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A podcast that holds horror to standards horror never agreed to. Hosts Jeremy Whitley, Ben Kahn, Emily Martin and guests watch, read, listen to, and check out movies, tv shows, comics, books, art and anything else from the horror genre and discuss it through a progressive lens. We'll talk feminism in horror, LGBTQ+ issues and representation in horror, racial and social justice in horror, disability and mental health/illness in horror, and the work of female and POC directors, writers, and creators in horror.
We're the podcast horror never agreed to take part in.
Ben: It's the fucking
Kingdom Hearts of movies.
It success, it kinda success.
It's, yeah, flies in the
face of both God and logic.
Emily: That is a definite way to define
Kingdom hearts, and it is not wrong.
Joe: All right.
Jeremy: Okay, let's talk about this.
Let's go, let's talk about this
film that isn't Kingdom Hearts.
Emily: I'm sure these characters will
appear in Kingdom Hearts eventually.
Jeremy: I mean, they're basically there.
All right, clap.
Good evening, and welcome to
Progressively Horrified, the podcast
where we hold horror to progressive
standards it never agreed to.
Tonight we're talking about the
most Gen Z hipster film, I think is
possible, at least in the horror genre.
Something that'll immediately make
you hate every character and somehow
also find yourself rooting for them.
At the same time.
It's bodies, bodies, bodies.
I am your host Jeremy Whitley.
With me tonight, I have a panel
of cinephiles and Sena bytes.
First, they're here to challenge the
sexy werewolf, sexy vampire binary.
My co-host Ben Conn.
Ben, how are you tonight?
Ben: Oh, bodies.
Bodies.
Bodies.
A movie that asks, can we make Cat
Fight Mud Wrestling Progressive?
Jeremy: Yeah, it does.
It, it asks that.
I feel like the answer may surprise you
Ben: somehow that movie's still ending
with two girls wrestling in mud.
Have we gone so progressive,
we circled back to misogynist?
Jeremy: Mm, that's,
that's a great question.
That is,
Joe: I, I feel like the movie
kind of touches on that in a way.
Yeah.
We'll
Jeremy: get to it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
For more on that, we go to the
Cinnamon Roll of Ceno Bites,
our co-host, Emily Martin.
How are you doing tonight, Emily?
I'm pretty
Emily: impressed that this movie can be
Twitter and among us at the same time.
This is the most Gen Z.
Jeremy: Absolutely.
And our, our guest tonight,
writer, editor, and friend
of the podcast, Joe Carlo.
Joe, good to have you.
Joe: Thanks for having me back for
this movie that at times I wasn't
sure if it was embracing or making
fun of some of these things that
we're gonna be talking about, but
Jeremy: I, you know,
we're gonna get into it.
I feel like the answer to those
questions is consistently Yes.
Like, right,
yes.
Jeremy: It's embracing, yes.
It's making fun of, there is no
real differentiation Oh, yes.
Between the two.
Yeah.
Ben: So I was able to figure
out the ending of this movie
pretty quickly, mostly because
of Michael Bay cause mm-hmm.
The absolute contempt that this movie
had for every one of its characters
was something I had only ever seen
before in the Michael Bay filmography.
And once I thought, well, who
would Michael Bay make the killer?
Michael Bay would have, there be
no killer and they're all just
fucking selfish, dumb idiots.
And that ended up being
completely accurate.
Emily: I would like to remind you
folks at home, this is a film that
has been brought to you by a 24.
Yes.
So the fact that we are using Michael Bay
Logic is, I'm certain intended as 100%
Jeremy: meta.
Well, like it has that a 24 stamp.
It is directed by a woman
and written by two women.
It is directed by Helena Rein, who
is, uh, this is her second film.
The other one is Instinct, which
is about a psychologist that falls
in love with sexual predator.
And it's written by Sarah,
Sarah Dela and uh, Kristen Ian.
Uh, this is both of their debut
writing project, so they are all
like, Coming at this pretty fresh,
and honestly, I, I think most of the
characters that actually matter in
this movie are the female characters.
Mm-hmm.
Because, you know, we have, oh, yeah.
Manela Steinberg, we have Maria Baloba,
um, Mahala Harold, we have Rachel S.
Chase, we Wonders, and then we
have Pete Davidson, Lee Pace, and
Conor O'Malley, who all for various
reasons are not in this nearly
as much as the other characters.
Ben: Yes.
I do wanna caveat my Michael Bay
point, just so there's clarity.
I'm not talking like Transformers
revenge of the fall in Michael Bay.
I mean, like pain and gain.
Michael Bay.
Joe: I, I figured
Jeremy: that's way better.
Yeah.
Yes.
This movie has a, a surprising amount
in common with pain and gain of like,
of, you know, of characters that are
so far, so deeply up their own ass
that they don't actually know what's
going on in the movie they're in.
You
Ben: do have the common
theme of these characters.
Self-conception of themselves that they
are so mindlessly pursued to their own ru
Jeremy: win.
What's, what's really fascinating to me
in the context that we're doing this movie
in Pride Month, is that this is coming
three weeks after we talked about they
them or they slash them, which is the
polar opposite of this movie in every way.
And that that is like a movie that is a
terrible slasher, feels like it's all made
by a bunch of straight people trying to
like tell queer people how good they are.
And this is clearly made by a bunch of
queer people that are like, no, we suck.
Like, yeah, like we're all
awful and this is why, and this
is how, and everything feels.
I, I think what doesn't work
for this about like, my brother
watched this movie and hated it
and I think part of that is like,
Ben: he's wrong.
This movie Fucking Rules.
Jeremy: Well, like if you don't
know people in your life, it
feels like to a lot of people that
this just sounds like Twitter.
But like this sounds like those people
that have picked up the way they talk
and think about the world from Twitter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I
Emily: mean, yes.
Like all of the above, like these
are real people and these are real
people who exist on Twitter and
don't have anything else going on.
And also, we're constantly out of
drugs, so there's a lot going on here.
Ben: And again, I love this movie.
I think this is a really
good movie on all fronts.
I do think your enjoyment might be, I.
Largely dependent on how much, on how
intimately you understand Twitter brain.
Yeah.
Emily: I really am looking forward to
deep diving into this movie because
I think it has good things to say.
I
Ben: really thought Pete Davidson was
significantly older, uh, than the rest
of the cast, but then I looked it up
and No, I mean, I don't know if you've
Joe: heard, but, uh, he's been on the news
for years because of things he is been up
Ben: to.
It's taken a visible wear on him.
What is he up to?
Emily: I don't know anything about
Ben: this guy dating everybody.
Oh, well, he doesn feels
Jeremy: like he's just playing
himself in this movie, like, yeah.
Ben: As opposed to his new TV show
where he is literally playing himself.
And that said, I'm really
looking forward to it.
I really enjoy Pete Davidson.
I think his standup's hilarious, and
I think he was really good in this
Emily: movie.
He kinda reminds me of a Seth Green,
like a nineties, Seth Green in that way.
Ben: Okay.
If Seth Green just had so
much more self-loathing.
Emily: Yeah.
That, yeah.
Like that's the thing about Pete
Davison in this movie is that once
again, we have an actor who is.
Fully aware of qualities that are
completely contemptible and is willing
to portray that I, I don't know about the
Joe: rest of you, but I was a little
surprised that we actually got Pete
Davidson in this movie as long as we did.
I was kind of like really surprised
that he's still here or alive.
I thought it was gonna be even
Ben: shorter.
Yeah, you're right.
I thought it was gonna be like when Kit
Harrington would show up in movies while
Game of Thrones was still filming and it'd
be like we had him for like, we were able
to get like 12 minutes of Kit Harrington
just enough to make it seem like he's
gonna be in the movie in the trailers.
Emily: Yeah.
Yeah.
I do think that P
Davidson does a great job.
Oh yeah.
He is such a disaster
and he is so hilarious.
And I'm like, Sophie, why
is this your best friend?
Ben: No.
That, no, that made sense, Sophie.
Absolutely.
And Pete Davidson as like baby gay
and dirt bag, self destructo boy.
Growing up as like punk kids in
fucking beyond rich suburb town.
Yeah, no, that checked
out a hundred percent.
That would've even have been a, like
an interesting coming of age movie.
Jeremy: They definitely dated
several of the same girls at
various points, you know, that,
that feels like Yeah, a hundred
Ben: percent.
Yeah.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Yeah.
Joe: A lot of these people, like
none of them should be friends.
They're all horrible for each other
and you know, we find that out pretty,
uh, pretty much throughout the whole
movie that, uh, none of them should
have been in each other's lives.
Yeah.
There's the
Ben: reason I don't keep in touch with
anyone I grew up with in Connecticut.
Joe: Someone you grew up with in
Connecticut is gonna be listening to
this right now, and it's gonna have
a little, little tear coming down.
Yeah.
That's why
Emily: they probably should know
what they did, if it's this bad.
Ben: I mean that no, that this whole
idea of this friend group that is so.
Awful to each other, but stays
together out of just like proximity,
inertia and not knowing anything else.
Yeah, very real.
Yeah.
And Emily, Jeremy, like fucking
don't act like you were finding like
annoying podcast girls arguments.
Very sympathetic.
Like I, I'm not gonna lie, I found
myself being like, well, hold out.
She's not wrong about the how
much work a podcast takes.
Oh
Emily: yeah.
No.
Ben: Podcast is a lot of work.
And you know, which maybe makes
me that gal, but yeah, let's be
honest, I'm definitely that gal.
There's so many
Jeremy: lines in this movie that like
people said, and when they said 'em, I was
like, God, that's the fucking worst also.
Yeah.
I kind of agree.
Emily: Yeah.
It's like someone who's making an
argument on Twitter, but they're
using so much jargon that you're like,
okay, I, I agree with what you mean,
but I just like listening to you.
I feel like my body melting very slowly.
Yeah.
Jeremy: I could picture the same words
coming out of my mouth and I would
immediately roll my eyes at myself.
I would be like, yeah.
Oh, I can't believe I said that.
One of the first bits
Joe: in the movie for me that, that
really stood out that I'm remembering
right now is when Pete Davison's just
going off about like gaslighting and
stuff like that and how it's an overused
term, and it was one of those things
where it's like, yes, it is overused,
but I don't like how you're saying.
And, and then he like keeps going and goes
really far into this like whole thing and
he like really goes over the top with it.
Where it was like, you're wrong in
this instance, but there, there's a
version of this where yes, it's like,
okay, this is what this movie's doing.
All right.
Yeah.
You know?
Ben: How about when Pete Davidson just
fucking punches Lee Pace in the face?
Yes.
Jeremy: By the time this movie
starts, David, Pete Davidson's
character is named David and it's
really, it's really frustrating.
It's already been punched in the face.
Ben: He'll be here to for and continue
to be referred to as Pete Davidson.
Emily: Yeah.
Even though it's like 17 more syllables.
Jeremy: If like it was anything
else, that'd be fine, but his
name being David drives me nuts.
Yeah.
Ben: Also, I realize how bad it is
that I've mostly been talking about
the men in this movie, but also it's
fucking Pete Davidson and Lee Payson.
There's so much to talk about.
Yes.
Like Lippes calling the game werewolf.
That was the most generational
mishmash of the whole.
Yeah,
Joe: man, it's a In the scenario.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's werewolf for sure.
Yeah, it's
Emily: absolutely werewolf and I'm sure
they're all like, it's what's werewolf,
but nobody in this movie said suss.
Jeremy is now rolling
Jeremy: his eyes.
My 12 year old got into among us
at one point, and between her and
my six year old for like a solid
six months, everything was suss.
That was the only, the only phrase
anybody used to describe anything.
Joe: That in itself is
Emily: Right.
That is, that is the definition of su.
Jeremy: Yes.
Yeah.
So, um, let's talk a little bit about
what actually happens in this movie.
Yeah.
Let's, let's recap
Joe: this.
Jeremy: Yeah.
We, we opened with Sophie, a
Manela Sandberg's character, and
B Maria BVAs character intensely
making out an extreme closeup.
This camera holds on them,
making out for a long time.
Ben: This movie is extremely gay
from literally the first frame.
Yeah.
Did I mention that?
I love this movie.
Jeremy: Yeah.
It's it's daring you to
just sit there and watch.
It's like, you're such a creep.
Keep watching, keep watching you creep.
Why are we so close on the scene?
It makes me so uncomfortable.
That's why we would just
pull it back a little bit.
It would be fine.
Sophie and b have, uh, we found
out later, been dating for
about six weeks at this point.
Sophie is part of this rich clique
of kids that all sort of went to
school together, that all know
each other, uh, that all have tons
of money, and b is very much not.
B works at for legal reasons, not
GameStop, but definitely implied GameStop.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
And that is the, the reason that
they're coming up late to this party.
When they arrive at the party.
It's also clear that nobody knew
that Sophie was coming or that
she was bringing her girlfriend.
We meet their Group of friends.
We are at David, played
by Pete Davidson's house.
David's, uh, well, he's Pete
Davidson with more money somehow.
Um, he's a real, he's a real shitbag.
He's horrible.
Really mean to Lee Pace's
character in particular.
And, uh, and the girl that he is dating,
Ben: him being mean to the
girlfriend is terrible.
Him being mean to Lee Pace is delightful.
Emily: It's really fucking funny.
I
Ben: would desperately watch a
movie that's just like a Jimbo and
Pete Davidson just hating the shit
out of this himba for 90 minutes.
Jimbos can't hate no.
The, the Jimbo doesn't hate Pete Davidson.
It's like Pete
Jeremy: Davidson hates
this guy in the way.
Everybody else hates Pete Davidson.
It's no.
Joe: Oh
Ben: yeah.
This guy doesn't hate Pete Davidson, but
Pete Davidson hates the shit out of the,
like this golden retriever of a man.
Oh
Emily: yeah, yeah.
Joe: Um, the Greg is a predator
Jeremy: though.
So, Lee Pace is there.
His, uh, his character's
name is Greg, that's
Ben: discrimination against
people with Cobas and Knives.
Jeremy: He's obviously older than
everybody else and he is dating,
uh, Alice, I believe is her name.
Uh, Rachel Sun's character.
Alice is Connecticut as fuck, just a
pile of like weirdness and insecurities.
She is, uh, she is a walking,
talking Twitter account.
She also, she is the one with a podcast.
The concept of her podcast is she
puts it as that you, you hang out
with your smartest friend for an hour.
We also learn over the course of the
thing that everybody either intentionally
or privately secretly hates this
podcast with the possible exception of
Chloe or of Sophie who says it's good.
Beyond that, it's hard to tell.
There's also
Ben: Jordan.
Well, does Sophie think it's good, or
just as you said, just let her have this?
Yeah.
Jeremy: Sophie will tell Jordan who,
uh, is next up clearly from moment
one, even though they don't say it
until like an hour and a half into
the movie, is clearly Sophie's ex.
They have an animosity between the
two of them and a one-way animosity
between her and B, that B is trying
desperately to do something about.
But there is no way to
stop Jordan from hating.
Jordan is also referred to at
various points by, by other
characters as a spreadsheet with
legs and is very like clearly the
one competent person in the group.
But also has decided to use that
as a weapon against everybody
else in any conversation.
Yeah.
Ben: She's a competent, but
is also a great a hater.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
She, she got a standing ticket
to the player haters ball.
Jeremy: Oh yeah.
And uh, we also have Emma, who is, uh,
dating David, but we find out later that
their friend Max is in love with her.
Max is seemingly the nerdy type.
We don't get to know Max very well
because apparently he confessed his
love to Emma before we get there.
And, uh, I guess David
gave him shit about it.
So he gave David A.
Black eye and left taking the only vehicle
with him, which will be plot important.
The only other vehicle there
is, uh, Sophie's car, which she.
Drove up with B and that's
the whole cast of this movie.
There are eight people in this movie.
Well, no, don't.
Ben: The most important thing about
Emma, she's an actress, a thing they
will mention about eight times and
will never be relevant to the plot.
Joe: Seeing Connor O'Malley there, I only
could think of the, I think you should
leave Sketch where he's the honk if you're
horny guy that keeps following the car.
I was just like, that's the
honk if you're horny guy.
Jeremy: Uh, a lot of these actors,
even though they're all fairly young,
have been in like fairly memorable bull
stuff like Maria BVAs and Boort two.
Yep.
And uh, and is
Ben: amazing in Boort two.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bless her.
So fucking funny.
Her B character is really the
only one the movie doesn't have
just absolute contempt for,
Joe: wasn't she Justin in
Guardians three as the space dog?
Ben: She was.
She was.
And and she's also been cast
in, uh, creature Commandos, so
Jeremy: Oh, nice.
I did not realize she was, she
was the voice of the Goodes dog.
Cosmo of the space
Ben: dog.
Yeah.
I still need to see Guardians
three because I've decided to
do a whole Guardians franchise
rewatch before going to see it.
Oh, I enjoyed it.
It was good.
Yeah.
I, I'm excited.
I I was reminded how good those first
two guardians movies are the Christmas
Jeremy: specialist.
Surprisingly.
Plot important too.
Yeah.
Oh, shit.
Really?
Yeah.
The, the Christmas special, which
is on Disney Plus is, is, will
be referenced several times in
Guardians three, surprisingly.
Ben: Well, Drax and Manus there
gave me one of my favorite
storytelling tropes, which is two
dumb asses sharing, one brain cell.
Beautiful.
And that's a comedic duo
that I am always here for.
Jeremy: I miss the, yeah.
Getting back to Buddy's buddies.
Buddies, uh, we discovered that this
party that they're putting on at, at
David's house is a hurricane party.
Uh, they're all gonna come get really
drunk in the middle of a hurricane.
At, uh, Dave's house
and do whatever's there.
That sounds
Ben: awesome.
Emily: Is this a thing like
Yeah, I live on the West coast.
Ben: Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yep.
Jeremy: It is absolutely a thing.
Okay.
Not a thing that is advisable
and you're, if you're in a place
like this where you're like,
your road might get washed out.
Yeah.
It's iffy as to whether one ever should
do this, but it is definitely a thing.
Well, this
Emily: particular group of people,
like it might as well been a hurricane
where it rained red flags because shit,
Jeremy: and they're absolutely
like from go drunk and high,
with the exception of Sophie.
Who is sober and b, who is not drinking
seemingly because they're with Sophie.
Uh, which is the only class move
that anybody will make in this movie.
Ben: They take so many
shots in this movie.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How these girls are 110 pounds
soaking wet downing drink after drink.
I guess The cocaine's,
keeping them fueled.
Jeremy: Yeah.
It's, it's cocaine and rich people.
Endurance.
They just drink enough expensive liquor.
Ben: Like I can have three
drinks and I'm, I'm out.
Like, I'm done for the night.
Well, they're doing
Emily: uppers and downers, like
fucking, like they're on a trampoline.
Ben: I do love trampolines.
Yeah.
Jeremy: So before very long we're all
out of the pool and inside the house and
there's a hurricane going on outside.
They decide to play.
They, they call it bodies.
Bodies.
Bodies.
It's werewolf.
Werewolf if you're nasty, uh, or among
us if you don't have real friends
and just play it on the internet.
They're have real friends on the internet.
Sure.
Ok.
If you don't have physical in-person
friends, you just have internet
friends it's the same concept
just with, uh, actually touching
people to, you know, murder them.
They kill Greg.
Emily: Yeah.
Greg is the quote unquote
Jeremy: victim.
Yes.
David is being so pissy and mean to
Greg and everybody else that they
decide to vote him as, uh, the bad guy,
even though he is pretty clearly not.
And they're gonna murder him, at
which point he breaks a bottle
against the wall and wanders off.
It sucks.
Sucks.
Yeah.
He, he throws a, a rich kid
raid, uh, rage and wanders off.
Everybody else continues with their game
until the, uh, the lights really do go
out and everybody kind of freaks out.
They're trying to find some
lights and find their way around,
and b has to use the bathroom.
So, uh, she goes downstairs away from
everybody else who is all sort of broken
up and gone in different directions to
try and turn the power back on or do
various other things, just like and among
us as she is wandering down towards the
bathroom, David comes slamming against
the outside glass wall of the room that
she's in his throat cut at the same time.
Sophie comes up behind her and they,
you know, both see this and they,
they go to check on him and everybody
else comes out and starts screaming
and making a big thing of it.
And, uh, David dies there in
front of them immediately.
Everybody is suspicious of everybody else.
They don't know what's going on.
Greg, who, you know, had died
in the game, is now disappeared.
Nobody knows where he's at and
he is the, the first suspect
to what has happened here.
Shortly thereafter, Jordan, who has
gone out to uh, check on turning on
the generator, comes back having found
the sword that belongs to David's
father, that, uh, Greg used to saber
open the, uh, champagne earlier
and it's covered in David's blood.
So they all assume that Greg has done it.
They've go to look in
Greg's room, he's not there.
They do find his hack with his go bag
and his, uh, knife and various other
things that one might take if they were
actually going camping as compared to
spending the night in somebody's very big
Emily: mansion.
This man does not have a car.
Greg does not drive.
That is my head can, and, and I know it
Jeremy: almost certainly he might
have, he might have a D u I scooter
depending on what state he lives in.
He lives in a
Emily: yurt at his cousin's house.
Jeremy: Uh, they find
Greg asleep in the gym.
He has his headphones in listening to
white noise, and he is sleeping with his.
Light mask on because he has,
uh, some issues with seasonal
depressive disorder or something
Emily: seasonal affected
Depressive disorder.
It's a thing.
Yeah.
People get it.
Oh, no.
A
Joe: absolutely.
Emily: I don't know if those masks
Jeremy: are a thing though.
I've never seen the masks before.
I do know that.
Yeah, I do know the
condition is a real thing.
So they're, they're cornering
him, asking him about this to
anybody that's watching this.
Not in the movie.
It's clear that he is, he
does not know what's going on.
He thinks they're all fucking with
him when he, uh, when they tell
him that, uh, that David is dead.
He is, he's confused that at first
they're talking about the game,
you know, still doesn't know what's
going on cuz everybody is refusing to
actually tell him what's happening.
Like you do in horror movies, sees
that, you know, Jordan has his knife
and is sort of threatening him with it.
He very easily gets it back from her.
And he makes the mistake of waving
it at Sophie as Sophie tries to get
it from him, and b is fucking right
or die and smashes his dude over the
head with a, with a fucking weight.
It bloodies him and he has the, the
bad sense to get up and go for it again
and gets his head completely smashed.
And now everybody is suddenly
not so sure about the fact that,
that Greg has killed somebody.
Everybody really wants to, uh, throw
that blame around, especially to be
who did the actual killing but did
not do any of the inciting things.
Get a little wild.
Everybody is sort of mistrusting of
each other, both really, and also
trying to like push blame for these,
uh, these deaths onto each other.
Meanwhile, Sophie has completely,
fallen off the wagon and has started
doing, started drinking and doing coke
and everything else, and is, is sort
of caught by Emma doing all of this.
Emma doesn't so much care cuz
Emma is pretty fucked up about
Dave and Greg being dead.
So Sophie does what any good friend
would do in this situation and decides
to give her a lot of pills and then
wander off and her to, to go do other
Ben: drugs.
Well, don't forget about
Emma's weird Tabo Raza.
I will conform to whatever she
thinks another person's desires are
and post-death comes onto Sophie.
Oh yeah,
Emily: yeah, yeah.
That was, to
Ben: use the word of the day, super sauce.
It's real weird.
And then the next we see she's
just fallen downstairs and
Jeremy: is dead.
Yeah, she is, uh, un unfortunately,
Alice, who is the least well
prepared for literally anything,
literally falls over Emma's dead
body at the bottom of the stairs.
She has died and left a trail
of blood all over the stairs.
They are trying to figure
out who has killed Emma.
Everybody is blaming each other.
Suddenly both Alice and Jordan are
teaming up on B and Sophie is suddenly
the worst person in this movie cuz
Sophie is not about to come to B'S aid.
Sophie is high and, uh, Just doing
whatever her friends say and allows
them to straight up, throw her
girlfriend outside into a hurricane.
Yeah.
Without doing anything about
Ben: it.
That scene made me so mad.
Like
Jeremy: I had such a flip on Sophie
over like five minutes in this movie
that I went from being like, Sophie is
the best character in this group too.
Like, I fucking hate Sophie.
Sophie's the worst.
I mean,
Emily: Sophie being part of that.
Ben: Sophie kept pissing me off.
Yeah.
The longer she kept going, not realizing
like, no, this relationship is over.
This relationship does
not survive this night.
You have not been together for
at least four scenes by now.
How have you not figured that out?
Drugs.
Okay.
You know what?
Yeah.
Yep.
That would explain it.
I mean, drugs can make
people feel crazy things.
I once felt like I was
the Lord of Christmas.
Interesting.
I knocked an ornament off a tree
and then I put it back on, which
made me master of Christmas.
Okay,
Emily: we'll unpack that
Jeremy: later.
You unseated Jesus.
Yes.
So,
Ben: uh, I attacked and dethroned to God.
Jeremy: You're an anime.
Over the course of the rest of this
movie, it is very clear that like
Sophie is slowly sobering up and is
terrified with how things have gone.
Oh, great writing and great acting and
a like a horrible thing to watch at the
course of this, cuz she is literally
just letting you know her girlfriend
be thrown out into this hurricane,
uh, where there's theoretically
somebody around trying to kill them.
W So she is running around
trying to find a way in.
And sees Jordan going through a, uh,
drawer in the kitchen, uh, where she sees
her take out a gun and now B knows that
she has to do something about this cuz
you know, her, her people are in danger.
So she ends up revisiting the dog door
that we have seen earlier in the movie and
crawling her way in through the dog door.
Don't
Emily: forget where B went to the car.
The vehicle that is not no longer
functional because she left
the light on in it and finds
the underwear that matches the
Ben: bra.
Yeah.
Also we get our Cheetos product placement.
The cleanest
Emily: Cheeto consumption I've ever seen.
Ben: Yeah, man, what
does that even look like?
Cheeto, dust on blood stains,
Emily: Cheeto, dust on
lipstick, on blood stains.
Because this is after she has her like
panic attack and throws up on her shirt
and then like goes upstairs in sort of
a fugue state and like grabs a random
sweater and puts on makeup because you
know she's having a nervous breakdown
because there's a murder happening and
she may have some drugs because she
had some of that weed cake that looked
like the best cake I've ever seen in my
Jeremy: life.
Yeah.
We are skipping a lot of things
here cuz there's a lot of
this movie that isn't plot.
There's a lot of like dialogue that
really is the plot that informs how
people get to the, the weird decisions
and, and choices that they make.
Yeah.
They did scope over the fact that they do
go out to the one remaining car, which is
Sophie's car and that the battery is dead.
It is unclear whether it is dead
because somebody has killed it
or it is dead because B left
the, uh, light on the mirror on.
But B does make the mistake of fessing
up to that one, uh, which will lead
everybody later on to be like, you did
this thing and you did it on purpose.
So things continue to go sideways.
B goes into confront Jordan about this.
It comes out that Jordan and
Sophie have previously fucked.
We already kind of knew but have actively
been texting back and forth and have
had a, a meetup previous to, uh, them
coming to this place, which is how
Jordan's underwear ended up in Sophie's
Jeep and everything is going even worse.
There's a big fight between Jordan
and Alice because Alice finds out
that Jordan doesn't like her podcast,
which they mention so that they
could play these two against each
other cuz they're the only ones that
are actually united at this point.
B confronts Jordan about having a gun.
Jordan empties her pockets.
Clearly she doesn't have a gun,
but it is revealed that she
was the killer in the game.
And somebody has thrown out the theory.
I think Alice threw out the theory
that people were dying in the same
order, that they died in the game,
and that whoever was the killer
must really be the real killer.
No,
Emily: they didn't.
That wasn't the
Ben: order at all, which
was completely wrong.
Yeah,
Jeremy: it was, yeah.
Same people, just in a
completely different order and
Ben: way.
That was really the moment where
I knew, oh, there's no killer.
Oh, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
They're tucker and tailing
it without a tucker and tail.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Yeah.
So at this point, like B is
just fighting for survival.
Sophie is going along with whatever
anybody else says, and Alice is
just like as usual, swaying to
whatever side is being argued.
Finally, like Jordan has had it, because
now they're saying that she's the killer
because she was the killer in the game.
So she goes and gets the gun that
she has hidden in the couch pillow
and starts waving it around.
There's a fight over the gun.
Alice gets shot in the fight.
And dies.
They continue to fight over the
gun, back and forth for a while.
Jordan has Sophie at, at gunpoint
and they're sort of like walking
back up the stairs cuz Sophie
won't, you know, stay still and
behave the way she's supposed to.
And as they're doing this, b runs
sort of the other direction through
the house and sneaks up on Jordan and
they fight over the gun and B gets it.
And then Jordan tries to come after
her for it again, and B flips her
over the balcony onto the floor
below, onto the trash below where
Jordan finally proclaimed with
her last breath check her texts.
B is, is done with Sophie at this
point and tries to walk out and
Sophie keeps like trying to follow
her and be convinced that they're.
Still together.
And finally, B is like, not until
I, you know, see your texts and
look through all this stuff.
B it seems is also convinced
that Sophie is the killer at this
point because Sophie has lied to
her about all these other things.
Uh, they're fighting over Sophie's phone.
They wrestle and trip and fall
and wrestle some more in the mud.
Wrestle their way into the
pool and back out of the pool.
And finally, B gets
the phone and opens it.
And it's not actually Sophie's
phone, it is just a phone that was
left lying there by the side of
the pool and got covered in mud.
And it turns out it's David's phone
and they watch David's final recording
that he made, I'm assuming on TikTok,
but not TikTok for legal reasons, where
he is practicing savoring this bottle
so that he can do what Greg did and
then starts playing with the sword
and accidentally cuts his own throat.
Therefore murdering himself and
causing the rest of the movie.
And at the same point, max, who several
people have convinced, is the one that's
actually doing the killing because
he wandered off early in the movie
with the only other car returns and
is like, what the fuck is going on?
And that's the end of the film.
Well, they get the power
and the signal back.
Yes.
The power and the signal both come back
Ben: and bee's phone is blowing up.
Emily: Yeah.
Yeah.
The fuck is
Jeremy: texting bee?
Yeah, probably.
It was determined obviously that the,
the power outage was just a power outage.
Nobody caused it.
Nobody did anything nefarious.
And yes, the only person that
actually gets murdered in this
movie it with intention is
Greg David cuts his own throat.
The power actually goes out in the storm.
B kills Greg in self-defense.
Emma fell down the stairs
high on pills all on her own.
We get a confession from, uh, Sophie
about in the, the late game there.
Alice got shot wrestling for the
gun Jordan, you know, fell down the
stairs after attacking B Jordan did
Ben: not fall down.
Well, she got, Jordan was thrown down
the stairs, thrown off the railing.
Not this like a thrown off a
railing storm off of Meine down.
Yeah, yeah,
Jeremy: yeah.
The car battery absolutely did die because
they left the light on inside of it.
Emily: Yeah.
They show her leaving the light on.
In the
Jeremy: beginning there was
nothing nefarious and there
was no killer in this movie.
Uh, they just all hated each other
so much that it barely took anything
for them to all kill each other.
I,
Ben: I will call bullshit on that phone
working after spending hours in hurricane
Joe: mud.
I was gonna say like, that's
one hell of a phone to OtterBox.
Yeah.
Right.
Emily: They're not sponsored by OtterBox.
Jeremy: I out a box to do it, man.
The
Ben: video reveal of how Pete
Davidson died was so fucking good.
I love that ending.
Like his outfit, the dancing, the
music, him hitting himself with it.
I was dying.
I was laughing so hard.
I loved it.
Jeremy: I did something that I
rarely do while watching movies.
I was watching this alone by myself
during the day and when that video
played and he literally cut his own
throat, I went, no, like, and just
like pounded the table in front of me.
I was like, no, I can't believe that.
It's all just that stupid and that like,
that's perfect for this movie for me.
And it seems, I understand why
other people hate this movie,
but like, oh, absolutely.
It's perfect.
Yeah.
Ben: Yep.
No, that's, that's the perfect ending
for a movie with this much just
dripping hate for its own characters.
This is a very nihilistic movie, I think.
Jeremy: Yeah.
It's like these are so like media
engrossed characters that like one of
them dies and the power goes out and they
assume that they're in a slasher movie.
That's what happens in
Ben: this movie.
And, and not that they're in a hurricane.
Yeah, in a forested
Emily: area.
Yeah.
They're in a hurricane
in the middle of nowhere.
Sure.
But there's, there's other things
that are going on that are that
like, uh, charcuterie board of bad
ideas as well as the charcuterie
board and Cheerios that they have
Ben: on.
Oh man.
Now I want charcuterie.
Emily: I want charcuterie and Cheerios.
That's like, they got that shit
said, coterie Cheer Coterie.
That's what I call it.
But for real though, they're all on drugs.
Jeremy: They're barely
keeping it together sober.
Yeah.
You
Emily: know, the
Ben: flags abound.
We got older guy like
creeping on younger girl.
We got knowing podcast lady.
We got a, a actress issues.
Yeah.
We got Pete Davidson.
Yeah.
Like there were red flags abound.
Yeah.
We got a, you
Jeremy: know, confession of repressed
love from a, you know, male friend
to a longtime female friend that has
Emily: already caused drama.
There's already tension because
they've all done shrooms.
Jeremy: Yeah.
And we didn't even mention that Jordan,
or not Jordan, but that, uh, that
no, nobody knew Sophie was coming.
Sophie is still in the group text but
has been away from the group for some
time and Sophie just like decided
to roll in with her girlfriend.
Ben: Yeah, if you wanna play the body's,
body's, body's drinking game drink, every
time they mention the group text, that's
Emily: another thing is that the
body's body's bodies game comes with
a drinking element where everybody
does shots and slaps each other.
So they already like this
pretext for animosity.
Like they basically are like, we're gonna
make each other super mad, and then we're
going to pretend that one of us killed
the other ones, and then we're gonna pick
each other apart to see who we think is
like evil enough to be lying spoilers.
It's
Ben: everybody.
It's also implied that that's how the
game ends every time they play it.
Yeah, yeah.
Like with half of them just
furious and the other half crying.
Emily: I mean, the fact that they,
but they're already killed each other.
In this way is, there's some
bonds of friendship there cuz
otherwise they'd already be dead.
Ben: Is that where the bars, well,
I guess I not wanting to actively
kill someone, I guess we're friends.
Emily: Well, there's something
that resonates here for me.
You know, when we talk about these small
groups of friends and we talk about the
depiction of these like disaster gaze and
there's definitely like, what's the term?
Relatability.
Well, there's the relatability,
but there's also like, uh,
familiarity breeds contempt, right?
From the people who are telling the story
about these disaster gaze that they have
Ben: known.
There's a lot of, I'm putting
my ex-girlfriend in this movie
because she's sucked and I want
everyone to know she's sucked.
Yeah,
Emily: and there's a lot of
experience there, but I think also
it speaks to this becoming ever
present problem within these groups.
Even progressive groups, like
relatively progressive, but they
were still shitty to each other.
And I think it comes from, there's like
an imposter syndrome that's in there,
and also like the idea that this is
your community and you have to deal
with it no matter how fucking toxic
it is, which is, you know, fallacious.
Ben: There's also an element that,
that's just kind of how social
interactions are in Connecticut.
I didn't
Emily: know this was in Connecticut, was
Ben: it?
I, it just feels very Connecticut.
Connecticut rarely gets hurricanes,
but it's got very Connecticut
Jeremy: vibes.
If it weren't for the hurricane, I feel
like it could easily be California.
Like Yeah, this could be la
Well, yeah, this is, this is la,
especially with Greg with movie LA
Ben: weather.
This is some either Southern
California or explicitly Berkeley area.
Oh no,
Emily: my friend.
Listen, Greg's, that's the thing.
That's what I'm saying is that, Know,
Greg may have, may, maybe Lee Pace, and
he may have all of the personality of a,
uh, of a golden retriever in this movie.
Still a predator because of the context.
I have known so many
Sonoma County, Greg's.
Ben: I'm not Greg's
definitely from Sonoma.
No, Greg's definitely hitchhike
his way from California.
He's
Emily: on that couch surfing app.
I think I went to college with Greg.
Jeremy: I mean, Greg could be
further northwest than that, but he's
definitely like, he's got a northern
California Pacific Northwest vibe.
Yeah,
Emily: these queer characters that
probably don't really have the resources
to remove themselves from the situation.
I think that the characters are a lot
more deliberately hateable and are a
lot less about, like, we're a close-knit
queer group because we have each
other, and that's all we've really had.
And rather, this movie is like,
we're a close-knit group, but
we're also fucking disasters.
And, you know, the money, the,
the status is a part of that.
And so there's performative allyship
going on as a part of like the comparative
merits that they're foisting on
Ben: each other.
They just feel very believable
to me as this very toxic clique.
It is really entirely about, look at
this group, be so fucking toxic that
they just completely destroy themselves
through their own stupidity, selfishness,
and destructiveness towards each other.
Joe: You even have that line.
I forget who it is that Sophie's talking
about when, when Sophie be here, like
walking through, you know, David's house
and you know, she's like, you know,
be's sort of like, you know, like, wow.
And, and Sophie's like,
so-and-so's house is even bigger.
Like, it's like that
Emily: kinda Jordan was selling her that.
Yeah.
And if George George was talking
about how Sophie's house is bigger,
Ben: George, you get enough backstory
through these like, dramatic conversations
to realize every one of the people in this
friend group is talking shit about every
other friend, group members Oh my God.
To all of the other friend groups.
Like they all hate each
Jeremy: other.
Yeah.
I think the like favorite delivery of
anything in this movie for me was when,
like Jordan has been going on and on
about how vapid and stupid Alice is.
And Alice is like, you're so
in love with your riches story.
Your parents are upper middle class.
Like the way she just delivers that
is like, that's the biggest insult.
And the way it hits Jordan is like,
yeah, how dare you, how dare you apply?
My parents are upper middle
class, they're university
Ben: professors.
I thought she was gonna shoot
Alice on the spot for that.
She almost did.
Really wanted to give a shout out to
Alice's actress, uh, Rachel Snot, who
I think really did an amazing job.
I mean, we talk about the character
being annoying and I likeable, but
like that is very much the character.
The performance is wonderful
and so much fun to watch.
Everybody's
Emily: just eaten up.
The, the opportunity to the cast is great.
Absolutely horrible.
It's great.
Ben: Everybody in this cast
is doing an awesome job.
Emily: Doesn't Jordan like
straight up Shoot Alice in the leg?
Jeremy: Yeah, she shoots Alice in the
leg for being, for being an asshole.
Ben: And then we get this incredible
exchange of just Alice yelling at Jordan.
Jordan being like, no I didn't Jordan
just straight up from choosing you
actually actually shot me shot.
There's so
Emily: much pain in my leg.
You actually shot
Ben: me
Jeremy: the like the whole bit where
they're like wrestling over the gun
and like, and Alice keeps complaining
that people are lying on her leg, like
as they're wrestling for this gun.
She just keeps going.
Ow my leg get off.
Emily: She must be on so much cocaine
if she can walk and like charge
somebody while being shot in the leg.
Ben: Adrenaline is a hell
of a drug and it really is.
Just do all of the other drugs that
are a hell of a drug inside her system.
This isn't what shrooms
are supposed to do.
They're just supposed to
make you master of Christmas.
Emily: Well, the, the, the shrooms
were the night before, which sounded
like a relatively chill time until, you
know, the dude started being toxically
masculine to like a definition like Oxford
Dictionary toxic masculinity definition.
Like I've seen competing chickens
act better towards each other.
I've seen Cox fight with
more diplomacy than these two
Ben: dudes.
I do wish the movie had given us a
little more of what they were implying
with Emma's weird, almost like Patrick
Bateman level sociopath of just only
existing as a reflection of what she
thinks another person's desires are.
Yeah, like it's such a weird, fascinating,
disturbing direction, and I wish
they'd done a little more orphan.
Jeremy: There's so many just
exchanges in this movie that
are just like, Beautifully done.
They're not like things I've really seen
in a movie, but they feel so much like
these conversations and like one of them
is just this exchange between Greg and
David where like they've, they've been
talking and Greg is like, well, you know,
the best defense is a good offense and
it's meant like, yes, he's being to David.
And David's like, what does that mean?
And Greg is like, well, it's the
best defense is a good offense.
And David's like, yeah, but what
does that fucking mean to you?
Like, what are you trying to say?
And it's unclear whether like Greg just
doesn't know, or Greg is like suddenly too
intimidated by him to like actually say
what he is, what he is feeling about it.
Yeah.
And it's, it's funny cuz I, I
Ben: love that scene, scene
Jeremy: that Quip is sort of
like an embodiment of the way
that like all of these characters
in interact with each other.
Is like instead of defending
themselves for shit that they have
done, they're just like, yeah, but
you fucking suck for this reason.
Like they just, I keep attacking
each other as a way of defending
themselves in a way that I thought.
Ben: Interesting.
You know what?
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think that exchange is the movie.
I think that is every one of these
characters, all of their strategies is the
best defense, is a good offense, and none
of them know what that actually means.
Yeah.
When they're
Emily: embodying it the
whole time, you know?
Ben: Yeah.
Pete Davidson just hushing it.
Like, that's what I'm saying, like they're
both so good in what time They have
like, like Lee Pace just being this kinda
like dumb off weirdo and fucking Pete
Davidson just delivering platinum tear.
Hate shred, Pete Davidson's hate feeds my
Jeremy: soul.
Especially like this version of
Pete Davidson who's already got
a black guy who is just so, like,
doesn't fit in his own clothes.
He's just so like dumb looking.
He is just like, and
Emily: he's, he's trying to define
himself by looking like he's the guy,
he's the kind of guy who fucks Yeah.
Like that's what he,
he says that to Sophie.
He's like, I'm just, I just wanna
Ben: be seen as something
Bible wanna give up.
Here's the thing though, that
is the actual IP Davidson gives
off in real life, and it works.
I mean, the amount of people I've legit
seen be fucking rabid for this guy.
Or general dirt bag aesthetics like
him, I get it now because I've been
fucking poisoned by Twitter brain.
Emily: I also wanna to mention
real quick here, I've never
actually seen a cock fight.
They're, I've just seen chickens
be like, into themselves.
If
Ben: that's it.
Emily being like, your questions about
whether I've seen poultry murder each
other is answered by my, I've never
seen poultry murder each other T-shirt.
Emily: Yes,
Ben: of course.
Uh, Joe, what, what were some of your
thoughts on like the movie Poul Murder
moments that really stood out to you?
The
Joe: murders that stood out.
Or just
Ben: moments?
Emily: Moments.
Sorry.
I said
Ben: murder Yeah.
Moments.
No, no, you're fine.
I mean, those moments could be murder.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, the murder moments
definitely stood out for me.
Joe: No, I mean, a, a lot of those
little bits where they were, you know,
talking and, well, it felt like I, I
don't know if other people felt this
way, but for whatever reason, like in
early on when they're playing the game,
you know, before things really go off
the rails, like there was just like
an energy in the movie where like, it
almost felt like it was like a big house
party where there were a lot of people.
Like, I wouldn't have been surprised
if like there were, but as soon as,
you know, Pete Davidson's dead, it
feels like there's less energy there.
Like it feels like it really sucks
the energy out and you really feel
the isolation, which I, I think
was done very well, you know?
For sure.
And they do a good job with, you
know, Keeping it dark and, and
everything like that from there.
But the way they go about it, I,
I think they do like, it's hard.
It's kind of hard to do because
the movie has to be both over
the top with everything going on.
Their reactions to things cuz they're
supposed to have you, you know, these,
these are internet brained people.
Mm-hmm.
But the movie somehow also doesn't come
out and just tell you that, oh, this
is all more or less a, a, a commentary
on this idea of people who get, who are
chronically online and, and, and fall
into this, take themselves too seriously.
And I, I mean, we are literally
later in the movie, at a point where
people are fighting over a gun and,
and are willing to murder each other.
Because of what could potentially
happen if someone sees the text
messages of another person.
Mm-hmm.
And like a, and the movie,
it's both not subtle at all.
I mean, it's like subtle as a brick,
but also it kind of is subtle cuz the
movie never takes that moment to have a
character be like, boy we sure did take
things really far when it would've, you
know, we could have avoided all of this if
we just took a step back and breathed y.
You know, so it's like it's, it rides this
fine line, it worked for me, but I could
easily see someone being like, it didn't
work for kind of the same reasons I am.
I'm out lying.
Which is some of the stuff that we
were kind of talking about earlier
of this, the reasons that you might
love it or also some of the reasons
I could see someone hating it.
Emily: Yeah.
The.
The fact that it doesn't actually
like make a definite statement.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like if you really,
like, if you take a moment and
step back, it's pretty clear, but
like the, the exchanges do make it
a bit confusing in the messaging.
Yeah.
And I think that's on purpose.
I think it's, yeah.
Supposed to be about, like Ben said,
like these people obsessed with
an idea that they have to defend
themselves with a good offense.
And that's just Twitter.
It's always happened.
It's happened before Twitter.
It's just, you know, yeah.
People have, it's been exacerbated with
certain people because of Twitter, you
know, and also even like being honest,
like everyone's being very defensive.
But even when they are trying to
be honest, they're still like,
it is, it is seen as weakness.
So there's little like, real, uh,
solution other than just disengaging,
which you know, isn't an option for them.
So they end up taking
it to the nth degree.
A k a killing each other.
Yeah.
In that way, it's kind
of smart commentary.
And it's also like, I think there is
something to be said about the voyeuristic
nature of watching all this go down and,
you know, living with Twitter, and this
speaks a little bit more to the idea of
horror as something that speaks to, to
a little bit darker side of somebody.
In, in this case, there's a lot of
fluff that's taken out that would be
otherwise like, like horror movie tropes.
Mm-hmm.
And it's just pure being
shitty and on drugs.
Like there is no reason injected in here.
I,
Jeremy: I think it's an incredibly
tight slasher, despite the fact
that it's not actually a slasher.
Like there is no slashing going on.
It's like, yeah, by, by the time you
get to the end of the movie, there's
a reason for everything that happened.
There's no like, magical
realism of how did this get
here and how did that get here?
It's like everything that
actually happened, like.
Makes sense.
It's all explained, it
all like is all there.
The explanation is vapid and
mundane in a way that like, makes
absolute sense for these characters.
Totally.
Yeah.
It's, and that's like, that's the
brilliance of it is how, how dumb
it is and how much that works for
Ben: me.
It's the exact right level of dumb to
make perfect sense for these characters
and it's so right that something
that all it would take is something
as dumb as that to have all of them
dead or nearly all of them dead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jeremy: Yeah.
I, I love that the ending is so
like abrupt when it comes to that.
It's like the moment that they figure out
what's happened and you know that they
also have a witness, like you have Max
coming back to see what has happened.
Um, it's like, Well, this
can't end well for anybody.
Yeah.
Like, especially not B, who has actually
killed two people in this movie.
Like B is the best
person out of everybody.
They're, they're also the only
person who's like guilty of
actual, like, you know, it's
self-defense, second degree murder.
But like they very much did
kill both Greg and and Jordan.
Look,
Ben: don't worry.
I'm sure our justice system will
be very fair and understanding
to the working class immigrant.
Oh, ah.
I made a depressing truth funny by
pointing out how depressing it is.
Emily: I mean, it works.
Ben: Yeah.
I don't know.
I guess I just want y'all
to feel a little bad.
Sorry.
Emily: Uh, duh.
Don't be sorry.
I
Jeremy: feel bad.
I feel this is kind of like a.
Classic, progressively horrified, like
come around the other side because
it's like, is this movie feminist?
Yes.
All the women are horrible.
Of course it's feminist like, you
know, they're just like, oh yeah, you
know, they're like real characters.
They're real people and they really suck.
Yep.
You know?
Yeah.
Every, everybody in this movie sucks.
Ben: Oh, this movie's definitely feminist.
It's gay as hell.
Jeremy: It's gay out the gate
and consistently throughout.
Ben: Yeah.
Oh, very gay.
It's diverse and not in a race blind way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's very aware of its intersection
of race and class and the dynamics of
friendship between race, especially
when you have people this fucking rich
and privileged and Twitter brained.
Emily: Yeah.
And you know, it's also as honest
about these people despite their race.
You know, there's no
championing of anybody here.
Ben: Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like Alice kind of said what we
would have to say about mental illness
and like this movie straight up says like
ableist and discusses like borderline
personality disorder, like this movie's
definitely aware of mental health.
Kind of going
Joe: back to some of the stuff
we were alluding to earlier.
It kind of plays it both ways and
you could make that argument like
it goes all the way around to
the point where it's like, is it
progressive or, or stuff like that.
And, and I think that's a great point,
what you, you just brought up, because
there are multiple moments where those
things are brought up like ableism, like
body dysmorphia, these other things.
But a lot of times when it's brought
up it's at a very glib and very
dismissive way and it's, yeah,
Ben: totally mag
Jeremy: godly.
That body dysmorphia bit killed me.
Like, oh, that was so funny, where
B is like explaining that her mom,
I don't know, she said she's, she
has borderline and like that Alice's
reaction to that is like, oh my gosh,
I also have mental health issue.
I have body that's worthy.
And the Jordan is just
like, Shut the fuck up.
Like just, this is not about
you for just like half a second.
Could you just shut the fuck up?
It's so like, well, the way
Emily: that Alice also like says like,
mental health is a very important issue.
Like she's reading off
of a fucking prompt.
It, it,
Jeremy: you know, that exchange
in particular feels so much
like Twitter of like, yeah.
Any time that you're on Twitter and
you're like, Hey, this very serious
thing is happening in my life and
somebody else is like, I also had a
serious thing happen in my life at
one point, you know, six years ago.
And, uh, it's, it's like a
completely unrelated thing and
you're just like, what the fuck?
Just shut up like, whatcha
talking about right
Emily: now?
Or like, your, your problem
is not as bad as my problem.
You know, the dick measuring of, of
like comparing each other's problems
and the legitimate legitimacy thereof,
which is what a lot of people are afraid
of when they're like worried about
being honest about their situation.
It's, it really does like take a solid
stab and a very important stab at
like performative allyship, especially
as they're like, I am an ally.
The way that that's delivered, like,
that's where any question of where
this movie stands was answered for me.
Because these characters are such an
embodiment of the kind of people that
don't understand what is progress,
what is empathy, and what is like,
what is at the heart of these issues.
But they know that there are issues
and they wanna be on the right
side of the argument at the end.
Yeah.
Yeah, they just know that they've been
told that this is a problem and they
haven't like, made any effort to listen
to anybody unless they're, you know, the
loudest person in the room, which is often
somebody who is performative, who is a
performative ally, especially on Twitter.
Or not just Twitter.
I mean like, this is something
that goes back to before Twitter.
This goes to forums and all
sorts of internet discourse.
I mean,
Jeremy: in real life,
like, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, there's plenty of this in real life.
It's so wild to me because I think
that's, like, this movie is one of
the most like tonally consistent
horror movies I've ever seen.
Like beginning to end.
Definitely nothing about it
is, yeah, poorly thought out.
All the needle drops are very like
specific to the mood and feel of this
movie, even when it is, you know,
daddy af uh, like it's all just so
like right on for this group of people
and like, It's so, so pitch Perfect.
Emily: Yeah.
Yeah.
That song about Daddy af and
all the lyrics about Kind
Jeremy: Lingus, there's
Catherine Slater, by the way.
Daddy Af.
Joe: Okay.
Thank you.
I like that stuff.
Hello?
Kitty's probably my favorite song
Jeremy: from, from Slater, but yeah.
Yeah, they've, they've got a real,
like, it's a murder's row of sort
of like modern, semi sleazy, like
dirt bag rock and pop and rap.
You know, you've got your Charlie
X, C X and Tyga, and so many of the,
the things in this are, are just
like, if you were to drop them in 90%
of other movies, I'd be like, why?
Why is this here?
But like, Azalea Banks showing up in this
movie is like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
It's, it's so on point.
I feel like there's no doubt to me that
I, I would recommend this movie to people.
I think there's absolutely people that are
not gonna get it and not gonna enjoy it.
I, I think it's so smart and it's so.
Hateful.
Like it's got so much pent up
rage in it that's just like let
out through how horribly these
characters are to each other.
It just feels so like experientially real.
Yeah.
Emily: Yeah.
And it's a relatively new voice too.
I mean, I think a lot of people
who hate this movie probably, I
mean, I don't wanna be dismissive,
but because it's, it's about these
new things and these new issues.
You know, some people might be turned off
by that because it's just not applicable.
Yeah.
And one of the things that is
progressive about it is that it is
now going beyond you should be cool
and being like, okay, so there's a lot
of people who are trying to be cool.
And these are the problems
that we're seeing.
You know, like the same thing
with like the centrist shit that,
you know, people who are like,
I think we should all get along.
And, you know, and that's the same, same
problem that was in a fucking day slash
event, you know, this kind of naive
morality that doesn't acknowledge the
truth of like, actual social interactions.
Yeah.
Jeremy: I, I do wanna also acknowledge
like from a zeitgeist point of view that
this, so it was rewritten by Sarah Dela,
but it was originally written by Kristen
Ian, which, if that name sounds familiar,
it's because she wrote that short story
cat person that the internet fell in love,
hate with for a good like six months.
Um, and, and could not talk about
anything but that for a long time.
I, I feel like it is
consistent to that voice.
Like I said, this is one of the first
films that Helena Raja has directed.
And I feel like looking through
like conversations about it and
everything, it feels like her
fingerprints are very much on this.
So much of what makes it, it is
very like, purposeful for her.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I, I, I dig the hell out of this movie and
yeah, I'd, I'd absolutely recommend it.
I don't think everybody's
gonna like it, but I do think
they should watch it anyway.
Emily: I definitely recommend this
movie, especially like this is a
movie that people really need to see.
If they spend a lot of time on Twitter,
you know, if you find yourself being
like, haha, those idiots, I'm so, so
relatable, but ha and then, you know,
just take a look into that dark mirror.
And I'm not talking about just
people who use social media.
I'm talking about the very specific, the
people who are involved with these people.
The people who are, you know, in
this friend group that are like,
oh, my friends are like this.
Oh remember you, you need to leave.
I know it's hard.
We think you should leave.
You know, it's hard.
Yeah.
I think you should leave.
If you, if you watch this movie and
it reminds you of a, of a community
that you're a part of, think
Jeremy: about that.
This is our, this is us giving
you permission to run away.
Ben: Yeah.
You know, I think you should leave
a, a great show and gonna be my
recommendation if you like body's bodies.
Bodies.
Check out Coffin.
Floppers on Corn Cop tv.
Jeremy: Cut.
Oh God.
I, I did wanna say Ben.
Uh, they do say on the I M D B
that this, uh, is at least filmed,
if not said in Qua New York.
Yeah.
Okay.
Ben: Yeah.
No, that checks out.
Emily: Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yeah,
Emily: I guess any big storm on the
East Coast is a hurricane cuz we get
like Pacific depressions or something.
I mean, I'm constantly
in a Pacific Depression.
Ben: Hey.
Doesn't happen.
It, it doesn't happen like every year,
like in certain parts of the country,
but it does happen every few years.
A lot
Jeremy: of tropical storms.
Yeah.
A lot of times there's a hurricane
that bounces up the coast.
Yeah, yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
A lot of tropical storms.
It usually doesn't, we usually don't
get hit by a full on hurricane.
Yeah.
Joe: But, you know, I, I'll also say a,
again, like, like while I recommend this
movie, if you are the type of person who
cannot watch something with unlikable
characters, and I've met multiple
people who, who are like that Yeah.
They're valid.
You're not gonna have a good time.
But if you're able to watch stuff
where everyone's like, unlikable.
Yeah.
Like, like you, you'll like it.
Yeah.
You know what this movie I was
thinking of two movies that one
you referenced earlier, B was,
uh, Tucker Dale versus Evil.
This movie definitely
made me think of that.
And I also thought of Burnt After Reading.
Huh?
Emily: I haven't seen that one.
It was,
Joe: it's
Ben: also about unlikeable.
Is it that everyone, people
that people are done and that,
I know Brad Pitt's dumb in that
Joe: movie is everyone's pretty dumb and
comes up with bad plans and things, and
tragically because they're so stupid.
That's
Ben: kind of my favorite kind of movie.
Jeremy: Yeah.
I love that movie.
It's a real Cohen Brothers vibe.
This movie.
Like, it's, it's like a little bit, yeah.
It's like, this is like
super queer Cohen Brothers.
Emily: Yeah.
It's like, it's like
Generation Z Cohen Brothers.
Holy shit.
Well, that opens up a
lot of recommendations.
There you go.
Yeah, I was actually gonna
recommend the comic works of Brian
Leo O'Malley, especially like the
Scott Pilgrim comics and his Comic
Seconds, which Scott Pilgrim is fun.
And the, the movie's fun and the,
you know, it has its own issues and
the um, video game is definitely fun.
But I think what people forget
to mention is that it is a
condemnation of a bunch of idiots.
Scott Pilgrim is not cool.
Yeah.
He's against the world.
Yeah.
Uh, you know, that, that and seconds,
and those also with characters that
are dating below their age and being
kind of morally reprehensible that
way and it acknowledged as such.
You know, Scott Pilgrim is
also very much of its time.
Scott Pilgrim is a millennial
story, whereas this is
Ben: the sequel.
Yeah.
Scott, Scott Pilgrim, very
Emily: millennial.
Yeah.
And so, and seconds I love seconds.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's some more like magical realism
in both of those, but you know, it's
also drawn like Parapa, the Rappa.
Jeremy: Yeah.
For me the, the biggest things
that I would recommend are actually
movies we've already talked about.
So, you know, hopefully a lot of people
will have seen, but in a lot of ways,
this feels a lot to me, like the movies of
Christopher Landon, like Happy Death Day
and Freaky, uh, which are Oh, yeah, yeah.
Also, especially in the case of Happy
Death Day, very much about, Bad people.
Um, you know, yes, happy that they, she
has sort of given the chance to be like,
to get better, but again, it's like a, a
horror movie about bad things happening
to bad people and you know, sort of gives
you the chance to, and that one root
for them, uh, and this one by the end,
with the exception of B uh, everybody
else in this movie deserved their fate.
Yes.
So, but uh, yeah, definitely check
out both, uh, both Happy Death
Day and Freaky if You Haven't.
Those are also like movies with a, a queer
director that feel queer movies that are
somehow gay than they slash them without
having a gay character in the lead.
Ben: Yeah.
Jeremy: I think that about
does it for us, uh, here.
Uh, Joe, did you wanna let people, uh,
know where they can find you and find
out more about what you do online?
Sure.
Joe: People can find me on
Twitter at, uh, Joe Carlo.
That's j o e c o r a l l o or Instagram.
And that's reverse.
It's at Corralo Joe.
And, uh, you know, I'm still
writing and editing comics.
Uh, you, you can pre-order
the Die in the Dark.
Uh, trade paper back for Mad Cave
Studios will be out end of July,
early August, and same thing with
the, the Never Ending Party through
Dark Horse end of July as well.
Nice.
Jeremy: Thank you.
As for the rest of us, you can find Emily
at Mega Moth on Twitter at mega underscore
moth on Instagram and@megamoth.net.
Ben is on Twitter at Ben the Con and
on their website@benconncomics.com.
We can pick up all of their
books, including pre-ordering
l Campbell wins their weekend.
And finally for me, you can find me
on Twitter and Instagram at jro five
eight on my website@jeremywhitley.com.
And, uh, you can buy the dog night right
now and if you already have the dog night
and you wanna pre-order something, uh,
school for Extraterrestrial Girls book two
from me and Jamie Nucci is now available
for pre-order and will be out in November.
So if, if you love me, you'll love Jamie.
You and if you've read the first
book, go ahead and pre-order that
cuz it's, it's a coming, I just got
the, the finished proof of it today.
So always.
Yeah.
Ben: Congratulations.
Yes, thank you.
Jeremy: Cheers.
Thank you.
Go read
Ben: dog Night, y'all.
Yeah,
Emily: go read dog night's.
Ben: Cute as fuck.
You've got dogs and nights
and dogs who are nights.
Yes.
Joe: Read
Jeremy: it.
Yes, do read it.
And of, of course, the
podcast is on, on Patreon.
It progressively horrified our website
at progressively horrified transistor
fm and on Twitter Pro Horror Pod,
where we'd love to hear from you.
Speaking of loving to hear from
you, we would love it if you'd
rate and review this podcast
wherever you're listening to it.
It helps new people find the pod.
Thank you again so much
to Joe for joining us.
This was a ball.
Yeah, no, thanks for
Joe: having me.
Thank you, Joe.
I, I love doing this.
Uh, happy to be back.
Love having you on.
Jeremy: Oh, thank you.
It's nice to have some, uh, some
ones we actually liked after, uh,
after talking about they slash them,
which is, uh, a Grand Disappointment.
Joe: Oh, God.
Oh, poor Kevin Bacon.
Emily: I told my friend that Kevin Bacon
was in this movie, and they're like, oh
Jeremy: no.
Even as we were talking about it,
it's like, is this the worst horror
movie Kevin Bacon has ever been in?
Cause that is a real race to the bottom.
Ooh.
You know, cause you got
that, you got hollow man.
I, I was
Ben: gonna say, man,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Nobody is, nobody is actively molested
on screen by an invisible man in this
movie, which is, I guess, a plus.
It's, it's a low bar, but it cleared it.
All right.
And uh, there we go.
Thank you so much to all of
you for listening, and until
next time, stay horrified.