Too Scary; Didn't Watch - THE EMPTY MAN

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Resurrecting this film from the 2020 graveyard and giving it the due it deserves!! Directed by David Prior, THE EMPTY MAN (the empty man the empty man the empty man) was filmed in 2017 and 20th Century Fox shelved it until....October 2020??? Dang, that's brutal.TrailerMovie stats @ 15:03Recap begins @ 20:45Follow 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 Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. This is Emily, Henley, and Sammy, and you're listening to Too Scary, Didn't Watch. Hi everyone, welcome to Too Scary, Didn't Watch, the horror movie recap podcast for those too scared to watch for themselves. I'm Emily, and I am too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Emily, and I'm also too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Sammy, and I love watching scary movies, and so I watch them so that you don't have to. And we are starting 2024 off with a real scary one for you guys. After Eclipse and Gremlins, we promised you something scary.

Setting the tone. Honestly, I'm ready for it. Me too. Let's do it. I'm really excited to scare you guys with this one. I need something scary. I want to be scared out of my pants. Oh my gosh, I'll be naked

by the end of this episode. Pantsless, just bottomless. Absolutely naked from the waist down. Get out of my pants. But before we get into the movie, I thought, why don't we talk about our New Year's resolutions in, you know, nothing like exercising more or anything like that. We don't do that. And I won't, I won't resolve to do that. No, nobody should. Yeah. If it happens great, but I won't be working towards it. No. Um, what are your, what are your guys' goals or a goal for 2024? A resolution? This is a very concrete thing, and I'm not sure if it will happen in the winter, which is partially what I wanted. Hey, you've got a whole year, baby.

I know. I've got a whole year to do it, though. Okay. I'm going to say this. I'm really going to hold myself to it. I don't know how I feel about it, you guys, but I want to start a book club. I'm going to start a book club at my house or, and then obviously it'll rotate. But the reason partially why it's kind of scary to do it is because I don't know

anyone here. So I have to really, that's a great way to meet people. I know. It's such a growing up, my mom told me I was socially passive. And you know what, mom? You're right. Sometimes you just gotta hear it, you know? Yeah. And listen, I know. I know. And so

my resolution is to be socially aggressive. Oh socially aggressive. Oh, aggressive. Speed right past active. Yeah, we're going right for it. I have to put aggressive on the table because, you know, I won't meet it. And so I have to strive for it.

So it'll bring you right to socially appropriate. Appropriate. Socially appropriate. Yeah. And I think a book club is a good way to do it. Yes. Appropriate. Appropriate. Socially appropriate. Yep. Yep. And I think a book club is a good way to do it. I won't, you know, it's a good way to find out, find out, you know, what people are into, what their interests are, who you're going to bond with, who you're not. I think it's a good way to meet people.

Yeah. It's like an easy entryway to conversation. You know, you'll have a shared thing. Great way to eat some snacks. Eat some snacks, drink some wine. Yeah, love this. Kvetch. It's also just nice to exercise your brain in that way. I feel like

we do it on the podcast with movies and analyzing and thinking about movies and stuff. I mean, analyzing might be a little generous of a term, but we think about it and we talk about it. And I don't do that that much with books. And I find that it seems like something that should be easy to do. But I think in those sorts of things where it's something that you haven't really done much before, it at first feels a little scary. And you're like, I don't know how to talk about books. It is scary. It's a little intimidating. I was part of a book club when I

lived in New York, my first round when I was in my early 20s. And I worked in book publishing then. And so it was a lot of other people who worked in book publishing. And I found it very intimidating to speak with all of them about those books. Anyway, I don't need my book club to be like that, though. I am perfectly happy for it to be more about eating cheese. The every man's book club. The every man's book club. I'm not going to set my standards too high there.

And it is kind of annoying, too, when people take a book club like really seriously. It's like when people take karaoke really seriously too. It's a social club and we also do a thing on the side. Like that's the kind of book club I want to be a part of. Right. And maybe I get to read an interesting book that I wouldn't have read otherwise. You know, that's the best you can hope for. I think. I love that. So anyway, that's my, that's my resolution. What about you for i think i love that so anyway that's my that's my resolution what about you guys i love it i think it's really good you know that as we started talking i started putting on lotion because every year my one of my resolutions is to moisturize more so that's the one that's the one that's at the top of our list that's a given

that's yeah for all of us to given. Don't even speak it anymore. More lotion, more lotion. But I was thinking about this today and I think my res- no. My resolution is to take some sort of extracurricular

class at some point this year. I would like to take a class in something different to me. It doesn't need to be a long one. It could just be a one-off. I don't care. It is going to be what it is. But Joel right now is in a French class, which I think is really fun. Whoa, cool. I would like to engage my brain in something new to me and something that is just for the sake of doing it and learning

something maybe a little bit new. But I would like to take a class this year and I will. You've been doing that for the past couple of years. I mean, I feel like you've been learning lots of new things. And now you're in a job and you're like, wait. I'm not. I spend all my time doing that. And I like, I'm obviously learning on my job, but it's not the same, you know, it's not that kind of like learning with, I mean, obviously at school there's a goal,

but like, I sort of just want to like learn without an objective in mind other than to gain knowledge and an experience, you know, like it doesn't have to be applied anywhere. It's just like, you know, growth and self enrichment.

That's all I want. Yes. So that's I want. Yes. So that's my resolution. Incredible. Thank you. Two really good ones so far. Oh my God. And will it be a three out of three?

Let's find out. I, well, as I was thinking about this, I thought about how when I was young, I, every year, one of my new year's resolutions was to shower more. And so I found my journals and I just wanted to read you. Oh my God. Incredible. I went through such an intense, I won't bathe phase. And I would go into the bathroom and protect, like turn the shower on and just sit in there. I don't think I ever did that.

Why did I do that? I was like, I'm not going to get in there. Because you're in charge. I'm not going to get in the shower. Yeah. That's right. I mean. I was seizing control. In any way you could, you know?

Mm-hmm. So, New Year's resolutions for the year 2020, or excuse me, 2000. I was like, 2020, okay. 2000, okay, yeah. I mean, there's a couple of them. I'm just going to focus on the shower ones. It's my second one in order So it's second importance because

I ranked them in order of importance Take a shower Once a day or night Pretty simple New Year's resolutions 2001 It's number one now Take a shower every second day We're getting more realistic

Yeah yeah yeah We understand. We're going to make it a more important resolution and we're going to make it easier to meet. Uh-huh. And that is growth. We're one year older. We're one year wiser. Exactly.

New Year's resolutions, 2002, still number one. Take a shower often enough so my hair doesn't get greasy. This is true growth. We're seeing growth. Yeah. I'm just like. Wait, Sammy, tell us through the thought process because what was going through your mind as a 12 year old where you were like, I can't shower. Like it's too hard. I know I won't do it every day. You didn't have enough time. You just really hated it. You just didn't like it. I still hate it. I don't like to shower. And I really hated it. I still hate it. I don't like to shower.

And I thought about it because I was like, should it be to shower more? And then I was like, wait, I've done that like literally every year for my entire life. That's always my resolution. So it just made me laugh. That sucks because I love to shower. It's one of my favorite things to do. So I just listen to a podcast. I get so warm. The reason I like it is because it makes me so warm. Yeah. I think if I had a better bathroom,

my bathroom is really cold. So that's part of it is like getting out is freezing. Get a space heater. Yeah, I should. Put a fucking space heater in there. I'll put one in there. Put one in there. I swear by it. It's the only reason I like showering. I wouldn't like it if I didn't have a goddamn space heater. I don't think I'm going to like it that much more still. Something I suspect it's too much of a thing that I don't like. Yeah. I mean, it's been great. It's been there since 2000. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know. Wish me luck on that front. I've gotten to a comfortable place where I shower when I shower, you know? It's fine. Yeah, I never think of you as my friend who

I think needs to shower more, which I think is the real mark of when you need to shower more, you know? I shower when I need to shower. I think, honestly, it's not good to shower too much. It's not good for our bodies, but I love to do it too much. And you know what? Mm-hmm. Dries it out. Dries out your skin. It dries out your skin. I'm telling you.

See, I shower too much, so I need more lotion. Yes. I have a lot of lotion. Obviously, that's one of my resolutions as well. Obviously. But I've got a weird one this year, and it's not going to be completed this year.

It's maybe a two-year, two-to-three-year resolution. I love that. We're thinking long term. I am finally going to commit to doing this. I'm going to watch every Nicolas Cage movie in order. Oh my god.

How many are there? There are 116 of them. Holy shit. And I use Letterboxd so I tracked all my movies that I watched this year and it was so far I guess yeah, I'm spoiling that we're recording still in December, even though

this episode is coming out in the new year. But my number of movies that I watched is about 170. So I obviously can't watch 116 Nicolas Cage movies next year. I think it can maybe be so I obviously can't watch 116 Nick Cage exclusives movies next year I think it can maybe be

somewhere in the 30 to 50 range 50 is probably a little high but I'm gonna people listening are gonna want you to do a podcast just about the Nicolas Cage movies they are yeah that would be fun

they're gonna ask for that. Interested in that. I should do like a Dead Eyes version where it's just me trying to get to Nicolas Cage. Oh my god. Just slowly getting guests closer and closer into his orbit. That's actually a really good idea. I think he would work.

I think you could do it way before 116 movies. I really think you'd get there at like 58. Movie 58. Hell yeah. If you were really trying. If you really tried. If you tried hard enough.

If you really tried. I think if you actually fucking tried. If you tried for once. Don't just say not try. Don't just fucking. Don't even do it if you're not going to try. Don't do your normal thing where you don't try at all. Where I don't even feel like I'm going to try.

I mean, I'll think even try. Oh, God. I mean, I'll think about this. This is interesting. It does make the resolution in general a little more daunting, so I don't want to add that on it right now. You don't need to put that pressure on yourself. I want to take one step at a time, but

I'll consider it, because I do love Nicolas Cage. This is the first step. And I could talk about him for 116 episodes. And imagine if he was sitting across from you. Oh my God. He'd be a great podcast guest. He'd be great. I'd definitely have to take a lot of beta blockers, but.

Yeah, but you could do it. That's what they're there for. That is what they're there for. That's why they were invented. And also the journey would prepare you. Do you know what I mean? That's such a good point. We so often forget about how well the journey prepares us.

The journey prepares us. That's what the journey's for. You know? That's what the journey's for and that's what beta blockers are for. So, yeah. I mean, three incredible resolutions. I want to hear our listeners' resolutions. Fun ones.

Fun ones. And you're not allowed in my world to make a resolution that involves any shaming of your current self. Yeah. I think that's a good rule of thumb. But it's fun to have a fun goal. Yeah, it's about like looking forward to giving yourself like an exciting using the spark

of the new year to come up with something that sparks joy, you know? Yeah, exactly. So, life is unpredictable, you know? Anything can happen. It don't matter. It's just about, it's fun to dream. It's fun to hope.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But it's really the journey that it's all for You know it's the journey that prepares you It's the journey that prepares you And speaking of Have we prepared ourselves through this journey For what is about to happen to us today was that the best Segway that we've ever done I really Knocked it out of the park

I took my own breath as it was coming out of your mouth your eyes were getting bigger like oh my god so perfect wow I think yeah I mean I hope

to surprise you and scare you a little bit more than outside of your preparedness level. But I think in general, we've grown so much. Yeah. We've gone through so much. We've talked about a lot of scary movies. Yeah.

And so you're as prepared as you possibly could be. I'm most prepared now than I've ever been. You know, every single time we do this, I'm more prepared than the time before. Exactly. That's pretty great. Yeah. Yet somehow I feel as though my defenses are even more down. So that I mean, I think that's called vulnerability.

Yeah. And I'm leaning into it, baby. All right, Sammy, what do we got? What do we got? This week, we are starting the year off talking about The Empty Man. Oh, it sounds bad. Cullen Bunn and Vanessa R. Del Rey Starring James Badgedale Maren Ireland Sasha Frolova and Stephen Root

And it is Streaming on Hulu Okay Big recommend. What do you guys know about this movie? Nada. What do you guys know about The Empty Man? Nothing. I know that Joel watched it and really liked it That's all I got Oh that's a, that's huge

That's something That's big. I know nothing I got. Oh, that's huge though. That's something. That's big. I know nothing. I know even less than that. Empty of opinions, you might say. You might. The empty hen. The empty hen. That's like a really depressing cafe.

A really depressing fried chicken shop. Where it's a empty hand. We got nothing for you. Find what you can. I don't know. Our shelves. Nada. Okay. Let's do it. Alright. The Empty Man

has a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 62% on Metacritic, and a 6.2% on IMDb. Budget, $16 million. It made $4.8 million. Oh, well, 2020 was a hard one. So, yeah.

This movie was originally shot in 2017. And 20th Century Fox didn't want to release it because it wasn't doing well in test screenings. I think they got a little cold on it. And then they were acquired by Disney. And so that delayed, you know, all the shuffle of that.

They didn't know what to do with it. And eventually they dumped it in theaters in October of 2020. Oh, man. pre-vaccine. So it really did this movie dirty. Yeah. By the worst time to put. That's bad. Who is going to the movie theaters in October 2020?

No one. Literally nobody. Literally no one. I mean, I guess $4.8 million worth of people. I think we got like 12 movie tickets. Basically, not if you have AMCA lists. That's true. And there's not much

more trivia than that that I could find, so let's watch this trailer. Ooh, let's watch it. I'm excited for a spooky trailer. Hey, wait. We gotta try it try what calling the empty man who's the empty man if you're on a bridge and you find a bottle you blow into it and you think about the empty man oh come on mandy How old are you? Tell him the rest.

On the first night, you hear him. And on the second night, you see him. And on the third night? Well, on the third night, he finds you. He finds you. You can hear him, can't you? Squirming his way into your thoughts. Like a disease.

And his message is contagious. The Empty Man. The Empty Man. The Empty Man. The Empty Man. The Empty Man. The Empty Man. Oh, what?

Oh, what? I'm also just remembering we were talking about this last night. We were covering this movie and you did say the main young child actor. I don't know. Teenager. She's 18. 18. Okay.

Inexplicably has a bowl cut. And I think that's so funny. It's so funny. That has nothing to do with anything because it is a shocking haircut. Yeah. No, I was like, is that the kid from Stranger Things? Yeah. Is the haircut from Stranger Things? Exactly the haircut.

Man, it sucks that this came out in 2020 because I can totally see this doing well in any other year. I think it's great. I watched it a couple months ago for the first time, actually maybe in October, and I talked about it in the little mini episode I did and said, like, we'll definitely have to do an episode

on it because it's so... I really liked it. Oh, I'm excited. And then re-watching it, I liked it even more. Man, can you imagine making that movie and then it comes out in October of 2020? What the fuck? In 2017, too.

It sucks. And it's like directed. That's the worst of it all. So well, I feel like. And I think this was his feature debut. He had worked a lot with David Fincher in the past, David Pryor in some capacity. And now I can't remember exactly what. But you can see a lot of David Fincher

influence and like he's learned a lot um from working with him and it just it looks great I think it's a lot scarier than that trailer would lead you to believe it's like has some of the best scares I think the opening prologue is one of the scariest. I think it's like that and scream. God, that scream prologue. Oh, cool.

Probably my favorite opening scenes in horror movies. I'm so excited. Me too. Yeah, it's good. I love it. Let's freaking go. Scary movie.

Let's freaking do it. I want to hear about it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. In the past few years, I have hit a point where I only want to be wearing clothes that are comfortable.

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up a mountain like backpacking and it looks like really difficult terrain. The higher they go, it starts snowing. It looks like a very difficult mountain to climb. But so these friends are obviously very outdoorsy type. They seem like a close group of friends. I think it's two couples. They're like young adults? Yeah. Yeah. They're probably early 30s, late 20s, early 30s. And one of the guys is the husband from the night house. So I was already spooked. Yeah. I was already spooked.

Yeah. There's this very guttural, mournful singing. It's like a chanting sound. The sound design in this movie and the music, both incredible. They pass by these Buddhist monks that are coming down the mountain, and they give them kind of a look that doesn't feel great. A warning. This is the person in the gas station before Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Yeah. It's not like smiling and waving like, hey, good, have fun on the mountain. They're just looking at them like... Hey, it's gold up there. You know, one of those. Yeah. So they continue climbing up and they eventually come to this very rickety bridge that they have to climb across. And three of the four of them are really scared to do it. And of course, the one guy is like, it's fine.

It's going to be fine. And he's walking out on it and jumping on it, seeing like, it's so sturdy. See, it's so fine. I mean, why on earth? Why on earth would you take it that far? I don't care who you are. It's not the moment to prove yourself. No.

And so they cross the bridge. It's fine. I still don't like it. They make it to the peak of the mountain. There's a beautiful view of all the surrounding mountains, but they can see that there is a storm coming in. So they say, okay, we should start heading back down. Don't want to get caught in the storm. Some text comes up and it says day one.

One of the guy's names is Paul. And Paul hears some, like a faint whistling sound and we hear it too, but nobody else does. And he's saying, do you guys hear that? What is that? It's clearly very interested in this sound. It's almost like he's not in full control of what he's doing. He's just like, what is that sound? And he's drawn to it like a moth to a light. He's going towards where the sound is coming from. Everyone's saying, what are you talking about? I don't hear anything. And as he's walking along the mountaintop, he falls into a crevasse and just disappears. You just see him like drop down.

Is he the same bridge guy or no? No, it's the other guy. They have climbing gear with them. They were prepared. So the other guy, bridge guy's the other guy. Okay. They have climbing gear with them. They were prepared. So, the other guy, bridge guy's name is Greg. So, Greg goes down to go get Paul. They're calling out to him. He's not answering.

Oh, God. He, Greg goes down into the cave. Essentially, it's an underground cave thing. It's feeling like, you know, we don't ever want to be in a cave spelunking no thank you no greg gets down there and sees paul is just sitting cross-legged oh god oh no staring forward at a a skeleton that's not quite human it's-like, but it's really big and has like 14 fingers on each hand. So the hands are crisscrossed in almost a prayer position. And it almost looks like they're ribs at first.

It just, you can't quite tell what bones are what. I can't quite tell what bones are what. Paul is just staring unblinking at the skeleton. His eyes are kind of watering and red. He doesn't necessarily look scared, but obviously something is wrong. Oh, yeah. This is why I don't like to go hiking, you guys. Exactly.

You just never know. Just point to this. Mm-hmm. Greg is saying, Paul, what the hell? What are you doing? Are you okay? Let's get out of here. Paul's, of course, not responding, not moving.

And he's kind of whispering to himself a little bit. Greg leans in to hear what he's saying and he hears Paul say if you touch me you'll die. Oh my God. Oh my fucking God. Is he noticing the skeleton with all the fingers? Yes. He looked at it and

is scared and knows something's wrong but is trying to get his friend and be like let's get out of here and go home and after Paul says if you touch me you'll die he thinks for a moment and is looking at him like what are you talking about and then he touches him and he grabs him he's like we've got to get out of here if you're not gonna go out like i'm carry you out. And as he touches him, Paul closes his eyes and a tear falls out. Oh, God. Oh, God.

And they carry Paul out. And this ordeal has taken up enough time that the storm has started to come in. And so this is not ideal because they're carrying Paul now. And Greg can't hike in this condition. It's too stormy and Paul is too heavy. And so one of the girls sees her name is Ruthie. sees a house in the mountain, kind of a stone shack type building. And they say, well, let's go down there, get some, you know, get away from the storm for a second while we think about what we want to do. So they go down to this house. It's no one's there they're calling out no one answers seems

like it's empty they bring paul in and they're they they take his clothes off and they're checking him for bug bites thinking maybe he's gotten bitten by something poisonous like basically like catatonic basically catatonic and there's no no bites on him they don't know what's going on maybe he's in shock we don't know are his eyes open are his eyes are open yes okay as greg is trying to find any signs of head injury or anything he doesn't find anything but we do notice that paul has a lot of scars on his wrists. They, you know, look like healed self-harm scars, potentially suicide attempts. And he turns to Ruthie, his girlfriend, and says, has he been good lately? And she seems kind of like offended by this.

She's like, yeah, he's fine. Like, he's good. And Greg says, we're five miles from the nearest road and I can't carry him in this weather. So we got to sleep here tonight. It's like getting to be nighttime. And if he's not better by the morning, I'll hike out alone and I'll go get help and bring them back because there's not a lot of options here. So as they were examining him, Ruthie found a fucking little bone flute.

What? Like a little in his pocket. I think he was even clutching it in his hand that he obviously got from the skeleton layer. Just giving out bones, left and right. A little bone instrument. And this bitch starts blowing A little bone instrument. And this bitch starts blowing in the bone flute.

No! No, don't! Why would you blow through it? And after she does it, it goes completely silent. And there's a snowstorm outside before, so it goes from, like, very loud wind howling to complete silence. Oh my God, that is so scary. And then she just hears footsteps. Oh my God. Oh no.

Walking around the front of the house. She sees a shadow. She's terrified, frozen in fear. terrified, frozen in fear, eventually gets up and sees that Greg and his girlfriend are sleeping in the other room. It's not them. Paul is still, all of them are there, so it's not them. And she finally opens the door and nobody's there. Day two, sun rises. They've made it through the night.

Greg and his girlfriend Fiona leave. They're gonna go hike down, which wasn't the original plan. And so I feel like I would have, if I were Ruthie, been like, well, wait a second. Don't leave me alone. But they do. They leave

her with Paul as they go to try to find help, or maybe they're trying to find water or something. I can't remember exactly what they say, but I'm feeling very scared in this moment. I don't want her to be alone with Paul. There's still a blizzard outside. It's essentially a whiteout. Like you can't see more than a couple feet away. And she notices something out of the window. She sees a figure right outside the house and she runs out and she's calling to them. And they're like, she's saying, Hey, hey, help, help. Can you help us? We're, we're stuck. My friend is hurt or whatever and i'm basically alone hi yeah and we're pretty quickly seeing that this shape it it just feels very ominous it's essentially kind of

has death eater vibes it's like a cloaked, large cloaked figure. Or yeah, Dementor is what I mean, not Death Eater. And as she's walking closer to it, also sees that this isn't just a regular person. And so she takes a step back. She's like scared. So she's moving slowly. And as she takes a step back, it takes a step forward. She takes another step back and it takes another step forward. And then it charges at her,

but it's not running. It's like floating. It's like flying at her. Oh, really Dementor-esque. Yeah. And she runs back into the house, locks the door. We hear banging on the door, banging on the door. She's screaming and crying. And then we hear Greg saying, Ruthie, it's us. What the fuck? Like, open the door.

What's what are you doing? She opens the door. It is Greg and Fiona coming back. They look very confused. What's going on? She's absolutely terrified. Just is Greg and Fiona coming back. They look very confused. What's going on? She's absolutely terrified. Just says, we need to leave. We need to leave.

They're trying to talk her down. Like, what's going on? It's probably everything's fine. What do you mean? Also, like, we can't leave, right? Isn't that the point? Yeah, but she's screaming, we need to get out of here right now. Oh, God.

Greg says, okay, we can't leave right now, but we're going to leave first thing in the morning. Day three. Yep. And so they have to spend one more night there. We see Ruthie sleeping. It's a close-up on her face. And we're hearing these nasty, clicky,

whispery noises. They're like, No! I don't even know if they're I couldn't figure out how to do them, but they're very scary. And the camera pulls out to reveal Paul hovering over her, whispering in her ear.

Oh, God. Oh, no. It's terrifying. She wakes up and he's gone okay and yeah now it's morning day three paul is gone don't know where he went my god and so they go out searching for him they're calling for him and they find him sitting at the edge of the bridge cross-legged facing out to the bridge. Greg is angry now. He's like, Paul, what the fuck are you doing? Stop fucking with us.

This is getting old. We need to get the fuck out of here. You need to be serious. He's, again, just unblinking, staring forwards, not saying anything. Ruthie looks like something is coming over her. She's kind of stepping back from the situation and looking scared, but then kind of looking a little hypnotized. And Paul says, he looks up at Greg and he says, I told you. And Ruthie has a knife.

She pulls a knife out of her sleeve. She goes behind Greg, stabs him a bunch of times in the back. Oh shit. Kicks him off the edge of the cliff. What the fuck? Fiona

runs toward her like, what are you doing? And she slits Fiona's throat. Knocks her off the side of the cliff. Obviously, it's extremely high. You see them plummeting to their deaths if they're not already dead. And we see tears coming out of Ruthie's

eyes. She looks at Paul. He looks at her. They're staring at each other as Ruthie steps backward to the ledge of the cliff and flings herself off the cliff as well. Jesus.

And we get, oh my God, the main title. The Empty Man. Okay. It's a 22 minute little prologue and now we completely change gears, but holy shit. It's one of minute little prologue and now we completely change gears. But holy shit, it's one of the most effectively creepy openings I've ever seen. And if you like scary stuff, you simply must watch it because it's really scary.

So now we are in Missouri in 2018 2018 we meet our protagonist james he is a retired cop but he doesn't he's looks like to be in his 40s or so he is it's his birthday and he's eating at some chain restaurant that looks like a olive garden or something like that by himself. And he has a coupon for a free piece of cake or something for his birthday. And he clearly looks like he's trying to be low-key. But he gives the waitress the coupon. And he's like, this is embarrassing, but can I use this? And she's like, oh course of course he's like i don't want to like no make no big deal about it or anything and so she goes

to get him cake and comes back with like seven other employees that's not nice he asked you not to sing happy birthday that's not nice He's looking very embarrassed by this. He goes back home afterwards and we meet Amanda and her little bowl cut. Oh, great bowl cut person. She is his neighbor. But we're not given a ton of information right out the gate. I remember the first time I watched it Being very confused by the next couple scenes

Of like who are these people So I'm going to tell you who they are But just Thank you Just know that it wasn't super clear You have to be confused because I was confused And you'll find out when I found out Thank you for not doing that to us

She's his neighbor and She says she's checking on him because she's worried about him i was like is this a like romantic interest and i was feeling grossed out by that it's not don't worry okay great but some something bad has clearly happened that makes her feel worried about him and she says ever since my dad died, and so soon after that, Allison and Henry, it was more than anyone could bear. And it's clear that he is really struggling to have this conversation and keeps trying to be like, it's fine. It's fine. Like, I'm fine. Oh, is he a widower?

It's what we're thinking. That's the... Seems that way. So she's checking on him and trying to comfort him. And she says, I came here to tell you that I found something so wonderful. And it's helped me to realize that nothing can hurt you because nothing is real. And he doesn't know what she's talking about and says, as you know, things are pretty real. Like I know from experience that there are real things. She says, but how do you know that? You know, reality starts in our brain and then it ends up out in the world and you can manifest things.

There's power of positive thinking, power of negative thinking, like you create your own reality. But what if our thoughts didn't begin with us and they traveled through us like a signal traveling down a wire from somewhere ancient? What if? He has no idea what she's fucking talking about.

Yeah. He's like, I don't know what you mean. And her mom calls and she's like,'ve got to go so she leaves and he goes into his house and yes we see photos of a wife and a son and start seeing flashback images he's having nightmares we're just getting little bits and pieces of what looks to be probably a car accident and hearing whispers of where were you? Where were you? Where were you? Jesus. He wakes up.

It's the next day. We get a card that says day one. I don't know. We find out that Amanda is missing. Amanda's mom. her name is Nora. This is Maren Ireland, who I love and adore. And Nora calls James over and says, Amanda is missing. She's freaking out.

She's crying. And there's clearly some tension between them. But it seems like they're putting aside some feelings so that he can like comfort her in this scary moment of her daughter being missing because also there is writing on her mirror in blood that says the empty man made me do it so it's pretty pretty alarming okay so we yeah that sort of like takes front and center yeah so we're we're putting aside whatever weird things are uh happened between them in the past that we're getting vibes of to focus on a much more important thing of a missing daughter talking about the empty man.

She calls the police also, but she had called James because he's a retired cop. And because obviously I think it's someone that she had been close with in the past and doesn't know who else to call. So the cops come and they're asking questions and taking photos and evidence and whatnot. But they do say, you know, she is 18. And so... So she can write in blood sort of like wherever she wants.

So we'll keep looking into it. But I don't think we can fully call it a missing persons case yet or something like that. They are still going to be working on it, but maybe not as hard as she would like them to. And so James takes on the case himself as well and is just like, I'll do my own digging. Used to be a detective. So he goes through Amanda's room and finds her diary and it has a pamphlet in it that is from the Pontifax Institute. It's... I don't know what it is, but it seems like something she had been

learning about recently. So I think he pockets it as potentially useful information. He asks Nora for a list of all Amanda's friends. And then he goes to Amanda's school to talk to her friends. He finds her friend, Devara. He's basically just questioning her about what was the last time you saw Amanda? What were you guys doing? And Devara is being a little cagey about it. But then he says, does it have anything to do with the empty man? And DeVar has a little brief moment of revealing that that does mean something to her. And then quickly tries to brush it off. That's just a stupid kid's story.

It's nothing. And he asks what the story is. So the legend goes that if you find an empty bottle on a bridge and blow into it while thinking about the empty man that he will visit you and he asks well did you do did you do that and she says yeah we did it two nights ago and we as she's retelling this story we're flashing back to two nights ago and seeing amanda devara and like four or five more of their friends on this bridge doing high school stuff drinking beers like a spirit of swords yeah and classic as they're getting ready to leave amanda sees an empty bottle and makes them all stop and says, wait, wait, wait, we have to try to call the empty man. And they ask what that means. And she explains that once you call him,

on the first night, you hear him. On the second night, you see him. And on the third night, On the second night, you see him. And on the third night, you feel him, I think is what she says. Yep. And they're all rolling their eyes at her. This is, come on, grow up. How old are you? This is stupid.

And while we're on it, where did you get your haircut and why? Why does it look like that? Just while we're bringing things up. Been curious. She says, if it's so stupid, then you can just do it. Because it doesn't, it's not going to matter. And I'm like, okay, whatever. And so they all pass around the bottle. They all blow into it.

Some more, with more intention than others. Yeah, Verve. Some of them. D'Vara specifically is just like, blows into it really quick and it's like this is dumb let's go amanda on the other hand sits down cross-legged holds the bottle between her hands in a in a hand position that mirrors the little prayer that we saw in the skeleton's hand with the interlocked fingers. She's really concentrating as she blows into the bottle a couple times. And then she just starts saying, the empty man, the empty man, the empty man, the empty man. So she's really,

really trying to follow through with this in a big way. And everyone is, all right, we did it. Let's go. And as they're about to leave the bridge, once again, goes completely silent. All the night wind, crickets, everything stops, gets completely silent. And we just hear on the other side of the bridge something like a chain rattling sort of like metal gate or something everyone immediately looks very scared one of the guys goes what you really made me laugh and then they hear footsteps. Oh, God. They're calling out, who's over there?

Like, stop messing with us. Stop affecting the sounds of the earth. Stop sucking sound from the air. Stop messing with us. And the footsteps continue coming a little closer. We can't see anything. It's very dark on that side of the bridge. So it's completely in shadows.

But the footsteps are getting closer. And then they stop. Everyone's still looking, still terrified. And they just hear someone blowing into a bottle. God damn it. And they all run. And they hear footsteps running after bottle. God damn it. And they all run. And they hear footsteps running after them. God.

But nobody sees anything. We cut back to Davara talking to James. Present day now after retelling this story. And she is looking really scared as she looks around there on the school campus she sees a quick flash of something a black cloaked something turns back it's gone but she's obviously very on edge and james can see this and says, okay, obviously there's something going on with this empty man situation. And he goes to try to track down the rest of Amanda's friends and they are all missing. Oh no. All of them. All of them are missing. And at one of their houses he finds a dead dog, a murdered dog that was

there was mention of the blood on the mirror not being human blood. Oh, yeah. So this is where that came from and at one of the other kids houses he finds another pamphlet for the Pontifex Institute.

Mm-hmm. And he's retracing their steps a bit and he... Is he reading the pamphlet for the Pontifex Institute. Mm-hmm. And he's retracing their steps a bit and he... Is he reading the pamphlet? It doesn't... It's a flyer, sorry. It doesn't have any... Information in it. It's just very funny to me, the idea that he would just be like, alright, well, I'll figure that out later.

Yeah, I should read that. I'll do that later. Yeah, I'll do that. It's a lot of reading. No, it just is... It's a flyer, so it just has the logo. And on the back, it has the word Tulpa written on it. Okay. So he's following their tracks. He goes to the bridge that they were on, and it's daytime now.

He's looking around, seeing if he can can I don't know, find any clues I guess, and he Sees an empty bottle And he picks it up And he blows in it How is that gonna fucking help you, dude? He's like, let's see if it's real Let's see if it's real

Really crazy thing to do Let me do the thing that made all these children disappear And right after he does it, somebody pranks him by taking all the sound out. All the cicadas go completely silent. The air stands still.

And all he can hear is a faint tapping. Metal tapping noise. And he moves further towards it. And he sees an open manhole in the bridge and climbs down

What the fuck? into like the, you know, architecture below the bridge, all like cement and dark under there. Scary. And he's turning around a corner as he's looking down here and runs right into a corpse of one of the friends hanging from a noose from the bottom of the bridge. And he shifts his perspective a bit and we see that all five of the friends are hanging in

a row. Oh my god. Except for Amanda. No Amanda. No Amanda. And no DeVara. And there is more blood writing saying the empty man made me do it. And the tapping noise

is one of their feet slowly hitting the side of the bridge with the breeze. Oh, God. He obviously calls the police. They come, set up the whole crime scene thing. His nose starts bleeding. Something very strange is going on. Shouldn't have blown through that flute, my man.

Shouldn't do that. Don't blow on any bone flutes and don't test any legends. It's just like, why do it? You know? Not worth it. No. Also, like, I don't want to put my mouth on any like random bottles or bones. Yeah, that's fair.

So we cut to Davara in a very fancy sauna by herself. Looks like... Okay, Devara. I know. I'm like, what is this 18-year-old girl? What's her life? This is nice. But it's about to be not nice.

Yeah, I was gonna say. Her final moments, I suppose. Yeah. She gets naked to go into the sauna. We see her naked, which i was like i don't i don't know that we needed that yeah but i don't know why i know it like happens all the time in horror movies i don't know why it like felt jarring to me i mean the fact that we like visited her in high school yeah you know it's like i get that she's a team necessary but like

yeah we don't it's easy to cut away from that. It's not moving the narrative forward whatsoever. No. Yeah. It's not like if you're naked, the empty man gets you. So we have to see her be naked, which, you know, I don't love when they do that. No. But so she's sitting in the sauna.

The steam comes out. So once again, it's hard to see things that are right in front of you. She's closing her eyes, relaxing, having a nice day, a nice little spa day. When she opens her eyes, it looks as if someone else is in the room with her, sitting across from her. She's squinting, trying to make it out. I think the steam is dissipating a little bit now, you know, and it like turns on and turns off. It had been cranking in

and so it was getting more steamy, more steamy. And now it's kind of fading. She's looking. It's really hard to tell, but then slowly, sure enough, there's a figure there and you, the audience audience are squinting trying to see you can almost make out what's beneath the cloak but not quite and it as she

realizes okay something is in here it lunges at her grabs her she's screaming it has scissors we see it's like little bone hands and it's stat it stabs her in the eye a whole bunch of times just goes like in the eye and has the hand around her throat strangling her and stabbing her and then it cuts to seeing her strangling herself stabbing herself in the eye oh I don't like that I hate that drops dead she's she's dead DeVara's dead

shit now we are at the police station the detective that was called in to the Amanda case has now called in James to talk to him about the case and about DeVara. And this detective is telling James so many details about the case. And he is, he does know that James is a former detective, but it's in a different precinct. He didn't know him.

And I don't know what the rules are here here but he's basically saying like every detail of what happened in Davara's death and like everything they know that doesn't feel right I'm like I don't know that we should be sharing that information so willy-nilly the man who found all the dead kids would be a suspect exactly and it's like and you just talked to Davara he's like there to tell him how like he was just with Davara yesterday and this guy's like essentially like it's nice to have another detective on the case like seemed really strange to me so he's telling him the details of how devara died saying that she committed suicide by stabbing herself in the eye with scissors over and over and over which who, yeah, that doesn't happen often. Yeah, and James

says exactly that. People don't do that. The detective agrees. My thoughts exactly. Like, what's going on? There's never... That gives me the creeps. He's like, there hasn't been this many murders in this town probably ever.

And, like, something very strange is going on. He says, two weeks ago, a mother killed her baby, said it was whispering to her. And when we found, when we were at the crime scene, she had written the empty man made me do it.

We see on the sauna floor, the empty man is written in blood, her blood on the floor. So the detective says he's, he suspects that these are crimes that cannot be solved and gets a little existential here. He's like, we can put the mother in prison. Hell, we can even put her in the gas chamber. That doesn't solve anything. And we can't indict the cosmos. So they're thinking something

big is going on. We see James now going to the Pontifex Institute. Oh, no, excuse me. He's doing research on it. He pulls out his laptop and he's looking at Wikipedia. And it's honestly a pretty good research montage. It's nice.

It's well executed. He's learning that the Pontifex Institute is a doomsday cult. He finds there's this cabin where six people died in some accident last year or something. He flips over the flyer and sees that word tulpa again and Googles that and we see a tulpa. We're just getting little flashes of phrases on the Wikipedia. It says thought form, of phrases on the Wikipedia. It says thought form, mind made body.

It's a Buddhist principle of being able to basically conjure your own, like conjure things from thought. There is an equation that says thought plus concentration plus time equals flesh. Pretty weird. Pretty weird.

Just then Nora comes over and she's brought over some takeout figures he hasn't eaten and very quickly bursts into tears. She's obviously very stressed about her missing daughter and he's comforting her and holding her. And we're seeing a, they've definitely had some sort of intimate relationship. He's holding her in a way that you wouldn't hold your neighbor normally. And so we see that there's something between them and she looks up at him and says, I'm sorry, it's been so long and I'm sorry about why she's crying. She asks if she can stay. And he gives her a look like, no. And he doesn't want to do that.

And she nods. And she doesn't seem overly hurt by this. She's like, yeah, boundaries, boundaries. So they have a drink together. And she goes home. And he, once again, is plagued by nightmares throughout the night. Flashes of his wife and son in a car at nighttime. Sounds of brakes screeching.

And once again, where were you? Where were you? Where were you? Where were you? And he sees a little flash of an empty chair in a underground room that looks unrelated to a car accident. So, yeah, we're just getting little glimpses of some scary imagery. He shoots awake in bed again. He's waking up every day at 3 a.m. and at 3.03, actually. That's when the nightmares tend to wake him up. He sits up in bed.

He's, you know, stressed, breathing heavily. When he hears floorboard creaking. Oh, boy. He turns and you can see down his hallway. It's all very dark, but he's looking in the hallway. It doesn't seem like there's anyone there, but he's again,

here's a floorboard creak. He gets up, turns the light on. No one's there in this little entryway vestibule. And turns the light off immediately. Creaky, creaky footstep type thing. He freaks out,

closes his bed, like runs back into his bedroom, closes the door, grabs his bat. A good, a good weapon. Uh, preparing for a fight.

Here's the footsteps come closer, sees shadows of feet below the Gap under the door And Then the footsteps go away He finally opens the door again And his front door Is wide open

But nobody's there Now cut to day two I don't know Next morning he goes to the pontifax institute very scientology vibes there's a lot of people there it's a big building they're handing out pamphlets welcoming everybody saying you know uh fill out this form begin your journey to self-realization type of thing uh he asks the basically front desk woman how long they've existed. She says, we were established in 2013, but what we can offer you is as old as time.

And she hands him this questionnaire that has very strange yes or no questions. Like, the scientific method is a form of oppression it's basically i guess like agree or disagree not all shadows are cast by something they're just kind of strangely almost nonsensical questions but he's immediately very frustrated with this question he goes back up to her and it's like what's all this about and she's like, that's your first step to finding your truest self. And he says, yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I grew up in San Francisco. And

tries to get more information out of her, but everyone starts moving. There's some event starting and it's the cult leader essentially. That's not what they refer to him as, but that's what he is, is giving a speech. And so everyone goes into this auditorium to hear him talk.

This is Steven Root. I love him. Good cult leader, I would imagine. He's really good in this role. And so James is watching him speak and he's saying things like you already have everything you need. There's nothing but the complete nothingness that binds us. We were all one and we will all be one again. This message comes from the empty man. James is like, okay, so this is connected.

He goes up to him after the speech and says like, I thought you were going to say namaste. He's like trying to be jokey with him steven root says i can if you want and he says no no no please i grew up in san francisco okay he loves that line and he sits down with steven root and is asking Sits down with Steven Root and is asking, he's just like, what is this? What is the empty man? What? I don't understand really what you're saying. Steven Root says, you know, that thing that kids do where if you say your name over and over and over and over, it starts to sound like gibberish. It's like that can be true of whole concepts.

Repetition makes things meaningless. And he's like, take the phrase, if you stare into the abyss, it stares back at you. That's been said so many times. That doesn't really mean anything to anybody. It's like a refrigerator magnet now. But if you really, really think about it, it's not innocuous at all. It's not meaningless. Like if you're staring into an abyss, what are you staring at? What's staring back at you? Is there something in you that calls to the abyss? And is there something that's answering that call? Like that's pretty profound. And if something so profound can be robbed of meaning by something as simple as repetition, what is more true, your name or the gibberish?

That's the empty man. Huh? Whoa, that's a fun concept. It's very hard to wrap your head around. And I can't say that I understand it 100%. And I don't think James does either. He's kind of like, okay. And Stephen Root says, it's nice to see you again. Thanks for coming back. I hope you stay longer next time.

James says, I've never been here before. Stephen Root says, oh, you must just have one of those faces. He kind of smiles at him. Oh, I don't like that one bit. He's at the little snack table afterwards where all the other little

cult members are, the Pontifex Institute members. And he shows one of the guys a photo of Amanda, says, have you seen this girl around here? He doesn't really answer, kind of shakes his head and walks away. James goes off on his own to explore. He like sneaks into a little room and kind of does his own exploration of the building. He comes across a room that looks like a hospital, almost like a mental institute. It's like a row of beds.

And he's hearing, whispering and clicking. It's like that. And sees a group of people all with shaved heads, sitting cross-legged, staring at a poster on the wall that is just black. There is a recording playing that says nothing exists. Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it. Even if something is known about it, it cannot be communicated to others. Don't know what the fuck is going on. This is very weird. He's moving further into the building and comes upon a group of people sitting in a circle, chanting more kind of phrases like that sort of thing. And he is up on a little balcony essentially

and is in the shadow. So they can't see him, but he makes a noise. He like steps on a piece of glass or something. It makes a noise. So they all stop chanting and they turn in his direction, but they can't see him. He he's kind of hidden he's frozen now not making a sound they call out is someone here with us now you can show yourself and they all start blowing into empty bottles and he they're not looking at him. They're looking at another doorway. And he starts trying to lean over the ledge of the balcony to see what they're looking at. And they're kind of beckoning someone to come towards them. And we hear footsteps happening on the floor that they're all on.

the floor that they're all on. And we almost see someone walk out, but a couple members of the Pontifex Institute turn the lights on at that moment where he is. And they're like, sir, can you come with us? So he doesn't see whatever was happening there. He gets kicked out of the building.

They basically just find him, you know, trespassing essentially. And as he's kicked out, the guy that he showed the photo of Amanda to earlier is in the alley smoking a cigarette and laughs at him. This guy's name is Garrett. Garrett kind of laughs at James and is like, you're not going to get anywhere like that. Not with these people. It's clear that he knows more than he let on in the beginning. James once again asks about Amanda. She says, he says, Amanda. He says she's not

here now. She's been here. She's not here now. They've moved her. They've got big plans for her. She's moving up. Oh, man. And they say he tells him that they've moved her to this camp near the forest and shows him where it is

on a map. And there is this incredible transition from the map to an overhead shot of trees and him driving down the road. I mean, I'll try to find if just that shot is on YouTube because it's really a very impressive transition. So he arrives at this camp. There's a couple of cabins there. it doesn't seem like there's anyone there he goes in he's looking around there's some file cabinets he sees that they have files on amanda

and on all of her friends and he pulls them out and then he sees that they have a file on him. And he pulls that out and opens it and it's empty. And he laughs and he's like, you guys are funny. You're fucking with me. Oh, man. And he goes into one of the rooms and there is a TV and a couple or vhs tapes and he plays one and it's a group of the cult members sitting in a circle doing the chanting thing that we've seen before it's really creepy uh the they're the way that the lighting is makes their eyes kind of reflect back. So they just look a little alien-y. It's very unsettling.

And as they're doing this chanting ritual thing, they hear something and turn. And similarly to how we just saw, they kind of say, hello, who's there? Then the camera moves and we can't really see what's happening and then it just cuts to them holding someone that looks like a man that's naked and really emaciated and i can't we can't tell if this is one of the cult members or or what's going on uh but the man that they have just pulled into the middle of this circle is is really panting like oh i hate that i really hate that and while he's watching this we see there's bunk beds like there must be a little dorm in this cabin and in one of the bunk beds is a teddy bear he's a little

creeped out by the teddy bear it's all uh old and kind of an eye one of its eyes is popped out it's a very ratty teddy bear he goes back to watching the video it ends doesn't see much more than that and he turns back and the teddy bear is gone he goes out into the woods it's getting dark now he's looking to see if there's any other i don't know cabins or something and he sees a fire in the distance like a campfire this is giving me like the ritual vibes that's like what my brain is picturing yeah this part definitely feels like This feels very reminiscent Of the ritual And he's behind

Trees and stuff so he's Blocked from view of the campfire But he's moving closer And we see Many of the cult members Shuffling in a circle Around a big Fire pit And there's probably cult members shuffling in a circle around a big, uh,

fire pit. And there's probably 60 of them and they're kind of running around and chanting. You can like hear their footsteps. And as they're chanting and running in circles around the fire, the fire grows bigger and bigger and bigger to an impossible height. James looks like he is kind of hypnotized by this. And as he's looking, you know, following the flames up into the sky, something comes over him.

the flames up into the sky. Something comes over him. The stars above his head start blurring as if he's about to pass out or something, but then it passes and he comes back to and looks down and the fire's out. It's completely black. He can't see. It's completely dark. He

can't see where they all are. And he looks very confused. And then looks very confused. And then all the sound goes away. And he just hears a lot of footsteps, but in unison. So it's like a marching. Ew.

And as they get a little closer, they're lightly illuminated by, I don't know, some starlight. And you can see that they're all marching toward him. But it's unclear if they see him because he's behind, you know, a little bush or something. And they might just be, you know, finished with their ritual. But then he steps on a little twig. He needs to not move in these moments. He does too many stepping on little loud things.

I know. And he takes a step back and they all take one step forward. He takes another step back. They all take one more step forward and he says yeah no he turns and he runs he runs and they all start chasing him in unison or just a bunch of like it's all just kind of chaotic now they're all just running after him. He makes it to his car and he's able to escape, but they're jumping on his car. Oh my god. Yeah, so it's

very scary. He gets away from there and he goes to the police station back to that detective he was with earlier. He has the files that he took on the kids that he gives to them. He's like, I just found these at the campsite. And he's like i just found these at the campsite and he's really

freaking out the detective doesn't really know what to make of this and james is is fully panicking and it's like run he goes to nora's house he's like we're not safe um they have you know files they're amanda's not safe and they you know i don't i want you to be in a hotel because obviously they know where you live these people are dangerous so he he takes nora to a hotel and she starts crying and she says like amanda's dead isn't she and he says no i think the fact that she wasn't under that bridge means she's not dead. But I think. Don't relax. I think she probably is in danger.

And I just like want you to be safe. And he says, does she know about us? Nora says, no. And then Nora says, do you think maybe we've punished ourselves long enough? It's like definitely this very heavy moment between them where they both look ashamed, but exhausted and just like emotionally drained. He leaves, leaves her there and it cuts again to flashes of his wife and son in the car. We see the son is tapping a coin on his teeth.

That makes more like of the clicking noises that we had been hearing. Just a lot of sound design things of this, just like little clicky tappy noises that are very creepy. And now we're seeing for the first time flashes of him with Nora intercut with his wife and son being in the car. And we don't fully see what happens, but we're getting the picture that he was with her. The answer to where were you is that he was with Nora. Yeah. So obviously they are feeling very shamed about that. But, you know, it's haunting him. And he, once again, shoots up in bed at 303 in the morning, looks down his hallway once again.

looks down his hallway once again. It's like a hallway with his front door at the end of the hallway and there's like a black shape that almost looks like someone has a duffel bag at the foot of the steps.

There's like a couple steps and he's looking at it and it's like, what is that? Obviously, like, I didn't put a thing there. And it gets up and it like gets bigger, like it's standing up and it is that Dementor, possibly Empty Man. And it does the same floating thing at him and gets to him. And we see it's like nasty little bone hands reaching out for him. And gets to him and we see it's like nasty little bone hands reaching out for him.

But then once it gets him, it disappears and just like cuts to him alone in the room again, like swinging his bat at nothing. Wow. And then the doorbell rings. And he opens it and the teddy bear is sitting there. I love that because when you're alone in your room and it's dark, you will make any shape. If you're feeling scared, any shape becomes something. It's so scary. The, like, true panic I've felt seeing something dark in a corner is, like... I remember when I was little, I remember one time I was sleeping on my parents' floor in their bedroom, which I did a lot.

I did that a lot. I did a lot. And there was a Barbie that was next to me, but it was in the dark. And the Barbie was, like, in a weird shape. And I convinced myself it was a Barbie that was next to me, but it was in the dark and the Barbie was like in a weird shape. And I convinced myself it was a tarantula. I was like, there's a tarantula. There's a tarantula next to me. It's not moving. Amazing how the tarantula is not moving, but I'll just have to sleep next to this tarantula. It's fine. It's fine. And waking up in the morning and being like, oh, it's a Barbie. Thank God. Yeah.

You know, that's reminding me. I have this weird memory of being at somebody else's house and sleeping in a bed that wasn't mine. And this did happen. I can't remember where I was. But I remember like turning and seeing a tarantula in the bed. I was. But I remember like turning and seeing a tarantula in the bed and like flinging the sheets off and jumping up and like yelling. And then the parents came in of whoever's house it was and like looked around and we couldn't find anything. And I feel like, I don't know, it's like one of those weird memories that I can't tell if it was real, if it was like, was I falling asleep at that moment and just kind of pictured something. But it's just weird to not know if it was, if it actually happened or not.

It's so much easier when you're a kid to completely convince yourself that what you're seeing is real. And this movie does a really good job of everything is really slow in a very scary way it's like very patient it holds on these shots there's a lot of long transition shots that are showing the rainy alleyways or whatever and so there's a lot of atmosphere building and so it's just like very tense a lot of the time so now next morning day three oh no we see james he's tailing the garrett from the cult he follows him and a couple of the other cult members to a hospital and he's you know 20 feet behind them following them them, spying on them. And they go into a hospital room with a man

hooked up to a bunch of machines, possibly in a coma. And they all form a little half circle around the guy, drop to their knees, and start bowing. We get a little closer, and we see

it is Paul from the opening sequence. Like, whatever, 23 years older and looking really thin and emaciated like he is dying. Whoa. Wait, did the cult just start after that happened? Was the cult from that or did the cult exist before that happened? They said it established in 2013. Oh, which was way after. And it's 2018 at this time in the movie.

So it's been around for five years. There will be unanswered questions in this film. That's fine. I'm kind of into that. There will be unanswered questions in this film. That's fine. I'm kind of into that. So, after they leave the hospital, James abducts Garrett. He, like, pepper sprays him and forces him into the car. He gets him alone. Drives him to an abandoned little parking lot or alley or somewhere away from anybody else.

And he's basically like, alright, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on right now. He has a gun. James has a gun. He's's a retired cop so it would make sense for him to have good garrett uh oh he says like who is that guy garrett tells him he's an antenna he transmits we receive oh poor paul uh james is increasingly frustrated with these kind of cryptic things that he doesn't understand he's like has the gun to his head is like say that's something that fucking makes sense or i swear to god garrett is saying thought is communicable the noosphere that they're saying the biosphere is some this i was in the Stephen Root part where they talk about the biosphere being everything related to form and like animals and humans and plants.

And they talk about the noosphere as being the actual nothingness of life or something like that. So, Garrett is saying thought is communicable. The noosphere is the sum of all consciousness, not just human consciousness, but other minds too, ancient and angry. And the only reality is that there is no reality. James starts rubbing his temples like he's having a migraine and that kind of blurring thing that happened earlier with the stars is starting to happen again. Garrett sees this and laughs and says, you're coming down with him already and you don't even know it. He says, you've got the itch in your brain.

James says, I'm so sick of your shit. I grew up in San Francisco. Here it is. Here it is. His favorite line. in San Francisco. Here it is. His favorite line. And he says, just tell me where Amanda is. He says, she's on the bridge.

He says, what bridge? And Garrett starts laughing again and says, haven't you been listening, man? There is no bridge. Oof. And James just starts punching him over and over and over as Garrett is laughing and laughing, blood spraying from his face. Cut to James going back

to the cabin, I think, or just the files that he had, that file on himself, which is now full somehow. It's like, what the fuck? And he sees newspaper clippings of his wife and son dying and an article

entitled growing up in san francisco it's like what he's like what the fuck and then he sees the coupon for the free piece of cake cake at the restaurant he was at the beginning and it's just like how do you how do you have this? What is going on? And then he sees a photo that seems to be of himself sitting naked in that chair that he's been seeing a little bit in his flashes of in his dreams. Oh my God. He goes back to the hospital. He wants to talk to that guy in the bed or like, I don't know, try to find out more there. He goes to the hospital. It's weirdly pretty empty. There's just one nurse working. He says, I need, he's like, I'm a, I'm a cop. He shows whatever his old badge or something. And it's

like, I need to know everything about that man in there. She says, sorry sorry i can't divulge patient information and he's like oh can you just tell me how long he's been here and she says he's been here longer than i have been here he asks her uh if he's been on life support she tells him he's not he says isn't that strange or something about the like like he's not in a coma but he's just not waking up. He's like, is that common? Like everything is working on his own, but she's like, no, it's not common at all. minister like it slowly the things that she is saying feel less and less like a nurse at their place of work and more starting to sound a little cryptic again some some of that type of language creeping in and this actress was like incredible at in the scene her name is phoebe nichols i just had to i had to look it up because I was like, she is fucking killing this. She tells him that he gets a lot of visitors. And it's not even that she's saying cryptic things. It's more her tone changes from one of a nurse on her break or whatever to like really sinister. And she's like, he gets a lot of visitors there's actually one in there with him right now maybe that's the person you want to be talking to that type of

thing where it's just like okay what the fuck is going on uh so he goes in to the rooms he's walking in there and we see that the person that's in there with him right now is Amanda. Ooh, okay. She's sitting on top of him, trimming his beard. Oh. Tending to him. James asks her who he is. And we're starting to feel like confused about reality at this point. Like,

I feel like he kind of keeps having these little headaches and things are just not normal. Like, why is nobody else in this hospital right now? Is this even a hospital? Like, we're just really not sure what's going on. And Amanda is talking very casually. Like, it's not a, like, she hasn't been missing for a while. She's just like, hey. And she's been missing for longer than three days, right? I mean, like. I don't think so. I think, I think the, it was the first day that she went missing. Okay. Okay. But he asks who this man is. She says, you can call

him whatever you want. I call him a carrier because the things that he carries do kind of feel like a disease. It can be contagious. You can infect others with it, but also he's a carrier and we're receivers. We, we, we receive his messages. He is like, I'm calling your mom right now. This is crazy. Where have you been? Like, do you think this is funny? Is this a joke to you? What's going on? And she's being real cool as a cucumber about it. She's like, yeah, call her. Do whatever you got to do. And he calls Nora. We hear her answer.

And she says, you know, he's like Nora it's James I found Amanda Nora goes who like what who is this she's like it's James it's me James and Nora's like I'm I'm I'm so sorry I like I think you have the wrong number and he's like is this Nora Quayle and she's like yes and he's like it's James and she's like I'm I sorry. I think you have the wrong number. And he's like, is this Nora Quayle? And she's like, yes. And he's like, it's James. And she's like, I don't know who you are. I'm so sorry. I think you must be confused. And she hangs up.

What the fuck is going on? Okay. Meanwhile, Amanda is still calmly, delicately trimming Paul's beard. He says he's weakening and we need to find a replacement. And James is the replacement.

And she's like, but he didn't actually last as long as we would have liked. He was only 20 or so years. The carrier before him was about 500 years. So we did something a little radical and we're trying to think outside of the box. And so we decided to make a carrier. And he's again, looking at her like, what are you talking about? What's going on? She says, it's getting hard to tell what's real and what isn't real, isn't it? And he indeed is having flashes where it's like jump cutting in the room. Like reality is splitting a bit and he's, you know, clutching his head again. It doesn't know what's happening and she says i bet you i bet you think i don't know about you and my mom and he looks like he's caught he's embarrassed

and she's like not only did i know i wrote it because i created you and you were born three days ago. And I wrote the whole script of your life. Wow. What? Real, really didn't see this coming, right? Wait, what? Wait. And she says, we created you. You're our tulpa, you know, thought plus concentration plus repetition equals flesh.

And we've been using all of our collective consciousness to conjure you. Okay. What the fuck? Wait, what the actual fuck? When we first met Amanda and she's on the bridge, was she already part of the cult then? Or was she just... Yes. Because that's the first thing she said to him was like, I have, I found something so great. Like reality isn't real. None of it's real. And she was speaking what seemed like at the time kind of nonsensically to him. Oh my God. And she did say, he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. And of nonsensically to him. And she did say,

he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. And she says, yes, you do. And in the moment feels very strange and we don't understand it. And it's still strange and we don't totally understand it now either. I can see why this movie would be better on the second viewing. Knowing that is really interesting. Yes. And I think it's such a, it goes such a different direction in the third act than you're expecting that. I think a lot of people were really annoyed by it because it goes from feeling, I like it too, but it goes from being like what feels almost like a, like a murder mystery horror thriller into this gets into like full existential cosmic horror now i love that i want existential give that to me a lot of people were not as happy but so she's yeah just revealing the whole story

which we don't you know fully understand but so she so her mom really is Nora. Yes. But she didn't really go missing. She was part of the cult from the beginning. We don't know how she joined the cult or why that's going on. But we know that they fucking conjured him. Like he didn't exist as a human being at all. Correct. And that photo of him like naked in the chair is, well, we're gonna go through a little bit

more stuff here, so. Okay. Let's see. She says, wouldn't it, she can see how much he's struggling with this and he's, essentially looks like he's glitching, like his vision is blurring and he's having a really hard

time and she kind of says says wouldn't it be easier to just let go and his face kind of like vibrates and it's blurry and it's like what the fuck is going on and then it cuts to him in the room with the chair he's looking around and we're hearing the same chanting that we heard from that circle when he was uh sneaking around the pontifex institute where it says from his thoughts come the dreams from the dreams come the power from the power comes the bridge from the bridge comes the man from the man comes the thoughts from his thoughts come the dreams basically loops in this over and over and he follows the sound of that chanting out of this room with the chair. And we see it's the exact same moment.

They all stop and they say, is someone here with us now? And so he is slowly walking out towards that circle of people. As he gets to the edge of the hallway that he's like walking out of, he turns to look up to where he is and he sees himself. And it's the moment of right before he gets pulled out. So he goes, he pulls himself back in right as other James is turning to look at him. So they don't, he doesn't see him. I don't know. This part is a little confusing because this is also like now we're moving around in time i think you can't like get

we can't get too in the weeds about it but it is very effectively creepy so now he moved he goes back retreats into the room with the chair and we see behind the chair is the skeleton that was in the cave in the beginning. The skeleton. Okay. He's staring at it and it gets up and the little cloak appears and this is the empty man. And we have been told that the empty man needs a vessel. And there's a lot of weird. I didn't like obviously write down everything.

I think there's a lot of attention paid to detail in this movie. So it's that's also why it's fun rewatching. They spent a lot of time explaining how we are connected to the empty man, but not a lot of time explaining how the empty man like operates at all. Like why that empty man even exists to begin with. Right. And it probably goes back to Steven Root's whole explanation of being like, what matters more, the thing or the gibberish? And that was the part that really scrambled my brain where I was like, what do you mean? What do you mean the gibberish? What does the gibberish mean? And I guess that's the part that really scrambled my brain where i was like what do you mean what do you mean the jib the gibberish what does the gibberish mean and i guess that's the empty man

it's the empty man and it's kind of like feels like chaos and i don't know yeah it's very interesting i don't i can't say i get it but it's more I feel like I just really enjoy the feelings that it gives me this like feeling of existential dread and fear. And it just is really crazy. And confusion. And confusion. And I just didn't see this coming at all. No, me either. So he is pursued by the empty man who eventually gets inside of him. But then James is still himself.

Like he basically stands up like he's still trying to fight the empty man. But it's like the empty man's gone now and he's inside of you. But you seem to still be yourself. So he's looking terrified, doesn't know where to go from here. So he's looking terrified, doesn't know where to go from here. He goes back to his house, which he doesn't have. The keys aren't working for that, so he has to break in. It's an empty house.

Nobody lives there. Oh, my God. What the fuck? And as he's here, this is intercut now with flashes of the wife and son again where were you and we're getting the full picture now that they were at Nora's husband's funeral and James stayed back with her because she's so upset and like you see him like saying bye to his wife and son being like, I'll meet you at home. Like, I'm just going to make sure she's okay. Stays with her after everyone leaves the wake at her house. And it's just the two of them. And he's comforting her while she's crying and they're drinking alcohol and just slowly become, it becomes, and just slowly become, it becomes they're kissing each other and they have sex. And we see the wife and son driving home. And I can't remember exactly what happens, but the mom's

turning around for a second. And then when she turns back something, it's not like supernatural or anything. There's like maybe a deer there or something. And she swerves and they're on a bridge and she crashes off the bridge. So we're seeing the full picture is, yeah, something that would certainly haunt you afterwards. Does it seem like that was the first time they had sex? Also, does it seem like any of this is real or was it created by amanda it's yeah it's not i don't think it's real that i think she says something about how they needed him to feel these negative emotions in order to be a better vessel for the empty man again i don't i don't remember exactly what they said i think there's

like very vague explanations of this but yeah none of none of this did happen. But that's like she does kind of allude to him needing this tragic backstory because they tried this once before and it didn't work out with someone without a like with just like a regular guy. And I don't know why they've

pinpointed needing the Also, how old is Amandaanda is amanda like 40 100 000 years old no she's 18 and i don't understand necessarily the the origin of the cult i don't know if paul was the first conduit paul only lasted yeah they said Paul only lasted, yeah, they said he only lasted, what, 20 years or something? And the last person said 500 years? Yeah. 500? Yeah.

500? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. So, yeah, I think he's just playing through all his memories in his head, feeling both guilt and also maybe potentially realizing none of it actually happened. So maybe potentially realizing none of it actually happened. His whole worldview is collapsing, which it would in this situation. And there is light coming out from a room in his house. So he moves toward it, opens the door, and he's now in Paul's hospital room.

And he pulls out a gun and he's crying, I think. And he shoots Paul in the head a bunch of times, unloads the clip into Paul's head. Whoa. The blood splatter sprays up in a way that mirrors drawings we've seen on the Empty Man earlier. I didn't mention them, but it looks like a prophecy type of thing coming true. It's visually the same as things that we've seen before. And he walks out of the hospital room, back in the hospital. Now it looks like there's a bunch of hospital employees working and they all turn and look at him there's a moment of us being like oh is none of this real

did he just like kill someone in an actual hospital and is now gonna go to jail but all the hospital workers turn to him drop to their knees and start bowing. Oh, Jesus. And they say, you transmit, we receive, you transmit, we receive, you transmit, we receive. And you see his little eyes shaking again, that little like blurring effect. And that's the end of the movie. What? What is he transmitting? So, okay, I... that's the end of the movie what what is he transmitting so okay i like what messages did paul bring to other people i feel like it's like just a very negative message it's like chaos and

the the little clues i have is when garrett says the consciousness is not just human consciousness. There's ancient angry consciousness there as well. And so I think he's transmitting the empty man's thoughts, but also he's transmitting the thoughts is nothingness. I think, yeah, it's like nihilism and like going towards the abyss and just being like, yeah, there's nothing. And we got to infect the whole world with our nothingness.

It's dark. I think it's very hard to pull off having so many unanswered questions. And certainly I can see why people would be frustrated with it. But I also enjoy thinking about it and reading about it. And I definitely don't have all the answers. And like I said, it's a really detailed movie. So I'm sure I left stuff out that other people would have caught that's maybe important. It's that kind of movie where it's like there's a lot of details in every line. I don't know,

but I liked it. Yeah, I liked it too. I liked it because it was surprising and really carefully done and also deals with like the scariest things we can think about which is the emptiness of the universe well and also the fact like what if i don't exist what if my reality is not real like our protagonist is conjured yeah Yeah, he is. Memories are just being created as we're seeing them, the audience members. Yeah, exactly. And so in that first talk he has with Amanda when she's like, he like insists like, no, things are real. Like I felt them.

I've lived them. I've had experiences that are real. He's wrong. You haven't, my dude. He's wrong. You haven't, my dude. He's wrong. Oh, no. And that's pretty terrifying. But at the same time, I've previously

been very soothed by some other... Not that this is a Buddhist principle, but there's Buddhist influences in here with the tulpa and that sort of thing. And a tulpa is a real thing. I mean, a real concept, I guess. And I feel like I've previously been... What is tulpa? Is it... It's like a... He's a tulpa. So that's at the end, they're like, you're our tulpa.

Okay. And I read something about how there were randomly like three other movies that came out at this time or pieces of media rather that also had Tulpas. And the only one I remember was that the Twin Peaks final season also had like a Tulpa storyline in it. And it's just kind of interesting. I guess that happens a lot in movies where it's like, now all the movies have tulpas in them. Yes. I'm reading about it right now. It says, materialize being of thought form. Materialize being or thought form, typically in human form that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration. and intense concentration. It's a really wild concept. But what a cool way to explore it through a horror movie,

like from the POV of a tulpa is like such a interesting way to have done it. And yeah, something that feels very new and original, I guess. Oh, but it also is based on a graphic novel. And I'm curious to read the graphic novel now because I feel like it's just such an interesting concept. I don't know. No, I'm sure it'll be a spooky novel. It's very scary. I really liked it, though.

I liked it, too. And, oh, listeners, we did lose Emily at some point in here. Yes, we never... I noticed. She's gone. Yeah, she had to leave. She was very upset. But don't worry, we'll tell her the ending.

I know that if this actually happened to me it would not feel good i know that but there's another part of me that's like if i woke up tomorrow and someone said all of your memories and experiences weren't real there's a part of me that wants to be like okay that's what i think i was trying to articulate early with like some of the other buddhist principles where it's like nothing matters and i'm like that's kind of nice like right it's attractive i think but if that really happened that would be deeply upsetting yeah Yeah, certainly. But there was even a moment that I was reminded of everything, everywhere, all at once of like the bagel. Did you ever see it, by the way?

Yeah, I saw it. I saw it. Of the like bagel of nihilism. Yes. I was like feeling like that is kind of the empty man. Yes. Yes. But there's no there's no Michelle Yeoh to pull us out from it. It's just the bagel wins. Sucking us into its void.

The bagel's winning. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think nihilism as a concept can be really comforting when you are removed enough from it. Mm-hmm. enough from it. But then, you know, if I was actually shot into space and was flying through deep into the universe, as we know it exists right now, sitting here today, I can tell you, this is not a, this is not a magical concept. This is a real concept, which is that there is

a lot of fucking nothing out there. And I could technically be shot into it. That could happen. Yeah. Actually, I don't think I'd be feeling pretty chill in that moment. I don't think that I would be like in my space suit hurtling through nothingness, feeling good, being like, you know, no, definitely not. And there's another part of me that's more removed from it, more like thinking about it metaphorically, being like, that's kind of comforting, right? Yeah. Yeah. Nothing matters. I don't know. Maybe those are two different things. It's like a lot of very big concepts, but that's why I'm just like, I liked it.

It's a good one to talk about because I don't know what I think. And I don't know if we're getting to the bottom of anything, but I just think it's fun to try and think about our feelings about existing. Oh, I don't like it. I don't know. I know there are. I i mean i remember used to get derealization again this is like another separate thing but i feel like they're kind of yeah but they're kind of you know cousins of uh nothingness which or just like questioning your own reality and i would feel like I was in a video game and it wasn't scary. And I wasn't, I didn't feel scared during those moments. There's

depersonalization and derealization. And I think depersonalization in general, people are more scared by it's where you think you don't exist. And then derealization, which is what I had is where you think the world isn't real. I don't know. There's like, this is just a very basic summary of those two things. But I would have that feeling of kind of like, oh, if it's a video game, what do I care? Right. But that's so interesting, too, because you also know your feelings aren't real.

And so you're like, if you're feeling scared, like really scared, that doesn't mean it's more real. It's just a feeling. You know? It's blowing my mind. It's scary to think about that. It's all just little stardust. It's all stardust. Just making little synapses in your head why you guys listen

to this podcast is for deep thoughts um where we're clearly philosophical experts who understand the world really well start in 2024 2024 is our philosophy era well i'm going to start a book club where i don't care if we're reading You guys going to read some Play-Doh? Chicken soup for the soul. We're going to read Play-Doh, yes. Wow. But I'm happy that we

got to do this movie. I really liked it. And I think it has gotten more of a kind of cult following, if you will, since being on hulu and having good word of mouth but i think it is also divisive and i can see how it would rub people the wrong way if you like answers to questions and not just more questions you might be dissatisfied but i'm kind of into more questions i like kind of

spiraling down the rabbit hole a bit too me too i like it too it's a fun thought experiment should we try to make a tulpa yes all of our listeners is this where we start a cult all of our listeners how does that work how does it work I think it's usually a human vessel. We're creating a person from our thoughts. So it can't be an existing person or an existing thing. We have to conjure it from nothing with our thoughts. Sounds really hard. But I believe in us. it's like next week on bravo can this group of uncanny friends create a telpa tune in next week to find out 8 p.m 7 p.m central oh audiences are gonna be on the edge of their seats for this one. Thank you for spiraling down this rabbit hole with me, Henley.

Anytime. Yeah, I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while. And I probably will rewatch it a couple more times over the years. I truly think, again, I know I said it a hundred times, I think that opening sequence is so scary. I think the cult around the fire pit scene is so scary. And I think when there's the figure in his hallway that moves, that really scared. It had like three of three genuinely, extremely scary moments. And there's not really any jump scares in this movie.

Like all of the scares are done... They're like the opposite of jump scares. They're very slow and drawn out and just sitting in it. And I think it's much scarier than a jump scare. So, this one will be sticking with me

for a while. Thank you, Sammy. Starting 2024 off right with a little existential crisis. Good. What better way to kick off a new year than questioning our realities? Yeah. So what voice will we do to say goodbye? Hmm. Can either do a chant or a clicky.

Clicky. Or maybe a little combo of both not too much of it though it's scarier than that it's because I'm trying to find it but I'm not finding it from all of us here at too scary to watch goodbye from all of us here at Too Scary Didn't Watch. Goodbye. to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also on Twitter and Instagram

at TSDW Podcast. And if you're interested in things like bonus episodes, video trailer reactions, and other cool content, head on over to patreon.com slash TSDW Podcast. All right. We love you all forever and ever, starting a while ago and continuing into eternity. Adios.