"Undertone": Dutch Angle The Dishes And Call It Horror

We review Undertone, a horror movie built around a remote podcast and a daughter caring for her dying mother, and we keep circling the same feeling: huge potential with too little payoff. We score the acting, cinematography, sound, plot, and rewatchability, then land on a unified 2.5 out of 5 after debating what the film sets up and what it refuses to deliver. 
• our quick synopsis of Undertone and why the premise hits close to home for podcasters 
• acting problems across on-screen and voice performances 
• cinematography choices like Dutch angles and why they feel unmotivated 
• sound design highlights including silence and headphone transitions 
• the “fun and games” the movie teases but never plays 
• vibes-based storytelling versus plot-based horror and why the ending frustrates us 
• themes we notice around isolation, caregiving, addiction, and consequence 
• how we would change our behavior if we were the haunted podcasters 
Make sure to check out our podcast, we come out every week wherever podcasts are sold.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

No, it's good that you guys are here. I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Alright, let's do it. Someone say morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Hell yeah. Alright, well let's just dive right on in. There's gonna be a lot of diving as usual. So hey everybody, welcome to High and Dry Podcast. Uh I'm your host, Ryan Barron North. With me as always, James Crosslin, Luke, fellas, how are you doing this week?

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Good. It's uh yeah. It's hot as shit here. Hot as interesting. It's 90s. It's in the 90s in southern country. It's cold here. I mean, I'm in Orlando, Florida. We got four. Well, yeah. It's 56 here this evening, which I guess isn't like poor bastard. Cold for Florida. I have a fire blazing. Well, you know, I I don't. I had to put my hoodie on though. Luke and I'll have a fire blazing soon.

unknown 1:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Right in our faces. That's true. That's true. Well, let's well, so hey everyone. Welcome to High and Jai Podcast. Find us wherever podcasts are sold. Um we are the only podcast keeping alive 1000 Ways to Die.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Oh, yeah. I remember that one. 1,000 Ways to Die. That one? I do know. The learning channel, right? If I'm not mistaken. Spike. Oh, Spike. Oh, okay. Yeah, Spike was a learning channel. Same thing. The channel that brought us Stripperella. Yeah, it's very educational.

Toasts And New Listeners Shoutout

SPEAKER_01 1:47

After TNT got closed down for the allegations, you know. So we are not actually going to be going episode for episode with A Thousand Ways to Die. That's actually our other podcast. On High and Dry, we are going to be discussing the film. Fuck, what are we doing? Undertone. Undertone. Undertone. That's right. We're going to be discussing the undertone. And we are going to do it in a patented three-part method, guaranteed to give you the biggest movie review bang for your book. First, we are going to give you the definitive five-stars rating for this, way better than anything the Rotten Tomatoes has ever done. Then we are going to jump onto the golden path where we're delve into the deeper mysteries of this particular film. And finally, we are going to insert ourselves drugs or alcohol into it. But what makes us so special, so fun, and so wonderful is that we're going to be doing it drunk and/or high. So, fellas, what are you uh lighting into your face this week?

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Same thing I have been for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Just that random bag.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

C BD hemp. Yeah. Random bag of C B D hemp.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Hemp brain.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Pineapple Paradise.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Ooh. I actually hooked up something a little special for this one. I went with a Brothers Bond Limited Cask Strength release. It's a 116 horsepower. Batch number six right here. But this is from those chaps that did vampire diaries. They uh just started making whiskey, and uh I really enjoy their whiskey, so I'm excited to have a hundred and sixteen proof right here. So that's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

They're better they're better distillers than vampires. Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Without a doubt. So that's oh that should have been our fucking oh well. Alright, so first let's line them up. This first shot, first toast. This one goes out to our newest listeners. We actually had a very large spike today. Which I'm pretty happy about. Uh happy St. Patrick's Day, by the way, guys. Happy St.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Paddy's Day.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Our newest listeners are coming at us from Sashay, Texas. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

I bet they pronounce it Sachet. How much do you want to pronounce they pronounce it Sasha?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

We're going Sashay. It's all it's just Sashay. Cheers. Holy shit. That uh that kicks like a mule.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

God damn. Have you ever been kicked by a mule? No, I've uh I I have I'm using my imagination on it, but uh I've been kicked by I've been kicked by a donkey, a horse, a zebra, but never a mule. Never a mule.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

That's your difference between your scotches, your whisk, you know, your bourbons, and whatnot. But holy crap, this one. That's uh that's fantastic. Our second toast uh here's to small balls being kicked by various cards. Beasts of burden. Here's to getting kicked by beasts of burden.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Mustang all forms of equine. Cheers to Equine. Seahorse. The flavor on that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

I'm gonna be honest with you, I could drink a hundred different glasses of whiskey. And I would be they're different tasting, I understand that, but I wouldn't be able to tell you what's good or bad.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

I mean, comes down to preference. I like uh I'm enjoying like the the burnt feel of this in the front, and then there's a smoothness at the end, but then it's got a very it tickles you deep in your balls. I feel it down in my plums.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Okay. That I mean, I could see that doing something for me, so I understand. I like smokiness. Nipples are hard. I like smokiness, yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Alright, so final toast, final shot, final hit. This one goes out to the film. Unbidden. Undertone. Undertone.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

What is happening? Undertone.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Here's to Undertone. We all watch the same movie, right? Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Shit. It's got Bill Pullman in it.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Speaking of which, I uh I was subjected to uh the Oscars for a minute, and Bill Pullman drags his Nepo baby son on stage, and they they do a whole bit. Something Pullman, I imagine. But they just do a whole bit about having a famous dad, and I could have gone into construction, but oh well, I guess I'll just be an actor.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Jack Pullman. Dang Plan, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Oh yeah. No, that uh that should that shit just pisses me off in for a movie podcast.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

It could have been Lewis Pullman, probably Lewis then. Louis Pete. He was in Thunderbolts.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

He's gonna be in Spaceballs too.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

God damn it.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

He was in Salem's lot.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Damn it. Yeah, that's him. That's fine. Salem's lot. That Salem's lot was fucking bad. Not not uh Rebel Moon bad.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah, not Rebel Moon Bad by far. It was a movie. Apparently. I've never seen Rebel Moon still. I'm gonna watch it just for the No, you don't. You don't have to watch it. Just listen to the podcast.

Undertone Synopsis And First Reactions

SPEAKER_01 7:52

We actually got an episode on it. So yeah, for those of you listening, if you want to know about Rebel Moon, go ahead and check out our later episodes, wherever your podcasts are, we're here for you. So let's get into this. So Unforgiven. Undertone. Undertone. Undertone. What'd you guys think about it? Who wants to start? I think you should start. I'll start. James, I'll start.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh first off, I'll give a quick synopsis of the movie. So this is this movie is of course near and dear to us because it's about a podcaster. And so uh so a woman who is taking care of her ailing mother uh does a podcast a creepy podcast uh with a friend who's who's living uh separately, and so they do like a remote uh podcast recording similar to what we do. And uh and they just listen to creepy shit. And so the woman gets creepy shit ensues. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then creepy shit ensues. The woman gets an email of like several recordings and and they start listening to the recordings, and she starts having a mental breakdown until at the very end things get really supernatural. You know, you get like supernatural feels throughout without any kind of like proof, um, but then at the end it gets super. And then all the while.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

All the while she's dealing with her uh aged mother, who seems to be in like home hospice care.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, she's definitely in hospice care. They're talking about her death and what her death is, you know, uh how soon it's gonna happen. Yeah. So so all so that's the yeah, that's the that's the synopsis. Uh so I guess we'll just jump right into reviews. So I had high I had pretty high hopes for this movie. Uh I knew it was kind of more independent than a lot of other feature releases. And and so I kind of tried to uh I kind of tried to temper my expectations. But seriously, I was a little let down with the acting. I didn't think the acting was fantastic. I didn't think she I didn't think she was an incredible actress.

Acting Critique And Performances

SPEAKER_01 10:18

I felt like even though you teed those E's. What? You tempered those expectations.

Cinematography Choices And Dutch Angles

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah, yeah. Even though I teed my E's, I I still didn't think she was great. And she was really the only actress in the movie. I guess technically the mom. Uh but she didn't really have any speaking lines on camera. The woman was the only one with speaking lines on camera. The the the podcasting friend, bad actor, bad voice actor. All the people on the phones, bad at acting. Really bad at acting. I feel that. Every every voice was bad. The woman was passable, but not amazing, and so I gotta give this a 3.5 for acting. Uh for cinematography, I thought. So I went, I teed my ease still, but T and M E's. Yeah, because you know, independently made, yada yada. But you know, a lot of innovative things come from people from from artists who don't have a lot of yeah, we just did good boy, which was very good, a very good boy. And oh yeah, that's right. Uh and we you know, we praised a lot of its cinematography. And this one it had it had some good cinematography. Uh it it seemed like sometimes it was doing it was doing some cinematography without a reason, though. My the thing that comes to mind for me is a lot of Dutch angles that were in the movie at just mundane spots, just spots that didn't seem to be in reaction to anything. You know, the Dutch angle is when you tilt the camera, and so the frame of the camera is like tilted at an isometric view, and typically in film it's meant to show like someone is losing their grip, you know, they're they're becoming they're becoming unhinged for some reason, like going mad or or getting angry or just becoming super emotional or something like that. But like it's sinister, but all of the times when it was happening were like when she was like washing dishes or like sitting still and thinking, and it's like it wasn't reaction.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Like when you're washing ditches, you dishes, you're not getting Dutch angled.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

I but but usually it's in reaction to something, like you'd have her, you'd have her like sigh and then like or like grab her head and then like the camera shifts or whatever. It's in reaction to something. When this one they were doing a lot of stuff that I didn't feel had uh if they were trying to say something, it wasn't clear.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah. Well, side note, did you know if you type Dutch angle into Google it gets shows you the Dutch angle?

SPEAKER_02 13:14

No, I didn't. Oh, it oh it shows Google as a Dutch angle? Google will Dutch angle itself. Oh no, I didn't know that. Oh my god, it's tilted! Oh, that's brilliant. But uh, but no, I didn't know that. That's very cool. But yeah, it's all during her mundanity, which uh you know maybe they're trying to say something about mundanity, but I really would have liked it to be clear, and it wasn't. As for the rest of it, um, they did a lot of single camera work, which I I like single camera work in movies. One movie that I thought that and they did some single camera angles and panning. One movie that I thought did a similar thing but did it better was Invisible Man. Invisible Man with those singer single camera shots when she was like cooking in the kitchen and you were like, What's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? And then the and then like the pan flares up because you're looking for Kevin Vacan. No, no, no, that's Hollow Man. I'm talking Invisible Man with Elizabeth Moss.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

We did the one, and that that was a good one. Yeah, that had a lot of the same things we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Yeah, this this this film tried to do a lot of those things where it holds on an angle for a long time and it like makes you look in the background and stuff, but they did not do enough fun and games with it. The whole point is to do fun and games, be innovative with your fun and games, and they didn't.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

You were T and those E's and they didn't f those G's.

Sound Design Wins And Missed Tricks

Plot Problems And No Payoff

SPEAKER_02 14:36

When they in the in the trailer, in the trailer, they had all of these cues that they were going to be doing some fun and games between like what's happening in her headphones and what's happening outside her headphones because when she puts the headphones on, like everything goes silent, and so and you're looking at her and her headphones, and there's shit happening in her headphones, and you're not sure. And and sometimes it looks like she's not sure if it's happening around her or in her headphones, but they never have her like take them off and show that it's happening around her or anything. They never do any of the fun and games that I that I wanted. They fucking they fucking just left it, they didn't play the games. It's like, why the fuck are we do teasing it if you're not gonna do it? It felt like edging. Uh, and I'm not a fan of cinem cinematographical edging. So for cinematography, you know, they did some good shots and stuff, but a lot of it felt clunky, and so I'm gonna give it a 3.5 on cinematography. Uh, for sound, I thought I saw it in Dolby and I thought the sound was really good. Again, wish they would have played more games. I felt like it was really good though when they did like the pure silence with the noise canceling headphones and stuff and those transitions. I thought that was nice. I thought they did it really effectively. You know, in my theater, like, you know, sometimes there was rustling and stuff, but during those scenes, like everyone just like went quiet, you know. It was a really cool effect to have in the theaters. Um, so I'll give the sound a four, and then uh the plot, oh man, the plot I felt had like it, I felt like it was like a slow burn, right? It was a slow burn, it like seemed to be ramping up and ramping up, and then it didn't explain any of its shit. And with with a possession movie, you know, I sometimes I think of something like The Evil Dead, which is a like a possess a possession movie where it's like this had no reason, you know. It it just it's it the thing is it happens to people, and those people don't have to deserve it, and you're just watching the evil dead, yeah. Which you're just watching someone get tortured, and you're just watching, you know, it's just you're just watching their suffering. Oh, I'm rocking her the whole time. Yeah, but this seemed to be trying to say something also, and it seemed to be trying to deliver some point of view, and it was really muddled with the plot where it didn't explain it, it didn't like I don't know. It see it seemed to be having a lot of trouble getting its point across and getting across the finish line and making things make sense and and it felt more vibes-based than plot-based. And and that's a certain type of movie that uh you know that people like, but for me, plot is like a really big uh determiner of whether I think a movie is good or not. And I think this one really fumbled the ball when it uh when it when it made like a it it it muddled it when it like brought back that video, that's that unrelated video from the beginning where where this where the face pops up and then just morphs into a you know like it's like they brought that back at the end for for why they didn't make it they didn't make it clear it was related or anything. But uh yeah, there were a lot of vibes and there were some there were some good scenes, but the plot I don't think was a was really a plot. And so I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a three. And then for rewatchability, I don't know if I'd watch this outside theaters. Maybe I'd show this to someone who is like, I want to see something that's kind of like um maybe someone who uh who is like I want to see a parent die or something like that, I'd show them this movie.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Uh uh so maybe a two. I'll give it a two. Obviously. How many dinner parties have you been at where it's like I'd really love to see someone's parent die. Do you got anything up there, you know, knocking around your DVD case right there?

SPEAKER_02 18:38

I want to see I want to see a mom slowly deteriorate. You got any you got anything with old women shitting themselves?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

I gotta I was waiting for her.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Yeah, I've got a movie. Oh yeah, I got the right thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I was waiting for her to it too style like naked thump across the wood floor. Yeah, but it never came.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

It never came. A lot of things never came in this movie. A lot of things that that could have been interesting and could have been scary never happened in this movie, and it's not that it defied expectations in an interesting way, it failed expectations because it was uninteresting, you know?

Luke’s Ratings And Horror Expectations

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, okay. Alright. Um, well, uh Luke, did you wanna Yeah, I can I can go next.

Ryan’s Podcaster Perspective And Scores

SPEAKER_02 19:29

So I I'm not a horror boy, as we know. Um, so I did not have expectations. So there was nothing to temper. Um, going into it. No T's of those E's. No, but uh Cam's an avid, avid horror moviegoer, so inevitably. She also likes Vibes movies. She does like vibes movies, but uh I have to say, both her and I agree that this was not our favorite movie. Yeah. They it was kind of I I think that the audio was heavily relied on within the movie. It was, you know, they're like, oh, noise canceling headphones. Because nothing's like creepier than like just true silence and like what like having that disturbed. I know even when I have my noise canceling headphones on at the house and I can't hear anything around, and someone walks in the room and comes like that's fucking dumb. I'm like, oh my like truly they never did it. They never did it. How do you not do that? How do you not do that? At least one and it can be somebody that's not even like threatening in the end, but like like make it, yeah, I agree. So they but they uh and it's because I think they were just relying so heavily on that. It was just kind of like, and then like they're like, oh, and then also we're gonna have this demonic possession um aspect to it, um, twists, and I feel like that that's kind of the the things they leaned on. So um and acting, I was one of the things that I personally didn't like the most. It was I thought it was so bland, nothing was really delivered to me. Like you said, I thought she was competent, but like it was not um good. But I gave that a 2.5. Um cinematography. I didn't note it like now that you say it, yes. That I now like remember scenes where it's like, oh yeah, well, that was weird, didn't really jar me or anything. I thought they did they really like those offset shots, like where it was somebody just offset the camera. It is uncomfortable, but it was just kind of like all the time and thrown in there quite a bit. Really frequently, yeah, like really it would it would come in like on the side, it would come in like sideways, but it was like, why are we sideways? Like, what exactly are you trying to tell me? They just like always wanted an uncomfortable camera shot, and it's like you don't always have to do that. Like, and we know that we've seen like like a long panning dark hallway is does a good job. Or and Good Boy did a lot of good cinematography. Um that was one that we were, you know, they did a gr that was mostly cinematography was doing the fucking work in that movie, you know what I mean? It was doing all the work, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so but this one I would give it the a three. Uh the score in soundtrack is is high. I mean, it's the soundtrack more than anything, and I think horror movies typically lean more on that side of this of the you know fence when it comes to that but because with with that said they did I I didn't think about what you said with like taking off the headphones and doing those scenes where it like you know really switches over and like takes you out of the silence better but I agree that that that's a missed opportunity because that would have been great but it's still I thought I still thought it was really good so I gave it a 4.5 story plot bad it just like was and there was another thing and it yeah it's it's yeah I feel like it's just like like a vibe I feel in your definition of vibes film perfect it just kind of like yeah I enjoyed uh it was it was competent enough to be a scary movie where you just like feel tense but nothing that was like you're like oh no yeah just not a it wasn't a plot it was just a it was like a short that was extended to yeah to film length yeah where where we really got the vibes like it was the same vibe for like an hour it was the same vibe for like an hour and then it ramped up and it's like no no no you could have done this whole thing in 20 minutes with us with a steady ramp and it would have been awesome. Yeah and it could just get scary and I would have even liked to see it it not end up being it it be everything in your head kind of thing where it's like no it's just like you're when you get in your own head and sign it like that it's just you like you're fucking creating with these mods or being whatever I thought it would be yeah something like that. Have her murder her mom or something. Yeah yeah have her mom murder her they should have had someone like the the thing that I wish they would have done because she was knocked out from the they could have had her they they could have had something stalk up behind her like without her ever noticing it's such an easy thing. I thought that's so terrifying that's something that genuinely scares me like actually yeah like something that I would probably take home with me and that doesn't happen very often when you see a scary movie it's like if you're you might jump a few times during but do you are you scared after no but like you know I remember the movie The Strangers when I first watched it the bear dude yeah that was I was scared I I was looking over my shoulder in my own house for like a few days after I watched that movie I'm just like oh my god like people really could just be like oh yeah terrifying I'm so glad that you feel that way because for the longest time between like 2002 and 2000 I mean uh 26 now I suppose there was a small blip in time where one movie did give me the heebie jabies and it was the first strangers yeah yeah I saw it in theaters and it did get me a little bit yeah very rarely does that happen though it's very it didn't get me the second watching like after I like you realize like wait a minute these people are ninjas I'm confused but hereditary got me hereditary okay see but that was a slow burn like this one with serious vibes yeah with some serious vibes but it had explanations there was a thing something was happening yeah yeah yeah it did what it did what this movie you know it was just listen that what it this movie tried to be so but but so much better yeah uh but I gave the plot story plot a 2.5 just right in the middle got the job done yeah um and then rewatchability one I'm not probably not gonna watch it again I couldn't know horror movies are man if a horror I I hope the day that what we come on here in a horror movie is like I give it like a four or five rewatch I'm like no I'm fucking watching that we should watch video drome I bet you'd like video drome a lot I'm down I'm down I've never heard of it oh shit all right we should watch video drone we'll check it out yeah anyways uh Ryan last but not least uh yeah for me um so yeah I I I had not seen a single preview I had nothing I knew nothing except that it's about a girl with a podcast walking into this bad boy and I gotta say in the first little bit of time there I was super hopeful super hopeful I was seeing some good stuff here um you the dude that she's talking to in her podcast yeah he the he he never stopped being a podcaster like the three of like you the three of us are speaking from like a a point of view here where we know what the fuck they're doing right like and to be honest I mean what we're on episode 106 we we know this situation more than most and the way like there should be a distinction between when you guys are just friends talking and when you got your show on but the dude she's talking to never left the show right you know and he asked some really basic ass questions like hey I know your mom's shitting herself upstairs you good good I'm glad we're not bringing that up yeah good I didn't want to talk about it let's just dive on in let's talk for five minutes and we'll get back to this next week yeah ridiculous ridiculous um so that was kind of nonsensical but like early on some of the view like the the views I was seeing um there was a lot there that I was I was super hopeful about and excited for so that was pretty cool acting I I felt she did okay was it uh you know was it Bill Pullman's son no but I I would say she did she did she deftly maneuvered through it she did what she had to do and she did a little better than most could sure that and she was the only fucking actor there so for for that I'm gonna give it I'm gonna give acting a 3.5 Wow generous cinematography gave it the same squad cinematography had some very it me so I'm I'm the horror guy I feel of our of our triad sure and I was very hopeful as far as this horror went early on.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yeah yeah yeah but then like you said it uh forgot what it was doing halfway through like oh yeah yeah who am I exact like uh you can Dutch angle all you want to the dishes but I'm still giving cinematography a three score and soundtrack they did uh they did well uh utilizing the the get the headphones but then they didn't live up to what it needed to be and uh by the time the movie was over it left a lot wanting so for that I give it a 2.5 ouch harsh story and plot again it's just it is to me this is just the story of a missed opportunity yeah yeah because we if we can look at it and go like look at all the possibilities here like you set up everything and you just did you just fucked off at the end I don't know if like I mean it's independent maybe the landlord that they were working with was like all right you guys got two more days all right so flip the camera on its side like I don't know you know I can't help but feeling like if this was Rebel Moon and they they would have done something with it but um not every movie but something not every movie could be Rebel Moon not everyone and Zack Snyder needs to be strung up by his toes for that one. But uh I'm gonna give uh story God it it's so hard because it was so promising.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I I was they kept you on the edge of your seat for a number of minutes.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

So for that I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a three because I've we've watched so many movies in our 106 episodes where it didn't keep me on my feet at all.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

So I well like I when can I turn this off? Like I paid attention I paid attention the whole time I was never like when can I turn this off yeah which is commendable.

Agreeing On The 2.5 Rating

Horror Today And What It Should Do

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Yeah so for that I'll give it a three I rewatch ability I will give this another try really yeah I'm gonna give it one more because again I I am our I'm I'm the horror guy and I feel like yeah I'll try something I think that may be yeah maybe the way to do it I mean because like even right now I'm I've tossed myself into the new Resident Evil game that came out and I I enjoy sitting in those spaces for me they're they're very enjoyable and I I don't know what the psychology is behind that we'll we'll have to bring on a fourth guest I have no idea but I like sitting in those spaces so um rewatchability I will try again uh will I be sad putting it on like ah this could have been so much more yes so for that I give it a 2.5 interesting and I think you know that we all seem to be pr pretty aligned on what we thought of this movie and we are it seems like we are disagreeing with a lot of other people on the internet and thankfully we know they're wrong because because the high and dry reviews are always right yes we we know maybe the total of a two out of five three out of five yeah I think that's I mean I know some of our ratings were over three but I was expecting a 2.5 wrong score two nine well okay yeah I guess but fair I don't know if it's worth a three honestly but that's average it's pretty it's I think 2.9 feels better than a three we're lower than three but just by many I think two point nine feels better yeah say it's three is bad hold on I hold on i swear I switched some of my scores to make this a 2.5 or whatever scores I need to switch to make this a 2.5 I do it take it all down to one so do we is this an executive decision that we can just it's like a that's not deserving we're right we're right we're always right we're always right we all feel it's 2.5 2.5 it is 2.5 2.5 that's why that's why hundreds of fans a month tune in so we can fucking cram this down their fucking faces and yeah they know that we know better. Yeah we can look at some it's art it's not science it's art being able to look at we T those so they don't have to all right well with that being said it is time now and I get to say it again because it has been an appropriate amount of time you're in appropriate time to dive into the golden path which means it's time for one more shot one more hit one more toast this one goes out to uh the dragging a film down from three to two point five because it deserved it because we had vibes about it we had vibes yeah you give us vibes we'll give you vibes yeah it's the vibes it put out it gets them back twofold here's to them vibes cheers boys cheers vibes here's to them vibes god dang oh I forgot the brothers Bond was sitting here punching me in the fucking face Jesus I've got a big spider living up in the corner of my office for a while and I looked up and realized it's not in its web so that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

Have you named it? No I haven't named it I feel like it would be wrong to assert my will on it and and give it a name it didn't ask for so and it's it's unless it tells you to unless it tells you to call it something else though could you not give it some sort of nickname I guess I guess it's expressing its own freedom right now having left the web I have no idea we'll see where it ends up it's a brown recluse and on this show it just bites into James well James died from that spider bite.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

No no it turned into Spider-Man perhaps shouldn't have respected the spider I don't recommend it all right what's the next part I forget let's talk about some of the deeper themes here on this uh short film they turned into a feature I I what what I would like to just some clear ones sorry go ahead well what I feel like this is appropriate to talk about here is just the state of horror I was I was talking about that I had just I was I hate the Academy Awards so fucking much but did you see the opening with Matt Berry talking about which part?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

No with Conan O'Brien his opening his weapons he dream he was he was doing weapons which was a movie I enjoyed a lot yeah that was well but but that's what I'm talking about so we had uh Sinners took best uh lead actor um we had uh weapons was in like Sinners took a few Oscars which is kind of crazy for a horror film and they beat out sh uh Timothy Champaign so good on him I liked Marty Supreme I watched Marty Supreme I watched Marty Supreme at Luke's Luke didn't you suggest Marty Supreme to me yeah I thought that was I thought that was really interesting are you privy to his comments and whatnot yes yeah about ballet honestly yeah he's he kind of shit on ballet so he shit on ballet and musical theater and we we we told we said that we should go back in time and cast rate Denzel Washington. So I don't know if if taking claiming that everybody's single offhand opinions on everything I don't know if shitting on ballet we we three Poemen representing the modern man and whatever woman who's crazy enough to listen to this we have that liberty.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Oh he doesn't that's right he he doesn't have liberties no once you make so much and you just like shed your fucking artistic skin and show your asshole no I Cam grew up doing ballet and I'm just by association for the cause.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Well then with Cam, you know? Yeah no so fucking Timothy that that's not that crazy of a comment. He's he's also like a young kid like he's not that old he's in his early twenties um and he's probably gonna say more dumb stuff before he's done.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Did you uh did you watch a thing where he was with um something he doesn't say anything like fucking wild on this clear as well it was he was with Matthew McConaughey when he was started shitting on ballet and musical theater and all that probably thought he was being cool and it's not cool to shit on that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Everybody's fucking art is is art and fucking every respect you're an artist. Except for abstract artists fuck those fuck those idiots I'll show you my abstract art it's my chocolate starships it's my chocolate starships well but but but to to the the original point is that we're seeing a a situation here where horror um can like in the modern age is now kind of returning and I felt that in the beginning this had an opportunity to add to it.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

I did for a minute there yeah and you know with things like you know weapons and I mean we had all of I mean looking at uh Nosferatu that came out looking at uh which uh you know I'm obviously I'm glad the snub just because I hate nepotism um but then uh Midsummer uh James you were talking about um which one uh you you you were Hereditary yeah hereditary was a really good one I I feel like we're seeing you know the ritual is you though I love the ritual but I'm feeling over did you really like that one yeah that's the one in the woods right with the weird creature yep yeah I've seen that was one of my first ones after Alien because Cam was like you can watch the ritual I was like okay and I did like the ritual it was scary but it wasn't like it was a cool movie. But I feel like horror has the the capacity to tell stories and we just fucking forgot that because of movies like Scream 7.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Right which I also fucking saw I actually think that it starts earlier than Scream 7. I think it starts Scream 7 was two weeks ago but movies like but I think it like I mean paranormal activity was like a movie where like really jump scare heavy movies started to be like a thing. That gore like heavy gore and where it's like body horror like saw and stuff like that's always been a thing but like I think it started with Jason takes Manhattan.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Agreed. Oh my god that whole thing happened on a boat it wasn't even in Manhattan boat school it was Jason takes boat school for rich kids I I don't know that I I don't know oh that was that was that movie was telephens great film anyway state of horror this one this one failed our state our expectations of the state of horror yeah which is an elevated form of horror I feel like we've we've arrived at the point now where we can let go of what Friday the 13th and Halloween and Hellraiser and all those did and we can start looking at this as a true art form and like an actual fucking movie instead of just um boomer kids rolling into the the nickel thing the nickel movie and you know putting fucking penises and popcorn buckets I think where is this going? Do you have a central thesis? My central point is that I feel like we're we're in a state where horror potentially can evolve and we can see a story here. And I feel like this movie was on the cusp of that okay and it wanted to be that okay and what I would just what I would like to see from horror going forward is like fucking look at what you're trying to say. God damn it is what I'm saying. Is okay these these can have messages and this one just what do you think messages this messages in this one are trying for because I've noticed some I noticed some themes in thisolation yeah well and isolation I know someone who has lost a parent and was in a very similar situation and this was a very hard thing for them to watch and but the the problem was like there was no there was no underlying message behind it.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

It was just simply like yeah people die and that sucks and you're gonna have a podcast and that's gonna suck too you're gonna you're gonna struggle with your alcoholism and that's not gonna have any ramifications or thoughtfulness behind it.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

You're gonna it's just gonna happen things just things just happen bro well what I what I think was the same look is we just recently watched uh Wuthering Heights which was supposed to be a gothic horror but what I think is what we have here um is that a lot of writers are having an issue with is that the things you introduce require consequence and if you don't have consequence it's simply indulgence all we saw there was indulgence in her alcoholism all we saw was just indulgence in that you know people die and we don't see consequence and I mean it's the same thing we saw in Wuthering Heights and it's I feel like we're seeing it a lot in films just in general is the missing consequence.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

If you're not gonna have consequence you gotta do fun in games like Evil Dead. You know that's you gotta do fun in games if you're not gonna have consequence yeah no fun in games either no fun in games and no consequence no good for me yeah uh I'd say another thing another thing they dealt with in this was not wanting to keep having responsibility like I think they were hinting throughout the movie that the mom actually never wanted the never wanted her daughter like her her daughter wanted her mom to die. Like she was like I just kind of wish it was over Not that she never loved her mom or anything, but just like she's like, I just kind of wish it was over. And then you found out the mom had like a little uh statuette for the for the saint of taking a demon of taking abortions or taking aborting children or whatever, uh post-birth abortions. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Like, what were you trying to say? I don't know. If you had a picked one message and then followed through and provided those consequences, whether it was mom wanting an abortion, whether it was her wanting her mom to die, like pick one.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

The lines that I'm doing a lot of work to draw are that people who are fearful of being a parent because they're not cut out for it, end up damaging their children, like or or or hurting their children. I think that maybe that might have been the but I'm doing a lot of work making that making drawing that line. I don't yeah, I don't feel like that was purposeful. That just kind of happened with the plot that was laid out, almost, if that makes sense. Like you're able to draw those lines just because like life and human and just like maybe, or maybe they just plopped them there to be obvious. My brain looks for patterns, humans' brains look for patterns.

Themes That Never Become Consequences

If We Were Haunted Podcasters

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Yeah, that's like what we do. Well, I think though, so there wasn't a whole lot of golden fucking path here, but us as three podcasters, right? Silver path, it's time now to insert ourselves. Okay, so three podcasters, the three of us, we start talking about some fucking film we found or whatever the fuck it is, and we start getting haunted.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

We have shit like this going on. How do we change our behavior? Like we we have some opportunity here. This movie gave us fucking shit, but we could potentially apply something more here if we were involved. So how does it change with you guys with you guys as podcasters? And yeah, so what happens? I I for me, first things first, I'm fucking shifting the desk so my back's against a wall. Number one. Right. God damn it.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

As soon as weird stuff starts happening, I guess. But right now, like I have, you know, behind me, behind all of us, is not an immediate wall. Luke has doors behind him. Someone can just open a door behind him. And unless you're looking at your little unless you're looking at your your little box, you don't know what's going on behind you. You know, you're looking at everyone else's box. Uh so yeah, like maybe well, at least you guys could tell me, like, whoa, there's like a dude in your room. I wouldn't, I wouldn't tell you. I'd assume it was I'd assume it was supposed to be happening.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

I'll type into the chat, yo, James. You see that dude sneaking up on Luke?

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Yeah, yeah. If someone came out, they could have more road on the club. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They could should have done that. Not even could have, should have. Anyway, anyway, anyway. Uh continue. So first first off, you're putting your back against the wall. All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

So when I start, so I like all right.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Not that it would have helped because nothing happened behind her.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

But first that like when like in that early bit where they're trying to freak me out and like the lights turning on and shit like that. I'm like, if I'm gonna be down here at three in the morning talking to my flavorless, boring ass co-host, getting spooked, I'm shifting the desk. I'm gonna watch shit as it happens. Alright?

SPEAKER_02 48:05

Yeah. Why can't she just have the desk in her in the room with her mom? Her mom is like non-responsive. Just put the desk in there with her.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

Me, I I am um yeah, I'm I'm gonna just gonna call hospice and like, hey, uh, can you get her out of here?

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Yeah. No, that was gonna be the first thing I I was gonna say, first thing, mom's going to hospice.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

I I just found a an abortion deity statuette prayer. Can you get her the fuck out of here? I want to podcast and party. Can we get after that? I got shit. No? Alright, well, I'm just gonna huck her in a river then. And I know she's trying to die, but I'm trying to live. So she's gonna get busy dying. I'm gonna get busy living. I'm taking out a healthy insurance policy, and uh I'm going to fire my co-host, and I'm gonna find you guys. Uh, because this dude, this dude ain't cutting it. And I'm gonna get back into drinking. Some really solid drinking.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

Right, right. What are the consequences of that, though? So we don't just get left to the same-ish plot. Just left.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

The consequences is that we form a uh uh, while maybe not uh monetarily successful, we form a very solid movie review podcast. I leave my past behind me, and we give you the definitive rating out of five stars every fucking week, guaranteed to get you the best results wherever possible.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

The consequences of the alcohol are that he becomes uh very loose and uh makes good connections.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Yeah, we we launched this podcast on the next level. Um twenty years from now, I think about that one time I sent my abortion-seeking mother out into the world, and shit, did I miss the funeral? And and then So you just never get possessed by any sort of why Yeah, why would I? There's no chink in my armor. I'm I'm just here to podcast, baby.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Like you're telling me you're not gonna isolated, you're not gonna click on the super creepy files. Click on them, but like it's not gonna work. Yeah, what's it gonna do? Yeah, this isn't evil dead. I'm gonna bring some breakup. That's where mine would change. I would also be on this podcast now. We'd get the the things. I would be like, no, we're not clicking those. That's we don't know who sends them. They're sketchy, they're sketchy as fuck. Delete the messages, we don't need those. And we move on with our lives and then make a next episode and be just happy. Happy, truly. No demon possession, simple plot. It gets a two out of five. Well, no, it's a five-minute movie. It's a it's a five-minute movie where where we don't click on a link.

SPEAKER_01 51:14

It turns into the biopic of high and dry, where we just didn't click on that fucking link. It's the whole woman.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

It says the end after the five minutes, and then just starts playing a thousand ways to die episodes. Yeah, all right. So episode one, let's talk about it. That's my vote. I agree. Thank you, thank you. So that would be my version personally of Undertone. And the whole Undertone would be that it's actually a thousand ways to die. I just wanted to bring it back.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

You see the the fucking Paramount Globe starts spinning and biggest ball starts playing, and it's just a story of Thousand Ways to Die.

Final Verdict And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Fantastic film. And James, how how shall you be impacting this phenomenal film? Let me think. So I would be I would be her shitty boyfriend. Uh, I'd be I'd be her shitty boyfriend who was all who's bothering her to come out to party and uh telling her that she was you know like chastising her for being unreliable while she's cleaning up her mom's shit and stuff, and not not obviously not asking. That was so wild. Uh I assume I assume I'm like 28 at the time. I knocked her up. Don't give a shit about her. Would you be and you would be a piece of shit to be clear? Oh, I was a piece of shit when I was 28. Oh, certainly. I'd be a piece of shit. Um, and so cheers to that. And then we would all start a podcast, and that's it. And yeah, and she would, she would, she would die. You know, she would die by whatever this demon is, but but uh I'd probably for I'd probably forget we were dating.

SPEAKER_03 53:04

Wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_01 53:05

Was this was this fucking podcast? Like not this movie, was this written by like some weird MAGA Republican? Because we had the abortion thing that that never gets a consequence. Like it's just like, yeah, it's okay that she hates you. We have a piece of shit boyfriend who never gets his comeuppance because you didn't come out. Like she did go out that one time, and then she comes back and got punished for it. And then she's punished for it. Like, what did this movie want to say, goddammit?

SPEAKER_02 53:37

I that isolation kind of traps you.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Is what I that's like the the definition of isolation.

SPEAKER_02 53:47

Yeah, I think that was it's not it wasn't very deep.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

No, no, no. It never is. Can we take this movie down to a two? No, 2.5 is appropriate. 2.5 is appropriate. Okay, yeah, you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

Again, we weren't like, can we turn this movie off now? None of us were like, let's turn this movie off. We're like, we wanted to see what the end was, and we were just incredibly disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

Well, I I will just say now that my rewatchability, the score I gave it, and you can give it now the fair 2.5, because I'm dropping my rewatchability. The only reason I'm gonna rewatch it is just to double check my math. I don't think it deserves the rewatch, but I just want to be I'm such a good mathematician, I don't gotta check it twice. And that's why it has a 2.5. Survive as he's fucking working his mustache. Yes. Well, well, there there you go, folks, at home. Uh, that's uh Uncharted, Unwanted. Undertone, you slut. Undertone. That's undertone. It gets a it gets 2.5. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:07

Decent. I I think like it again, it had it have its potential, but it's a lot of people online. A lot of people online are like, I liked this movie, and it was the I it's a vibe movie, and I liked the vibe movie. If you like vibe movies, this might do it for you. But it's not, but it fails in the other ways.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

Yes, and we as High and Dry Podcast are here to give you the opinions that you're not intelligent enough to find on your own. Go fuck yourselves. Uh, I'm Ryan Barron North with me as always, James Crosslin, Luke. Uh, make sure to check out our podcast. Uh, we come out every week wherever podcasts are sold. And if you want to still check out our podcast on A Thousand Ways to Die, also wherever podcasts are sold. So um, that was it. 2.5. Enjoy. Watch out behind you, Luke.