna stop! They like you
Starting point is 00:27:28 talk to me oh em i don't know if this is your feeling but i'm in like let's go mode i'm like yeah okay let's get it I've never seen Flatliners and this gives me big Flatliners energy yeah I'm like let's fucking go alright yeah I'm very excited to hear what happens to this movie this morning Joel was
Starting point is 00:27:58 like maybe gonna go see a movie and at 10am I was like okay if you're going to the movies you have to go see Talk To Me because I know I'm going to need to talk to you about it. So he went and saw it at 10 o'clock this morning just so that I could have somebody to talk to about it. Perfect start to the day. Yeah, I don't think he enjoyed starting his day that way, but it's, you know, for the for the good of the pod. So it's so funny watching like watching that trailer you know and i've
Starting point is 00:28:26 recently seen this film and i love this film and i'm you know no stranger to horror films but i think after you mentioned that thing like my heart was racing watching that trailer even knowing everything that happens in the film it's so good it's a very good trailer just creating dread and tension and it's like non-stop it's really you know keeping it at 90 minutes so it's like nice and it's like fast paced doesn't really let up it starts with a crazy opening so you know we'll get to that in a second but um a small thing i just want to shout out is that a24 logo rules they always do like a little i jumped i like that was a jump scare to me when that hand moved I will say not very many jump scares in this movie there's no maybe none I remember like one part of being like oh but
Starting point is 00:29:14 there's no jump scares for the sake of like if you know just like tricking you I feel like they're all earned can I press m m on jump scares for a sec like as we as we work through our scaredy cat journey i've come to realize jump scares are probably the cheapest part of a horror film of a tug oh yeah okay you can be loud and surprising and so i'm coming to you know appreciate the the craft that has to go behind creating a horrific experience without going kaboom kablow here's a big loud Sound I don't know And the jump scares still get you or do you kind of
Starting point is 00:29:50 See past those They still get me But I yeah no I agree With you I think honestly the best scare Is a we've talked about Before a jump scare that is Not built up to that like Like a really effective
Starting point is 00:30:06 Jump scare which what movie am I thinking of Sammy where like all of a sudden Like something is just like At you in a way that you were not anticipating It's the two biggest jump scares That have gotten me so good were in Haunting of Hill House which is a TV show not a movie But there is one jump scare in there that
Starting point is 00:30:21 If you've seen it you'll know which one I'm talking about And then I think you might be thinking of the night house where it's. I think I am. I was picturing Rebecca Hall whenever I whatever I was. There's a moment where it goes from so quiet to so loud, but in a way that is it's just done differently than something like The Nun, which is just like none of this movie is good. So we're just going to have a bunch of jump scares to like keep you on your- Dark corners. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:47 That I think is, yeah, not worth it. Right. I think, and another thing, like when you look at that trailer as well, not only does the film not really have jump scares, it also doesn't have that typical horror music usually. Like honestly, mostly this film sounds like Australian drill music. I counted at least two one four tracks and it's funny you mentioned a smoothie place called punch bowl
Starting point is 00:31:10 um punch bowl is also like a western sydney suburb where like the west of sydney is where a lot of like you know contemporary australian like street culture drill and yeah street and like rap music comes from and it's just funny how it all connects because you notice especially in a couple of party scenes they like a lot of australian teen movies will use american music in their party scenes but they very intentionally all the way through have used australian music which again just like reinforces this coolness of these guys that were like we want to make our vision and we want to represent, you know, Adelaide and Australian culture the whole way through.
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Starting point is 00:34:32 We begin at a suburban Australian house party. And when I say suburban, I mean, think about a street where like there aren't really fences on the, there's just front lawns that then eventually go onto the road. There aren't enough streetlights to cover every house. So like the street feels kind of dark and the real illumination is coming from inside the house so we're following this character walking into a into a house party where like the street's dark everything's a bit dark but there's like heaps of people we're hearing like australian i couldn't work out who the artist was but it was sort of like like australian sort of soundcloud rap as he's walking into this house um it feels really claustrophobic it feels really like dark and oppressive um and this man
Starting point is 00:35:12 his name is cole and in a single shot we realize he's frantically searching through the outside and then eventually into the inside of this house party looking for his brother named ducket someone at the party says call your brother like go get your brother he's out of control or something like go grab him and he tracks him down so i mean was that an australian accent that was gonna start off there because that's very very welcome the call like you're just about to do call your brother in an australian accent and it wasn't did it sound like it was? Did I do it unintentional? I thought we were just about to get Sammy breaking into Yummy Mummy's energy. Sorry, sorry.
Starting point is 00:35:49 No, no. But, you know, who knows? Maybe I'll sprinkle it in every once in a while. But he tracks him down to this room where the door is locked and his friend is saying, you know, he's in there and he starts breaking down this door and the
Starting point is 00:36:05 guy whose house it is like, my mom's going to be so mad. These are all like high schoolers, basically. And he's breaking down the door and the intensity with which he's breaking down the door lets us know something is really wrong. And so already I was like, so stressed what we're going to find in this room because he's like pretty panicked. like he needs to get his brother. He breaks down the door and we see his brother shirtless with cuts on his back, hunched over, kind of mumbling to himself. Cole comes up to him, puts a jacket over him and is trying to get him up like we got to take him home. And he says to Cole, Mom said you're going to hurt a lot of people. And Cole says, Mom's dead, Duckett. And is like rubbing his back.
Starting point is 00:36:47 He says, mom's dead. And Duckett looks at Cole and says, you're not him. You're not him. Oh, shit. I tried to do Australian. It didn't work. You're not him. Yes.
Starting point is 00:36:59 There it is. Found it. And they walk out into the main section of this party. And everyone whips their phones out and starts filming because they see that Duck is having. I mean, he's what he's having is you would assume is like a mental breakdown. And Cole is screaming at everyone. Put your fucking phones away. Like, what's wrong with you? And everyone's just filming and filming and laughing like this is a joke. And think about the intensity of this already. Right.? Like it's already felt claustrophobic. It's dark. Like this music is like they're shouting, but there's still
Starting point is 00:37:30 this music playing. And now all of a sudden there's all these faces looking at them. But the lights of their phones as they're recording is really bright. So Cole and Duckett are illuminated with all these kind of like faceless teenagers just watching them and cole is trying to shove people back put your phones away and as he's shoving people we see a knife stab into his back duckett has stabbed him he drops to the floor everyone starts screaming and kind of slowly backing up duck is just now walking with the knife kind of slowly around the apartment as people are fleeing now scared but still kind of filming and as they're running away and then duck it stabs himself in the face oh but but but it's not just like a like you you might if if if
Starting point is 00:38:23 sammy says stab yourself in the face you you might be like, oh, you know. It's so fast. It's like supernatural force. Like the way it's almost like his head goes down and his hand goes up at the time to meet. So the knife, the blade goes all the way into his head. Like immediately. It's one of the most brutal face stabbings i've seen in horror i think ever the joker and the pencil type situation yes yeah and it's that just i feel
Starting point is 00:38:52 like sets the tone for the rest of the movie where you just know how stressed you need to be because that's kind of what we're dealing with i mean i mean we talk about something you know in horror films called gore shadowing where if they give you a an early gory death you know you're in for some fucked up shit like they let you know they let you know very early and that was textbook gore shadowing yeah so so we cut to the title nice and then we're introduced to kind of our protagonist, I guess our final girl, but it fucks with convention enough that she's not your, like, typical final girl. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:34 17-year-old Mia is struggling with the second anniversary of her mother Rhea's accidental suicide. So she's Mia, her mother is Rhea, also her dad is Max. accidental suicide. So she's Mia. Her mother is Rhea. Also, her dad is Max. We'll refer to them as either Rhea and Max or Mia's mom and dad.
Starting point is 00:39:52 What does accidental suicide mean? Yeah, I'm having the same question. Like an accidental overdose. Yeah. Ah. Oh, okay. Of sleeping pills. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:04 So she did kill herself, but there's a question of whether she meant to or not. Got it. I think it's revealed quite early. In fact, you know, Mia has this emotionally distanced- Whose term is that with a positive? Sorry, Sam and Em. I sometimes get hung up on editing Wikipedia as we go. Is that Wikipedia? It is.
Starting point is 00:40:18 That's from Wikipedia. Yeah. Okay. So Mia and Max, her her dad have this frosty relationship and it has something to do with the fact that there are questions about the mother's death because the mother had took too many painkillers collapsed against the bedroom door so the dad was trying to break in to you do something potentially to resuscitate or something but couldn't get in because she was slumped against the door.
Starting point is 00:40:47 And then we see that Mia gets a phone call from her best friend's little brother. His name's Riley. The cutest little kid. I think he's 14 they say. They say he's not even 15. So I presume that means he's 14. But he couldn't in theory be 0 to 14. Yeah he could be
Starting point is 00:41:03 any age in that bracket. He could be 16 plus as well, actually. He's not even 15. And so she goes to pick him up because his sister has forgotten about him. And we find out that Mia basically has this kind of second family because she has such a strained relationship with her dad. She spends most of her time with her best friend, Jade, and her mom and little brother. But as she picks up the little brother, Riley, it's nighttime. They're driving home.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Clear that they're very close and they're singing Sia loud, having a good time. And this is really important because Sia is originally from Adelaide. So the fact that as they're driving home and they're like, they're not just singing along. They're being like, ah. I'm sorry. That was really bad. It's chandelier.
Starting point is 00:41:56 You can't sing it. You've got to scream it. You can't not sing chandelier. Yeah, exactly. And it's just such a, like, it's like, obviously it's showing the relationship, but it's very much like it's just another Adelaide, yeah. Exactly. And it's just such a, like, it's, like, obviously it's showing the relationship, but it's very much a, like, it's just another Adelaide reference in a film full of them. Love that.
Starting point is 00:42:11 That's cool. Wouldn't work in Phoenix, yeah. No, wouldn't work in Phoenix. Yeah. Don't know what they would be singing in Phoenix. I don't even know. But as they're driving along, they come to a stop, and we see that they're seeing something that startles them, and they get out of the car, and there is a dying kangaroo in the road.
Starting point is 00:42:28 Is this something that happens, you guys? Is this like deer for Australia? Can I say like it's probably a cliche, but kangaroos, depending on where you are, kind of are everywhere. Yeah. You know, to the point where and I don't know how this happens, Pete. yeah you know to to the point where and i don't know how this happens peach you might have a better idea how a native animal can be a pest but they're considered a pest and like to the point where like especially in rural communities is that right peach yeah yeah that's true um the way they deal with i think it's pasture but but but not not agricultural pasture like sort of greenfields issues.
Starting point is 00:43:05 If it's an issue I don't understand well enough, but like hitting a roo while driving is like a huge risk driving in the country at night because you'll be flying along at a serious speed. Yeah. And you either break or don't. And you've got to understand, like kangaroos are kind of like scary. Like, you know, there's like there's, you know, like. I've seen boxing kangaroo.
Starting point is 00:43:25 I was going to say, they're like big deer that can punch you. They're like big deer that can punch you. Well, but see. You know, there's this sort of holiday house that our fam go, you know, that's a couple of hours south of Sydney that we go to. And it's on this little peninsula that's home to all these like, you know, families of kangaroos. And so you wake up in the morning and they're just on the front lawn um and they are not in any way like domesticated or anything so you'll have these moments where they just you just
Starting point is 00:43:56 stare them out and you either just give them some space especially if the big like alpha's around who's always massive and like weirdly muscular like weirdly muscular i don't like it not strong muscular there's a difference there's a difference it's like a Zac Efron like really veiny like you didn't think they'd have so many veins. But like hitting a kangaroo is hitting a wild, you know, sometimes slightly threatening animal. It's not like hitting like a cute – it's like, oh, I hit this. It's like, no, I hit a kangaroo, right? And I found as well in like contemporary Australian horror,
Starting point is 00:44:39 this is now becoming a bit of a trope. Like early on you hit a kangaroo or we find a kangaroo carcass and it's it's a it's a symbol symbolic i don't even really know what it's a symbol of uh i feel like there's a similar thing in american horror though like hitting a deer is a relatively common yeah i'm thinking of get out happens in get out get out um the invitation right don't they hit a deer on the way up to the house i think think so. Probably just like a bad bad omen type thing. Yeah, but yeah, sort of insert
Starting point is 00:45:10 a local large animal here sort of horror trope. Is it on your bingo card, Sammy? I was just trying to reflect like a long side scary drawing from child and spooky nightgown. The next update will have hit a deer slash Kangaroo.
Starting point is 00:45:25 He's a kangaroo if it's an Australian horror film because I promise it happens more than once. It doesn't work in Phoenix, that one. That doesn't translate. No, that one does not work in Phoenix. Drive over a snake when you're there, I presume. Anyway. Or Charles Barkley.
Starting point is 00:45:38 Does he? Do you play for the Phoenix Suns? That's all I know about Phoenix. That's literally it. Can you play for the Phoenix Suns? That's all I know about Phoenix. That's literally it. So Mia drives Riley home. Well, hold on.
Starting point is 00:45:51 We got to go back to the kangaroo just for one second because I think it's important. You're right. You're right. Is that they get out and see that it is suffering and dying. And Riley says to Mia, like, we need to put it out of its misery. And she kind of psychs herself up for a second because it's clear that this kangaroo is not going to survive.
Starting point is 00:46:12 And she's psyching herself up to do it. They get back in the car and she's driving fast, like she's going to drive over its head or something to kill it. And at the last second, she stops, drives around it. She can't do it.
Starting point is 00:46:27 Riley says, you know, what are you doing? And she basically says, someone else will come and take care of it. So they leave it. Now that actually does make sense. Now I'm like, I do need to see it a second time to pick up on all of these cues. So they get home. And yeah, so we discover that mia has has essentially a second family in jade's family so jade's mom played by miranda otto who is like
Starting point is 00:46:52 locally like a super prestigious famous she's great actress emily you'd know her from lord of the rings ah she's one of the elves and i can't remember which one she's not an elf she's a human but we you know we'll get but i know why you would have thought that anyway yeah yeah she's got long blonde hair so she so she's a single mom uh dad is out of the picture they don't really talk about it she's just a single mom jade is the older sister riley's the younger sister and mia clearly stays with them most nights younger brotherer brother. Sorry. Younger brother, sorry.
Starting point is 00:47:26 Younger brother, yes. He's younger brother and Mia stays with them most nights. And in this first scene, and I remember while I was watching this, I was like, oh, wow, like it's probably about 15 or 20 minutes into the film and we haven't even seen the hand. We haven't seen spookiness. We're really just setting up this family. We find out another really funny detail, which is Jade's current boyfriend
Starting point is 00:47:45 is mia's ex-boyfriend who is super christian so he only goes as far as whatever base is holding hands like i know bases change as you get older but he's he's the farthest they get as as a couple is holding hands yeah they haven't kissed yet i think that's zero base i thought kissing was first base but when no when you're a teenager I don't think hands count Hands is like, alright, we're, you know Technically baseball happens here I've heard that baseball happens at some point
Starting point is 00:48:17 But yeah, so Mia would have dated Daniel As his name, like Three or four years ago, so when they were 14 So, but they have a like fun dynamic Where it's not like a Super jealousy thing, they're kind of playing it As a joke, like, ooh, my ex-boyfriend Ha ha ha, Daniel, and they're being Like cute about it
Starting point is 00:48:40 And then they're looking At Snapchats from their Friends' Snapchat stories And we see the first images of people being possessed by something But it's kind of treated in the way as like a party drug Which I think is the metaphor that it is for Where there's a bunch of kids around One person with huge dilated pupils
Starting point is 00:49:02 Everyone's laughing, filming it Like, oh my god, this is so crazy. And Mia is really interested in this and wants to go and check it out. It's at one of their friends houses. Jade is kind of rolling her eyes at it like they're they're making it up. It's it's a, you know, filter or something. It's not real. They're just trying to do this, try to get people to come over to their house.
Starting point is 00:49:23 But Mia says it's her mom's remembrance day. This is the two year anniversary of her mother's death. And so she kind of uses that as a way to guilt Jade to agree to go. And so they head out and Riley uses the mom forgetting or excuse me uses jade forgetting to pick him up as something to blackmail jade with to let riley go to the party and he's like i'll tell mom that you didn't pick me up earlier so the three of them head to the party so they go to this party that is hosted by two uh i'm trying to think of the high school archetypes, but they definitely reminded me of like, you know, like kids from Australian high school parties where they're kind of, they're not quite bullies.
Starting point is 00:50:12 They're not quite cool kids. They're something, but they're kind of the rebels where people respect them, but kind of fear them a little bit, I think. Possibly druggies-ish, druggie and like, and like maybe like a little dash of jock in there for part of it. Maybe they were just bored.
Starting point is 00:50:30 I don't know. Yeah. Look, it's very much Heath Ledger's character from 10 Things I Hate About You. I think it's probably there. Yeah. Interesting. So Hayley and Josh, interesting thing. I just found out as well this morning that Hayley is played by a trans person
Starting point is 00:50:43 and because of that, this film has now been banned in Kuwait. I just read that as well, which is fucking crazy because it's literally not even mentioned at all. Almost as if that's just a person in an actor in the movie. Exactly. It's like part of the story that it's like literally just them wanting to wipe trans people from existence and being like, no,
Starting point is 00:51:03 we won't be seeing that in films in this country. I would have expected more from Kuwait. What I think is interesting, like that's such a good point. And this is, this is my point. This is my, this is my main point about why I find this film so exciting. It's like, that's what I, that's what I've seen from Gen Z. It's like, they don't give a shit. Like it's not a big deal. And the fact that like a millennial screenwriter would have had characters making joke about their transness and then them defending it and would have been like a big deal. Like, no, I'm like, you know, I'm a hero or whatever.
Starting point is 00:51:37 We're putting it in the movie. Yeah. Whereas like here, they're just like Hayley's just another character. It's kind of amazing. But anyway, so they go to this house party. Immediately we hear two like 1-4 songs in a row. So 1-4 are like the biggest Australian drill band. There's heaps of like YouTube videos of like British drill fans reacting
Starting point is 00:51:58 to Australian drill and it's always 1-4 and they're amazing. Anyway, so I think the songs are lads in the hood and I couldn't quite work out what the other one was. But I just thought that was such a cool detail that you just wouldn't see in other films. Anyway, so they go to this party and it starts out as a normal teenage party, like kids sitting around, like people chatting,
Starting point is 00:52:19 people making jokes, people feeling awkward. Like there's no hand yet. It's just a party. Sounds awesome then and then the main event happens where joss hayley and joss reveal their severed abalmed hand so this is a this is a human hand well well later on they sort of start to talk about what it could be but at the moment it kind of it looks like a real hand but it also seems to have the the properties of something hard or like either something wooden or stone i think they say it's ceramic that it's at some point we find out it's like that an embalmed hand
Starting point is 00:52:57 of a medium or a psychic or a satanist and there's just a lot of mythology around it it's never fully like here's exactly what it is. It's more like teenage kids with a totem thing that they found building mythology around it and kind of trying to amp up the spookiness, but we're not exactly sure. I find that with quote, quote, good horror films, that's often the way. It's the way to do it. 100%.
Starting point is 00:53:22 Because I don't know what you were expecting in, but in like getting into exploring horror films i was expecting it to be the hand of balsh's are the demon of the undead and that's always a disappointment yeah exactly exactly that's why i feel like this movie's so successful because it doesn't there's a lot of unanswered questions at the end that i think are really fun to think about and we'll talk about when we get there but but yeah so we don't we don't know it seems like just kids that have found a hand that comes with some uh warnings some other group of friends gave it to them and they slap it on the table and basically say it connects you to spirits on the other side and they can possess you. And Mia volunteers to go first and they strap her to a chair with like a belt and it's feeling, I'm nervous at this point for sure.
Starting point is 00:54:22 And Haley tells us that you can't hold it for longer than 90 seconds because after 90 seconds they'll want to stay and that's a very scary line but that 90 seconds starts when you let them in so the way that they they explain the way that this ritual happens is you hold the hand and you say talk to me and you'll be able to see a spirit. Once you say, I let you in, the timer starts and you become possessed. Yep. And Mia starts, holds the hand, says, talk to me, sees what looks like a scary corpse of an old man, panics, lets it go, freaks out seeing this is real now.
Starting point is 00:55:09 And she's like, what the fuck was that? Jade is like, Mia, stop making a joke. It's not funny. And she's like, this is real. This is real. She says, who the fuck was that? Haley and Joss are laughing. They're saying it's somebody different.
Starting point is 00:55:22 Every time you have to keep holding it and say, I let you in. laughing they're saying it's somebody different every time you have to keep holding it and say i'll let you in so mia jade because jade's not believing her mia like again psychs herself up she's like i'm gonna prove it to you i'm gonna prove it to you this is real what i just i just saw someone real holds the hand again says talk to me sees like a waterlogged woman's corpse it looks like a woman that has drowned and she's scared and cringing. They say, you don't have to look at it. Just say, I let you in. So she says, I let you in.
Starting point is 00:55:54 The force of the spirit entering her body knocks her back in her chair. It's one of the doors opens and slams closed. Her pupils start getting big. It's like it's Edgar Wright. It's Requiem the doors opens and slams closed. Her pupils start getting big. It's like it's Edgar Wright. It's Requiem for a Dream. It's like all these like quick cuts. And you see this spirit really luxuriating and being in a physical body. She's kind of like and looking around the room.
Starting point is 00:56:20 She's laughing and she looks at an empty spot in the room and says there he is really scary they're all looking at that what the fuck where there who is and then she looks at riley and says he likes you and riley looks terrified and and remember like when you're 14 you're a baby like even at 17 you're a baby but it's like you're 14 you're this 14 year old boy you think you're like going out to this party but you're not like you'll probably still have some toys you like to play with you're very like and and he just the look on his face and like when he realizes he's being targeted is like he has like a little silent tear fall for he's like so scared but trying to hide he realizes he's being targeted is like heartbreak he has like a little silent
Starting point is 00:57:05 tear fall for he's like so scared but trying to hide it because he wants to be one of the older kids and she's really focused on him and says he's behind you now he's gonna rip you in half and we're all looking and there's nobody behind him and everyone else is laughing while riley is fucking terrified again everyone's filming this that's another important thing that's always in the in the background of all of all of this which and people people are kind of spooked but they're also pissing themselves in a way that i think people would in this situation they're like oh my god yeah yeah and like everyone's filming Like oh my god Can you believe it
Starting point is 00:57:46 Oh shit And like The very teenage aspect of it Which is you just have no Concept of What fear should be What life is It's why like teens
Starting point is 00:57:57 Drink and drive all the time You just are like You feel invincible And you're so stupid And you're And you just like Will do the stupidest Fucking shit ever
Starting point is 00:58:06 Because you have no idea you shouldn't Which one of the most Chilling things I heard In an interview with the Philippo brothers Was when they were asked What some of their inspiration was for The movie they said that They had these
Starting point is 00:58:22 Neighbors growing up these kids around Their age that It was I think three brothers or three that they had these neighbors growing up, these kids around their age, that it was, I think, three brothers or three friends or something. And one of them was experimenting with some sort of party drug and had a really bad reaction to it and was basically having a seizure. And the other kids just filmed him laughing. And nobody called an ambulance or anything. And the Filippo brothers just said how that was like the most terrifying thing they had ever heard of just exactly teenagers not being
Starting point is 00:58:51 equipped to handle or take this situation seriously and that's what happens in this movie yeah mix it up with some undead chat roulette and you've got a good form. I can't believe this is literally undead chat roulette. Oh, my God. It gets close to 90 seconds. So they try to end the ritual. So there's another thing. So you light a candle at the start and you blow a candle out at the end. But you also have to let go of the hand.
Starting point is 00:59:19 So it gets close to 90 seconds. They try to pry the hand from her, but the spirit is holding onto it far too hard. When they eventually separate Mia's hand from the actual hand, they're like, it's gone over 90 seconds. But they're like, are you okay? And she's like, I feel fine. She says she feels amazing. Well, see, this is what's interesting about this, right?
Starting point is 00:59:43 So that night, Mia stays with jade's family riley wakes up because he's obviously like totally traumatized goes to jade's sister's room and she's like you're not sleeping in here so he like trundles along in his pajamas holding his pillow and his blanket and goes to the couch where mia's sleeping and hops in and at first mia kind of pays him out by being like, oh, you're having nightmares, are you? And she's like, don't worry, I have nightmares too, very ominously. And then Riley asks her, how did it feel being possessed? And she's like, it felt amazing because – and I'm trying to remember the wording. Maybe you have this better, Sammy.
Starting point is 01:00:21 She says it felt like I could – well, this is in the trailer and i'm not actually sure it's what she says in the movie but like she says she feels like warm and like she could see and feel everything but she was in the passenger seat which is like a common way that people could describe drugs it's like you feel like there but not there and so it's her witnessing life but not being in the driver's seat of it so an escape so so the next day we're at the high school and hayley being like yeah i guess the cool druggie kid is in the high school cup one one last thing that happens in that scene is that they fall asleep and we see Riley's face as he's sleeping and just a wet waterlogged hand stroke his cheek yes that's right that's right yep so we then at school the next day we're in the car park Hayley's sitting on the boot of her car, smoking a ciggy.
Starting point is 01:01:26 And God, there were just, just in that sentence, there were so many little Australian things that I just car park, boot of the car, ciggy. We would have said they're in the parking lot, sitting on the trunk,
Starting point is 01:01:39 smoking a cigarette. And I just had to call that out because it was just one after another, after another. And I really loved it. Well Shag's favorite that he needs to put to you both is you know when you're at a playground. Do you guys have playgrounds or is it a fun park
Starting point is 01:01:54 or a playground? We say playground. It's a playground. And you know when children sit on like a sloping thing and they sit at the top on their slide. So we call that a slippery dip. And after those... And so, sorry,
Starting point is 01:02:10 Shag shared his insight that like we in Australia think that's a worldwide thing. I'm like, oh yeah, there's the swings. Yeah. Do you want to go down the slippery dip? And it's like,
Starting point is 01:02:19 that's just what we call it. I love it. That's so much more fun. That is so much more fun than slide. Slippery dip. Slippery dip. We bequeath it to you. Enjoy it. That's so much more fun. I love it. That is so much more fun than slide. Slippery dip. Slippery dip. We bequeath it to you. Enjoy it.
Starting point is 01:02:28 Thank you. In Adelaide, they call it a slide still, I'm sure. So they're in this high school where there's probably a slippery dip somewhere very nearby. And so with Mia sort of sheepishly behind Jade, Jade asks Hayley if they can do the ritual again. And Hayley's like, well, we can't do it at my house or Joss's house. I can't remember whose house it was because the house is trash.
Starting point is 01:02:55 But if we can do it at your house, we'll do it tonight. And the reason why – it's interesting. The reason why they want to do it is because Jade's super Christian boyfriend wants to do it. Yeah, Daniel. Which feels weird for his, yeah, which feels weird. I mean, we haven't really seen Daniel yet, but it just, from what we've heard of Daniel, feels weird for out of character for him. I think that's fair to say, yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:15 But he wants a turn. So they decide and the stage is set for them to do it that night. And what's really funny is there's this really fun scene or there's a collection of scenes before the second party that night where Miranda Otto, the mom, is really clued up that something is going to happen at their house tonight. Like Daniel shows up really early and the mom's like, what are you doing here? Why are you here? And then has this really cute scene like, you know, where she goes into the little like Riley's bedroom and tries to trick Riley by being like, so about the party tonight, what time is it starting?
Starting point is 01:03:51 But Riley's a bit too smart. He's like, what party? There's no party happening here. And so basically like it's this thing where it's like the mum knows something's going to happen but is like, I trust you kids. Don't do anything dumb tonight. I can't stop you. I have to go out but please
Starting point is 01:04:05 don't like like just be safe tonight yeah and so they come over after the mom has left for work or whatever and daniel's going first daniel they bring out the hand daniel's ready to go they strap him in and he grabs the hand says talk to me freaks out but keeps holding the hand he says i let you in we see him get thrown back and he's kind of choking for a while and they think something because there's usually kind of a little adjustment period where it's settling into your body and he's really choking his eyes are really bulging but it does pass and he he sits back down in the chair he's looking around at them looking at all of the faces and he looks at jade and says he hates it when you touch him and jade looks hurt by this this is we assume this the spirit talking
Starting point is 01:05:05 And I think and I think the actual Like there's another quote where he's like You make him soft Because the the We find out at some point that they can Kind of read your thoughts while they're in your Body so it's communicating Things that it's learning from
Starting point is 01:05:20 Daniel's brain and obviously Jade looks really hurt by this And then Daniel possessed turns to look at Mia and starts looking really turned on and breathing heavily and kind of massaging him. So I don't know if he's fully jerking off, but he's reaching down. That's kind of the impression we're getting. And he's like, it's getting very sexual and hot and heavy and uh joss and hayley are laughing and filming well and and more than that more than that i reckon this is probably the moment where the filipo brothers were like we have to film this in australia we're not going
Starting point is 01:06:00 to let an american production company do this because the most Australian moment in this whole film is when Daniel, as possessed by the ghost, says those awful things to Jade and then is really gross towards Mia. And it cuts to Hayley and Hayley turns to Joss and is like, man, this ghost is a cunt. ghost is a cunt like and it's just like and you've got like and you've got to understand like in Australian taste but generally it's like that word is just so common like so common like to the point where it's like it's a thing where like people get into trouble like Australians going to the UK or America will just be like oh don't be such a cunt and like the room will stop and everyone will be like oh you, you can't say that. That's so funny. It's just so commonplace.
Starting point is 01:06:48 And when I saw that in this film, I was like, oh, my God, people are going to laugh, but people are going to be like, why the fuck did Hayley say that? That's really funny. I laughed. That's cool. I laughed. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:59 But so Daniel is like thrusting and getting so hot and heavy that he falls off of his chair. Oh, fuck. I forgot about this. I forgot about this. And he's kind of humping the floor and moaning. Everyone's filming and laughing. And then Jade's dog runs over and starts licking his face. And he starts making out with the dog and grabbing the dog like they're Having this
Starting point is 01:07:25 Very horny moment And I did find out that this is Thankfully CGI They did and it looks really good Though they like did a little plate But it's like so hard to watch This is one of those cases where I'm like Thank god for CGI
Starting point is 01:07:41 Thank god they didn't actually have somebody Do that and it's also one of those like little like tongue dogs. You know those squash face? Yeah, it's a bulldog. It's a bulldog. So it's like I watched this in a full cinema. So like I could only get a single seat. Like the cinema was so packed and people lost it.
Starting point is 01:07:59 Like the cinema was going wild watching this movie. Laughing but grossed out. Horrified. Just like. They can stop. No, no. But it keeps going. Like they do not pull away and it just won't stop.
Starting point is 01:08:14 Until they hit that 90 second mark and then they pull him out of it and they're laughing and like cry laughing and Daniel comes to and is immediately panicking like delete it, delete it, delete the videos from your phones, please, please delete it. And they're already posting it, laughing too hard. Oh, God. It's done. It's out there.
Starting point is 01:08:35 So then after this is like I think maybe the coolest scene I've seen in a horror film this year. Like it is out of control. Like this is the moment where you're like, oh, I'm watching like a five-star film where essentially they have a drug montage but for the ritual. So over the course of like a minute or two with some like music playing, they all take turns saying talk to me and I let you in.
Starting point is 01:08:59 So we see Hayley going crazy and being possessed. We see Joss being possessed. We see people doing it multiple times. We see people falling over, cutting to people laughing. And it's like everyone's just doing this ritual like it's kind of like a fun, dumb, dare, party drug sort of thing. Is this like Edgar Wright style? Like are we getting like choppy, bouncy,
Starting point is 01:09:16 we're having a good time and kind of processing it? It's fun. Like it's not scary. It's kind of like I think watching it You think to yourself I don't know Sammy Did you think Oh maybe I'd do it I had a moment
Starting point is 01:09:30 Of Understanding It's hard to separate Because I know The bad things That could happen But I can see In this moment
Starting point is 01:09:40 The appeal of it It's looking really fun In this moment There's a part where Everyone's doing it and like it's Cool to do it everyone except for jade Yeah jade is not doing it I can 100% say I would
Starting point is 01:09:52 Not do it and not just because I'm scared of everything And you know obviously was as a teenager I like didn't I did not like party As a teen I know that I would be the kid who was like This isn't right this isn't good And we shouldn't be doing it and be like you know
Starting point is 01:10:08 Little bitch about it I might have done it in college I like the peer pressure element though Oh yeah Like say Candyman in the mirror Type sort of Are you like brave enough Yeah I think it's good fun
Starting point is 01:10:23 Yeah and as They're wrapped there's a part where like Mia is Singing in French that's fun and It's just looking like they're having a good time And then as they're wrapping up Hayley and Joss are like alright we gotta go and Riley is like wait I wanna get I wanna turn and Jade says you know
Starting point is 01:10:39 No you're not doing It you're not even 15 this is where we get That line and Uh he Get they get in a no, you're not doing it. You're not even 15. This is where we get that line. And, uh, he get, they get in a fight and kind of each deliver some low blows where, um, Riley says something to Jade, like, Oh, all you care about is trying to suck Daniel's dick and embarrasses her. So she storms out. And so she's not in the room anymore. But also keep in mind, I think one of the reasons she storms out is because Mia then steps in and what,
Starting point is 01:11:10 instead of having Jade's back is like, Jade, like it doesn't always have to be your rules. Like let Riley do this. And Jade's kind of like, I'm just trying to protect my brother. But like, if the whole room's against me,
Starting point is 01:11:22 fuck it. You do whatever you want. And like storms out. Yeah. So she leaves and they're still like seeming like they're gonna wrap up and riley is begging mia like please please can i just try it just try it and someone says maybe six maybe for 60 seconds instead of 90 seconds and mia says okay 50 seconds and 50 seconds. And that's it. And so they decide, all right, Riley's going to do it for 50 seconds. I'm already freaking out at this moment because it's just the way that it's unfolding. You know that this is about to be the bad part. And so Riley grabs a hand and says, talk to me. And you see his face look really scared, but kind of, I saw a little almost recognition, I feel like.
Starting point is 01:12:14 And they say, it's okay. Just say, I let you in. And he says it. Spirit enters his body. He starts crying. Turns to Mia and says, I'm so sorry, Mia says i'm so sorry mia i'm so i never wanted to leave you i didn't want to hurt you and then he says me i didn't didn't want to hurt you and me is her nickname that her mom called her and so she immediately uh is crying and shocked and she starts kind of crawling towards him.
Starting point is 01:12:47 And Haley says, we're at the 52nd mark. And she says, no, no, no, please. It's my mom. It's my mom. It's my mom. My mom is in right now. And she holds the hand as well. So she's putting her hands over their two hands.
Starting point is 01:13:08 over their two hands. And then Riley kind of starts choking and throws his head back and is looking like he's losing oxygen. And Mia is still trying to be like, mom, mom, is that you? And then Riley slams his head down on the table as hard as he can, busts his head open, starts pouring blood from his head they all freak out and and jump backwards scared he slams his head a couple more times like fucking bashing it so hard his head is busting open and then he reaches for his eye to pull his own eye out and mia is trying to him, trying to pull the hand off of him. She's screaming, help me, help me, help me. Everyone is like frozen in shock.
Starting point is 01:13:50 And she's screaming, help me. And tries to get the hand away from him. But he throws himself backwards against the window. The window shatters. He's still got the hand in his hand. We're over 90 seconds now. And he there's a big, like heavy credenza table thing that he again starts bashing his head more and more and more. His head is like getting pulpy.
Starting point is 01:14:18 He's like killing himself. And Jade hears what's happening, runs in, screams also and runs to him and puts her hand in between the table and his head. And he's still slamming his head on it. She's screaming in pain. Her hand is now like broken. And Mia goes into complete shock and walks out of the room after they've gotten the hand off of him. And Jade is holding him. But we don't really see how it fully wraps up because we're following Mia as she's dazed and in shock in the hallway leaving the room. And the sound design kind of goes all muffled and quiet as we see her washing blood off her hands.
Starting point is 01:15:00 We see Joss and Haley leaving like they're going to pin this on us, freaking out. And we see a cop coming in the background being like, we need to talk to you. And you as this happens, you start to realize that the whole group have like shut down and closed in on themselves to be like, we're not telling anybody anything. You know, we're not going to give anything away. We were all going to be like like we don't know what happened and so basically nobody tells any of their parents anything uh everybody's just like we don't know what happened like riley just kind of went wild uh which makes sort of everybody a bit suspicious but none of the kids kind of get arrested because like they don't there's no really evidence that anything happened except this kid kind of get arrested because like they don't, there's no really evidence that anything happened except this kid kind of went
Starting point is 01:15:47 wild. There's this really, there's this, you know, like there's, there's a moment where like he's, he's hospitalized. And Jade tries to like hold her mom's hand,
Starting point is 01:16:00 but her mom sort of pulls away because clearly she's not telling her mom anything because she can't. And then, you know, Mia's at home and Mia's dad, Max, is like, is there anything you want to tell me about what happened? And Mia just counters, like, is there anything you want to tell me about what happened to mum? And she's like, yeah, I thought not. And so, this, instead of like the parents coming in or like the police coming in or anything coming in there's no outside help like you know this this thing has happened to riley but the kids are essentially going to have to sort this out themselves kind of an it follows vibe was it was giving me that of just like the parents aren't super involved and i mean uh the miranda auto auto character she's trying
Starting point is 01:16:42 to be but yeah they're just not giving her any information. And so now we see at the hospital, Jade, uh, tries or excuse me, Mia tries to visit, um, Jade and Riley in the hospital. They're furious at her. They don't want her there. And Jade's mom thinks Mia might have given Riley drugs or something. She doesn't know. And she's just like, I want you out of here.
Starting point is 01:17:11 Like, get the fuck out of here. And this is obviously very difficult for Mia because this is kind of her family. And she. Yeah, it's this weird moment where it's like basically the mom's like, it's Mia's fault. Like, no one said anything as far as we know, but she's decided it's this weird moment where it's like basically the mom's like, it's Mia's fault. Like no one said anything as far as we know, but she's decided it's Mia's fault, which is kind of a fucked up thing. As much as I hate Mia in this movie, as much as she pisses me off and I'm like, how dare you do that to Riley?
Starting point is 01:17:36 It's kind of fucked for the mom to just turn her away. Yeah, because it's like she can because it's not really her kids. She is able to be like, hey, get the fuck out. But she's still like a child who's like yeah looked to you as a parent figure and that is yeah that's really really tough now now we do see riley's face and it's like it's like the head it's like the daughter's head in hereditary it's like it's they i don't know how they do it, but it's just the most horrific facial injuries I think I've ever seen on film. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:11 But he's alive, but his head is swollen to, I don't know, like almost twice its size. Like he's so incredibly injured. He's in a coma. One of his eyes is swollen completely shut. It just, it looks so bad. And this is consistent with the trend you've identified, Shag, and Sammy, I'm sure you have as well,
Starting point is 01:18:34 of just putting kids in jeopardy, being a very contemporary way of going about it. For another update of your bingo card, if there's like a sweet or adorable child in a horror film in 2023, they are fair game. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know why this is going to sound so rude. But kid stuff doesn't usually bother me too much.
Starting point is 01:19:01 So awful. Fucking, yeah. So awful. So awful. But something aboutiley really did get me and i think i don't know it might be that he's a teenager like a young preteen and he's just so cute and this kid was so good in it but for some reason this hit me harder than i expected it to based on my reactions to other child, child violence. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:28 Yeah. This was on the bad end, but I think also like after that, there's just that shot where he's in his pajamas, he's in his jammies, he's holding his pillow. He's walking, you know,
Starting point is 01:19:38 through the house, like looking to sleep with someone because it's like, he's too scared to sleep in his own bedroom. And you just like, yeah, like I kind of, at that point point i sort of like my you know paternal instincts kicked in and i was like i need to protect riley i really wanted to protect riley at all costs i think there's something to like because yeah i look nobody wants bad things to happen to children but nobody wants bad things to happen to children but nobody wants bad things to happen to children but i feel like in a lot of movies the whole point is like a bad thing happens to a kid and we see them the whole time it's like they're so innocent they're so young they're so innocent
Starting point is 01:20:15 feel bad for them but there's something about the exact juxtaposition of riley wanting to be an adult but but He is still a little kid That they're like I think that's what's really hard About it is it's like this That exact moment in time where you're like Play acting at being not A kid but you still really Are and that's
Starting point is 01:20:37 Like a really scary moment Because you get in over your head because you think you can handle it Yeah because you like You are still the last thing on earth You want to be as a child but you still you can handle it because you like you are still the last thing on earth you want to be as a child but you still fully are yeah and that's like yeah i mean what you said emma as well like nobody wants bad things to happen to kids i think a big part like a real realization of like feel bad club is like oh like i kind of i don't know how to describe this without sounding like the worst person in the world but i enjoy enjoy that Riley is like, as much as I want to protect Riley at all costs for this film to be fully effective.
Starting point is 01:21:12 I enjoy that he's fair game and I enjoy the fact that the film won't protect him. It does up the stakes. Yeah. It does make you feel like anything, anything is possible in a bad way. it does make you feel like anything, anything is possible in a bad way. Whatever the bad version is of that. So, so Daniel,
Starting point is 01:21:31 who is just like, he's not even really a character in this film, but like Christian boyfriend is like, you know, chases after Mia. Who's been, who's now been abandoned, like has abandoned her own family,
Starting point is 01:21:43 but has been abandoned by a chosen family. So Daniel's like, tell you what, I'll drive you back to your house. Along the way, it's revealed that Daniel has told his parents that he's staying with his cousin, so he can't go home. So he's like, look, I'll go stay with you tonight, like if you need some company. They go home. They're on Mia's bed. And I i think does mia like try to like make out
Starting point is 01:22:09 with him and he rebuffs her like she's definitely flirting with him they they like compare hand sizes and she's kind of leaning in in a way that is suggestive and he pulls away he's not letting it go there and he does mention like you know it's i'm with jade but it's it's mia's in this very vulnerable spot and it's clear that she wants to be like held and comforted by someone and she's he's he's there with her but she's wanting more and he's not giving it to her so they sleep uh head to foot in bed and then mia wakes up and one of the old, I don't know if it's the same old woman she saw from before. It's not.
Starting point is 01:22:50 It's a new like old, scary, scarred, like corpse-y woman is like creeping around the room and then comes to the bed. She freaks out. She jumps away from the bed and it goes towards Daniel and takes like his whole foot and just like puts it in his mouth and not in like a, it's not, I don't know what, like, it's not like, it's not necessarily sexual. It's sensual in the fact that she's like kind of eating, kind of sucking on this foot, but it's scary more than anything. Like, I don't even know.
Starting point is 01:23:25 Like, it's such a weird scene. Yeah. And Mia is screaming, Daniel, wake up, Daniel, wake up, Daniel, wake up, looking at this as he's asleep. And then we see him wake up and look down at his feet and sees Mia sucking his toes. And he pulls back and it, like, shakes them both up. And Mia is like, she was sucking your toes. And he's like, you like Shakes them both Up and Mia is like she was sucking Your toes and he's like you were sucking my
Starting point is 01:23:48 Toes Mia I'm getting the fuck out of Here and she's like so confused like what No like there was a woman and he's like He just gets out slams The door leaves her And she starts Like smacking her head she goes into this Moment that is kind of like a
Starting point is 01:24:03 Almost like an addict of like a almost like an addict that like having a whatever like craving because she had we see that she has the hand i was gonna say i was gonna say we haven't even thought about the hand for a while but like at this point we're like hang on she's got the hand and she brings it out and she's crying and then she lights a candle brings the hand out and she says mom please mom talk to me holds the hand we see this out of focus shot looks like could be her mom and we hear her say i'm here and something i want to point out is that in this point the sound design and kind of whenever the spirits are around the sound design is really watery it like sounds like drips or underwater kind of uh white noisy but like as if you're deep on deep underwater and she's talking to her mom and she says asks her if she killed herself mom says no i would never do that i would never want to leave you and she's crying and then the mom says riley needs your help they're hurting him
Starting point is 01:25:31 and we cut away and we go back to riley at the hospital and they're giving him a little bath and like a in a shower thing, like doing the little cloth wiping him down. He's completely unresponsive. I just want you guys to be prepared for this because this is like – this is one of those moments where, again, it's weird watching this in a cinema because you almost feel dirty for watching scenes like this together with all these people to be like, I paid money and I, you know.
Starting point is 01:26:08 I'm a sick woman. I choose to spend my time. I drove here. I parked. I bought some snacks. I'm eating snacks right now watching this. Yeah. So, yeah, they're like quite tenderly giving him a bath.
Starting point is 01:26:19 He is comatose. Like maybe he can open his eyes, but you kind of can't tell his face is just that puffy and gashed we notice there are like bite marks all along his arm and he suddenly comes to and i think the first thing he tries to do i think the first thing he tries to do is bite his arm is that right he sort of bites his arm and And it's just Jade with him. Oh, yeah, that's right. Because the mom and Jade are watching him. But then the mom gets a phone call and she's like, oh, great, it's your father.
Starting point is 01:26:54 But as in annoyingly like, of course he's calling now. And then leaves. That's the only mention we ever have of Jade and Riley's dad, FYI. And so, yeah, so she recoils and then I think he falls to the ground and once again starts banging the back of his head into the tiles of this hospital bathroom so hard that tiles shake loose. And he's like essentially just hitting the back of his head into this wall with cement, which causes obviously his head to start
Starting point is 01:27:25 bleeding again the water starts coming the the water and blood from the shower start mixing together and start like dripping and start like pooling under his head towards the drain and then his face on the side smashed and like smashed and completely like fucked has come to, he starts smiling and starts like licking up all of his blood, like, like a cat or a dog, like on the ground, just trying to like lick up food. That's just sort of spilt on the ground.
Starting point is 01:27:54 All the while Jade is screaming. Eventually orderlies come in and restrain him. And he's still trying to lick up these like little last scariks of blood on the ground. Pretty rough stuff and then we see all the original crew meet up again i don't know if i think they're at jade's and everyone is looking you know incredibly stressed mia asks how riley's doing jade tells him well every time he comes to he tries to kill himself so not good we're all mad at each other tensions are high but mia let's mainly mad at me though like we're all mad at me yeah yeah which fair enough i mean
Starting point is 01:28:37 i feel like i'm pretty i'm pretty mad at her too yeah do you know what i mean even at the end i was like fuck me like fucking hell Like, fuck it out. Yeah. I mean, I feel empathy for her, but I'm also so mad. It's both. Like, I understand that she is going through a really difficult time, but she did make a huge fucking mistake and it
Starting point is 01:28:57 ended really badly. So she, but she needs to, I think she's maybe called them all together to let them know she's still seeing the spirits. She's seen her mom. She saw that woman. And she says, I saw the woman. Uh, he was sucking, um, Daniel's toe. This lets Jade know that Daniel spent the night at Mia's. She's pissed now at Daniel and just tensions are running high in this group. Everyone's, you know, angry. And they're asking, she's asking more about the hand. She's like, okay, well, why am I still seeing things?
Starting point is 01:29:33 I know I went over the 90 seconds. Like, what does this mean? And Joss and Haley revealed that they got the hand from Duckett from the opening scene. Nice. And the reason why they got it from Duckett is because Duckett was like, I don't need it because I see them now without the hand. Yep. And so we find out that Duckett's brother is still alive.
Starting point is 01:29:57 He survived being stabbed. And so we are going to go talk to him now. What's his name? Cole. His name is Cole. Yeah. But Duckett is not alive yeah but duck it is not alive still duck it is dead so okay so they that happened to duck it they knew about it and
Starting point is 01:30:13 they were like well we're not we're not gonna have an us yep they have full disregard which i mean people's in high school friends do die of like overdoses and things like and i think that's the main metaphor here is is yeah so but yes i mean it's it's not smart of them but that is what has happened but they track down cole and he doesn't want to talk to them he doesn't want anything to do with the hand but mia has a little moment with him where she says i know i I know what it's like to lose someone really close to you. We had heard that their mom had died also in the opening scene. And obviously now his brother has died. So he kind of softens to her a little bit.
Starting point is 01:30:56 And they're like, please just give us anything like any information that could help us. And he tells them that the longer they're in you the weaker they get which isn't you know super helpful but it's something but after that mia has this you know idea that they never actually blew out the candle and she's like well maybe because we didn't blow out the candle we never completed the ritual so we just have to do the ritual again and properly blow out the candle and then he can be free so they return to the hospital with the hand and while they're there mia you know does the talk to me and she sees this little girl well they try it with riley first because they're like trying to get they're trying to think like if Riley does it, but he's in a coma.
Starting point is 01:31:45 They're trying to like end Riley's ritual. He can't talk. But he can't say, so they're saying talk to him. And obviously nothing's happening. And so then Mia's like, let me, let me do it and see maybe Riley's spirit is disconnected from his body or something. And maybe I can call Riley. So she says, Riley, talk to me. And instead a little girl shows up.
Starting point is 01:32:07 There's this sort of like silent little girl. And Mia's like, do you know what's happening with him? And she's like, I'll show you. And so she gives Mia this vision of what's happening to Riley. The little girl says, I let you in. Oh, that's right. That's what happens. Fuck yes. It's so cool. Anyway, so she gets... And then Mia has a vision of what's happening to Riley. I literally wrote in my recap, then we see the vision all in capital letters. It's event horizon shit.
Starting point is 01:32:41 It's event horizon. It probably could have been done better. Actually, when I was watching this, I was like, oh, I wish this was even more horrific because it's like a little bit cheesy but basically there's like a screaming naked riley uh like basically screaming in pain with all these like old gross naked people around him hands like kind of pulling at him like i i guess like slowly torturing him but but it's like it's it's event horizon like, I guess, like slowly torturing him. But it's like it's Event Horizon where we only see like a second or two seconds of it. There is a little shot of a woman eating a baby. Oh, I didn't see that. I think if you go frame by frame on that scene, you'll see more that might, you know, quench your thirst for this.
Starting point is 01:33:22 Yeah. Event Horizon shit is horrific enough. That like that's good if you gotta go if you gotta go somewhere yeah we get the picture there it's bad whatever is happening on the other side is bad so the stakes are sky high mia returns home where her dad is waiting for her um he's like hey i want you to sit down i've got something to say to you because I realized after you said that that I have been hiding something from you. And so he proceeds to read the mum's suicide note. And so he reads it to her and he's like,
Starting point is 01:33:53 the only reason I never shared this with you is because I didn't want you to blame yourself. But, yeah, I don't want you to think I'm hiding anything from you. I have questions. We can talk about that. This is not winning any parenting awards, this awards this fucking i do think though and like again it's like it's it's a really it it's it's it's a very accurately written suicide note like i think it's devastating yeah it's it's she says it's like the most she says dear me and max you know it's like the most, she says, dear Mia and Max, you know, it's this morning and I feel the most hopeful I've felt in a long time. I hope you both live long, full, beautiful lives.
Starting point is 01:34:36 I hope that you find it in your hearts to forgive me. I hope that it's just like, it's really beautiful and really heartbreaking and absolutely devastating. But Mia doesn't believe it. Yeah. Mia doesn't because Mia's been told by, you know, ghost Ria that she would never kill herself and she'd never abandon Mia. So she goes into her room and she's talking to her ghost mom. And her ghost mom is like, again again she's like that what that's not
Starting point is 01:35:08 my note i didn't write that i would never leave you guys i would never kill myself and she's like well why did my dad have it and the ghost mom is like that's not your dad that spirit's impersonating your dad at which point there's a banging on the door now this is where the movie gets the door now this is where the movie gets into like really interesting and you know not exactly like you know explicit in what's happening where we have the dad who is sitting down on the couch sort of just dealing with the fact that he's revealed something to his daughter who won't accept it um and then decides to maybe look through a bag to be like, what's going on in your life because I don't know. But at the same time, there's a dad banging on the door. And these two things, the film is telling us these two things
Starting point is 01:35:52 are happening simultaneously. The dad comes into the room, attacks Mia, has her on the ground. Mia grabs a pair of scissors. At this point, the dad realizes, the real dad realizes something's going on, goes to the door, it's locked, barges his way in. These two timelines or these two realities converge into Mia stabbing her dad in the neck. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:36:21 Yep. This is the harvest we're yielding from the seeds we planted with the toe sucking it's also oculus it's the evil mirror making you say things to make you do things and yeah so she stabs her dad in the neck with the scissors and he's we just cut away from that and jade gets a call she's in the hospital and we see mia on the other end of the line kind of out of it days saying jade i know what to do i know what to do also her mom has been continuing to whisper in her ear or tell her like riley's riley's in trouble they're hurting him you need to save him i'll protect him but you need to you need to help him and so mia tells Jade, I know what to do. I just need you here. I need you here now.
Starting point is 01:37:08 And Jade agrees and gets in her car to drive to Mia's house. And we see that Mia is already at the hospital in the parking lot, watching Jade drive away. Now we're getting into the finale, you know, like the end of Talk to Me. And it's really important that I don't know if she says it or Mia's ghost mom says it, but she's now convinced that the only way to save Riley is to kill him. And we know that. Even though something that we have heard earlier, which now I don't know if we've said, but I think maybe we learned from Cole that, no i think we learned even earlier they said if you if you die while
Starting point is 01:37:49 they're in you they'll have you forever that's one of the other mythology things so we're kind of having two conflicting ideas here but what's really interesting as well is that you know when mia calls jade jade's like oh you don't have to do anything like he actually came to just before and there was a moment where he felt like like like old yeah himself again so so jade's like no it's actually just taking its course but riley is like has her mom in her ear and he's like no the only way we can do this is to kill him so yeah so jade is gone jade goes back home meanwhile So, yeah, so Jade is gone. Jade goes back home.
Starting point is 01:38:26 Meanwhile, Mia goes to the hospital room where Jade's mum is. Jade's mum now apologises to Mia. Worst time for her to apologise, to be like, hey, I know it wasn't you. I know it was just Riley. I'm so sorry I blamed you. You're still part of the family. Mia uses this to be like, hey, can I just have a moment alone with Riley? Riley's mum's like, of course, leaves.
Starting point is 01:38:52 Mia has an interaction with Riley where Riley becomes an old woman, I think. I think it's an old man. It's an old man, yeah. Which I kind of take to be in the original possession where he said, he likes you. I think this is him. Yes, of course. Mia tries to stab him with the scissors but can't do it. So then we cut to Jade.
Starting point is 01:39:13 She's a little flashback of the kangaroo. The kangaroo. Now I missed that on the first watch. We cut to Jade who's gone to Mia's house, found Mia's dad. Mia's dad's still alive but sort of like still bleeding but bleeding out. Jade's like, oh, fuck, calls the mum. The mum's like, what are you talking about? You know, Mia's with Riley right now.
Starting point is 01:39:37 Jade's like, no, go back into the room. Mia's dangerous. Mum goes back into the room. He's gone and so is Mia. Jade arrives at the hospital, looks around and sees in the distance Mia pushing Riley in a wheelchair towards a highway. And Jade starts chasing her, screaming out, Mia, no. We're seeing that Mia, in Mia's mind, looks like she's pushing the old man spirit towards the side of the freeway and we see mia's mom's hands coming around her shoulders but her mom is looking more watery waterlogged kind of dripping on her it doesn't look as much like her mom anymore and she's whispering in her
Starting point is 01:40:20 ear i'm so proud of you you're doing the right thing and we see as jade is crossing the hill behind them she's like right behind them now screaming for them to stop and mia's face is kind of blank like she's thinking we it's hard to read we see her hands let go of the wheelchair and then we see the pov from inside of a car as something slams onto the windshield causing that car to spin out get in an accident reveal to see it's mia in the middle of the road now mia kind of wakes up and stands up and sort of looks around and sees that Riley hasn't been pushed in and Jade is sort of like is holding Riley and all these people like getting out of their cars to be like, what the fuck happened? And then immediately she's transported back into the
Starting point is 01:41:18 hospital where she sees her dad in the distance walking away. She chases after him. And as she's chasing after him she looks into the rooms of the hospital and she sees first of all riley has come to and is talking to his mom and jay fully recovered too yeah and then like and then she keeps chasing after the dad and uh but the dad's not hearing hearing her and he keeps walking away and then she sees in another room like riley being like Riley being like walking out of the hospital with the family and they're all sort of happy again. And as she follows the dad, everything goes dark except this white light
Starting point is 01:41:54 and she hears talk to me. And she follows the white light into a room of this party of all these dudes speaking Spanish and a guy holding out his hand. And so she holds out his hand. She holds out her hand and grabs his. And that's the end of Talk To Me. Yes. Wow.
Starting point is 01:42:17 Okay, I have some questions for you, Shag. Do you think she jumped or do you think Jade pushed her? Oh, oh, oh oh that's really good um because it specifically doesn't show us which i love i think it's kind of because it could it i could see an argument for for either so so the only reason she would have jumped is if she realized would have worked out that she's being manipulated yeah and and i think maybe there's a moment where you where she realizes she she's being manipulated where she's standing with riley in the wheelchair and the mom's being like i'm proud of you and she's a bit like hang on wait a minute and then thinks back and he's probably thinking back to the dad
Starting point is 01:42:59 and being like hang on what's going on here i i'm like i i my my like my thought was no she just jumped my thought was like and also that maybe she had to jump to save riley yeah i think was why i think she jumped i don't know do you think she jumped or do you think she's i think jade pushed her but i i think it's maybe like a litmus test for us because I feel like that is maybe the more cynical read of it. And just cause that would be a more devastating thing of that. Cause we do get a shot of her letting go of the wheelchair, which could be her deciding not to push her,
Starting point is 01:43:38 or it could be her chickening out again, like she did with the kangaroo and never being able to like follow through with it. And in that moment, Jade pushing her, I think is the more devastating option because either way we saw her decide probably not to push riley and so if then jade pushes her it's just i think a more devastating and you know i love feeling bad so that's what i choose to believe but that's the thing right like i i feel like i the one thing about this movie is like and i love this movie and i think it's one of the most refreshing horror films i've seen in ages i think it's one of my favorite films of the year i feel like the ending isn't dark enough i'm a bit like oh she's in a limbo where she's gonna
Starting point is 01:44:21 do the talk to me i like and that's why i kind of feel like she jumped because it's just not a very dark like the rest of the film is really like quite icky and then that's just not a very dark ending yeah and then my other question for you is do you think the real mom was ever actually there or do you think it was malevolent spirits the whole time i think the real mom was never there because the first thing she says when she's like mom like because when she speaks to the mom the first time through riley she's like uh mom like i think she is like mom did you kill yourself and the mom's like i would never kill myself and it's like we know that's but that's not in the at the riley part that's later when she's alone in her room. You're right. The first thing she
Starting point is 01:45:05 says is just, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, which I think could go either way. So I think the moment where Mia touches their hands as they're all holding hands, I feel like that could be the moment where it opens the connection to the malevolent spirit within Mia, because then Riley, once she touches him riley kind of throws his head back and starts choking or perhaps feeling like he's drowning and i think that's maybe the moment where that spirit takes over but that said i think because it's clear that those two malevolent spirits are kind of in cahoots. This like man in Riley and woman in Mia. I mean,
Starting point is 01:45:45 there's a lot of different ways to interpret it, I'm sure. But, but I think either way they could have been conversing in the little limbo hell world. I mean, we exchange information. What do you think?
Starting point is 01:45:57 Like you haven't seen the film, but you've heard a pretty exhaustive recap. Well, Mia, her first time doing it went beyond the 90 seconds right Yes that's important So yeah so perhaps that And it was that mean
Starting point is 01:46:11 Lady and so perhaps Yeah it could have been actually Her mom with Riley but then as soon As yeah like you said Sammy as soon as Mia Got involved yeah Actually from the first time Mia did it She had a malevolent spirit within her the whole time
Starting point is 01:46:26 and so maybe then she let that spirit into Riley yeah that's what I am thinking but then also because Riley also went over the 90 seconds maybe that opened the door to this old man is this old man real or is this old man
Starting point is 01:46:42 just the woman in another form because we know that they can take other forms yeah i don't know there's different it's ambiguous for sure and i like that it's ambiguous because as we know when they answer every question it's usually less satisfying to have it be like and here's exactly what happened i feel like the the non-grim ending like suggests multiple possibilities for me like if it's like oh hey we're in south america doing it now it's like oh there's thousands of hands around the world thousands of teens at parties like this this is happening everywhere that actually suggests to me that like unhappy spirits have like would be like oh sick i've been called into a body oh someone thinks i'm their mom
Starting point is 01:47:19 yeah yeah okay i know what to say to like hold on for my 90 seconds so so i sort of just speculate that it was a malevolent spirit from the start but and what is what does joel say is joel in the other room i'll ask him uh i'll get back to you guys because mia is also a spirit i feel like that's proof that there are non-malevolent spirits in the hand as well because we see her On the other side of it in the end I think the very For me again to lean into The more devastating Version of what's possible
Starting point is 01:47:54 Here is I think if it was her mom For real coming through And seeing her and trying to get a chance to talk To her and like that is what made all of This terrible shit happen is that like Because the mom was Trying to talk to Mia like they knew that it Would get her to
Starting point is 01:48:09 Do it longer and yeah That but like I think the It was like a similar mistake Mia made like the mom being like I just need to get this message to my daughter and me Being like I just need to talk to my mom The like to put It very cruelly the like selfishness of
Starting point is 01:48:26 that and like letting other people become the collateral um yeah yeah it was like the problem to begin with and look i also don't want to demystify demystify like an amazing film but sammy like a question for you if someone like mia can be a spirit by the end of the film why is it that when spirits do possess you they make you try to kill yourself in awful ways i don't i don't think all of them did i mean they there was a quite a few times where they were just having fun singing but that's only that's only within the 90 seconds yes so as soon as you go over 90 seconds the spirits try to kill you like i think we only really have i think maybe that's yeah yeah yeah you're right but maybe the 90 seconds is when the evil ones are like they're like waiting around
Starting point is 01:49:18 or just like it's not actually true that it's the 90 second rule. It's just that if the spirit is evil, the more time you give them, the more likely they're going to see, you know what I mean? Like, it's like maybe if you spent 90 seconds with an actual normal, nice spirit, it's fine.
Starting point is 01:49:37 We just know that like the longer time you spend, if it is something evil, you're upping the odds for something bad to happen. It's like the food five second rule. Like if food falls on the ground, you got five seconds to pick it up and eat it. We decide what the rule is, but the problem is, you know. You know what? Thinking about this now, I'm kind of like I really want them to stick the landing with a prequel,
Starting point is 01:49:58 but I'm worried that it's going to give too much away about what the hand is. Too explanation-y, yeah. The prequel is apparently about Duckett and I think it might end up being I think they said they shot it mostly on iPhones and stuff. So maybe it'll just be a short or something. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:50:15 It could be almost host version of like we'd be piecing together various Snapchats and piecing together some of the teens footage. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah um which i think would be pretty interesting i think it's it's a challenging story to tell as a prequel or sequel because it pretty much like we just saw it like i think it's tough how do you make it different yeah yeah paranormal activity three is the one that springs to mind of like how do you take what looks like a fairly straightforward formula and like take it to final boss level.
Starting point is 01:50:50 Like I think that'd have to be a really significant bit of creative work to sort of be like, oh yeah, it's a ghost hand. It's pretty freaky. Like you've got to address it. Like it'll be challenging to do that twice, I think. I don't know if I'm just being cynic having heard about a very scary, spooky, bad feeling kind of film. But that's what I think. I think you're right. I think it'll need to do some something pretty interesting in order to feel different from this one.
Starting point is 01:51:18 Well, I feel very bad. How's everyone feeling? Yeah. Bad, baby. Kind of bad, but I do get excited at a great horror film being made. Like, I would hate seeing it, and it does feel bad, but I had pretty high expectations for this movie, so I'm really thrilled to hear that it was, like, good and exciting and new,
Starting point is 01:51:41 and, like, I am very thrilled by that. Yeah, it's rare these days, you know, that hype is justified and it really is. And I think one thing I would love to say, because I really don't want to ruin your friend's kid's name, like they are named after a city that is home to arguably the most exciting horror film of 2023. Like there's not much. There we go.
Starting point is 01:52:05 Which is a pretty cool thing to be named after. That's pretty cool. I agree. Adelaide forever. Adelaide forever. Adelaide forever. Sammy and Em, thanks so much for having us on Two Spooko Didn't Watch.
Starting point is 01:52:17 It's always a treat. Thank you for doing this with us. We needed that Australian perspective. Slippery dip? What is it? Slippery dip? Slippery dip. Now you're getting it. Slippery dip? What is it? Slippery dip? Slippery dip! Burberry, baby, burberry. Biggest burberry.
Starting point is 01:52:32 Biggest burberry baby shower. Ball of Adelaide. Ball of Adelaide. Can you guys do American accents? Yes, but I don't know. Yes. It comes out very like Midwestwest but like it ends up being impressions of various rappers so i find it a little embarrassing yeah that sounds right literally the only thing we do is like i'm talking here i'm walking here
Starting point is 01:52:56 sopranos grab your crotch and explain what you're doing here and with a lot of hands going on but i would say as well like and this is like no shade, like your Australian accent, like they're both at point, some of the words you say is authentic and the other sometimes you sort of do this American version of an Australian accent that doesn't really exist here. Like it's kind of, I don't even know, like to me, the Australian accent just sounds neutral, but I get that it's incredibly of I don't even know like to me the Australian accent just sounds neutral but I get that it's
Starting point is 01:53:26 incredibly weird and strong well I'm always struck by how provincial the American accent is of like especially within California how there are like seven Californian accents and it's like do you guys call it ice cream we call it ice cream down in you know south west
Starting point is 01:53:41 and southern and midwestern and yeah there's a lot there's a lot of them accents are crazy sorry dudes we shouldn't have we shouldn't have
Starting point is 01:53:50 we didn't even touch on the fact that Adelaide has an accent but yeah go oh boy I love accents now I could I could talk about it all day but no this was a real
Starting point is 01:53:59 a real treat to do this with you guys we love you dudes um everyone head to Patreon to find too scary. Didn't watch. If you like listening to good podcasts, you like,
Starting point is 01:54:10 I'm afraid you need to support them. Uh, and so, uh, what you've got to do is you've got to head to Patreon. Um, too scary. Didn't watch is a blessing,
Starting point is 01:54:17 uh, in the ears of those of us lucky enough to listen to and patronize it. Uh, and you got to go do it. So that. And you got to go do it. So that's what you got to go do now. And if you're in the Feel Bad Club and you're not listening to Too Scary, Didn't Watch, you're fucking goofed. And so you've got to go and subscribe.
Starting point is 01:54:36 But I would say you probably are because, guys, like the amount of times people just come to us and they're like, hey, like we know you from Too Scary, Didn't Watch. So it's like, yeah, Feel Bad Club bad club i think is your club as well yeah if you're listening to too scared and watching you're not listening to this hookah you're freaking missing out on a whole other 200 episodes of incredible scary movie and better accents than ours. Sorry. I really didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I feel that way. That is true.
Starting point is 01:55:10 It's much better. I agree. You have a podcast in here. Hey. Hey. I think that's a cast in, but anyway. Thanks, team. We'll get out of your face. Bye, guys.
Starting point is 01:55:22 To more podcasts. Bye. Thanks, Dean. We'll get out of your face. Bye, guys. To more podcasts. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Too Scary Didn't Watch.
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