High Low Brow
We’re carving out space in the airwaves for deep dives and thoughtful convos about our beloved pop culture that is often overlooked, laughed at, trashed, and brushed aside. Join us (and some of our internet pals!) for hot, juicy, maybe controversh opinions and a few rounds of games inspired by the stuff you watched when you were home sick with an anxiety-induced stomachache in your formative years.
High Low Brow
TIFF Festival Highlights Part 2: The Substance & Dead Mail
Join us this week as we fangirl over Thailand’s baby hippo sensation, Moo Deng, and quote TS Madison’s iconic "Not the bore worms" line far too many times (but who’s counting?).
In this second round of our Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) reviews, we dive into Dead Mail, a retro 80s thriller with synth beats and unexpected twists that had us glued to the screen. If you love a good mix of horror, nostalgia, and some social commentary, this one’s for you. Plus, we dissect The Substance, a satirical body horror flick starring Demi Moore that tackles women’s anxieties around aging with jaw-dropping visuals, intense thematic layers, and lots of blood.
Next week (September 29th) will be our final episode of season four. We're moving and need to get our studio back up and running. We should be back up in the new year for season five.
Welcome to High Low Brow. The show with high brow takes on low brow culture. I'm your one host, amanda Skriver.
Speaker 2:And I'm sitting in the VIP section refusing to do the hot to go dance, river Gilbert.
Speaker 1:Well, that's rude. Who do you think you?
Speaker 2:are. Did you see that clip where there were people in the VIP section and she lost it on them?
Speaker 1:Yes, at a music festival, yeah, I love.
Speaker 2:I'm so here for this Chapel, rowan villain era. This Chapel Rowan healthy boundaries era.
Speaker 1:Yes, there was just an interview that came out. I think it was in the Guardian, if I'm not mistaken. They have been diagnosed with severe depression and they have been very outspoken about everything Like fame.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But in this interview they said you, you know, it's really difficult because I can't go thrifting, I can't, like, do the things that I normally wanted to do, and if I want to do those things, it's like I have to set up a security detail, I have to alert certain people, I have to do this, I have to do that and like, yeah, that sucks. I think there's some individuals and this is probably what you were going to say but, there's some individuals that would be like well, you decided to do this.
Speaker 1:So well she didn't, though.
Speaker 2:I mean, like she decided to do music and this was like a dream it's. It's kind of like what we talked about on the valley, where it's like watching people get everything they ever wished for and kind of losing a piece of yourself because of it. Yes, and she went from working so hard to get here for the past decade and then just overnight success, yeah, and it's like, oh, your entire life changed.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. It entirely changes.
Speaker 2:I'm stressed out, enough moving changed a hundred percent. It entirely changes.
Speaker 1:I'm stressed out, enough moving and I can't even imagine having the entire world watching what I'm doing a hundred percent also, just because you brought up the moving that we have one more episode after this before we officially go on our break oh, okay, I thought it was this one, but it's gonna going to be the next one, yeah, awesome. Yeah, I'm glad I was like I don't have anything prepared for the sign-off? So okay, no, it is the next one.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's when the end of the month is.
Speaker 2:What are days?
Speaker 1:even I don't know.
Speaker 2:How do we words? How do we time making my brain? What's making you wrangle, burr? Yeah, um, I think I'm gonna make a prediction. I think we're probably gonna say the same thing is that what? I think it is uh, you go first. Okay, wait one, two, three mooding yeah I mean, that's the correct.
Speaker 1:How could it not be? How could it not be? She's the moment, she is a vibe, she is a moment, she is everything, she is a mood, she is who I want to be. She is me after I do my skincare routine moisturize, happy and in my environment.
Speaker 2:I know I'm just everything I the first video I saw, introduced her as, like the translation of Mudang, which I believe is bouncy pork.
Speaker 1:Yes, I remember that.
Speaker 2:And I was like, oh, bouncy pork is a very cute name. But then I saw people talk about Mudang and I'm like who? Mudang? No bouncy pork. But like Mudang is a better name than bouncy pork.
Speaker 1:TBH I guess she will always be bouncy pork in pork mudang in our minds, bouncy pork in our hearts yeah, we deserve that we do.
Speaker 2:We do for those of you who are not chronically online, like us.
Speaker 1:I mean, why would you be listening to this if you were not chronically online?
Speaker 2:I think it's made its way to instagram. I think it's like permeated. I've sent you a million mudang yeah, that's fair it's definitely okay, it's a baby, it's not an exclusive tiktok yeah but it's a baby hippo and like she's mimicking. She's too young to eat vegetation, so she just mimics what her mom's doing, so it kind of looks like she's eating stuff. Yeah, she's just delightful, that's so cute and the marketing around her is the best and we love Mudang.
Speaker 1:Similar to Chapel Row.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They've had to cut down on Mudang's visitation hours because, Mudang has become a viral celebrity.
Speaker 2:And Mudang's a baby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Mudang like needs, mudang like needs, they need boundaries yeah, a hundred percent they need time with mother mudang has not been working towards this for the past decade no mudang didn't ask to be born they did not, they just it happened welcome to mudang lowbrow the show where we just gush about mudang for the next hour yeah, like we were gonna talk about tiff, but I think we should just talk about mudang for the next hour what do you think?
Speaker 2:oh, I don't think I have an hour of content and me I'm just like she's so cute I like. My favorite picture, I think, is of her screaming yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I sent it to you and I think I posted it on my Instagram stories. But someone made a meme where it says Mudang is going to be on Hot Ones and I was just like this is so stupid. I love it.
Speaker 2:Well, also things I've learned. I'm accumulating hippo facts now that Mudang is so apparently I knew hippos were very territorial and like will fucking bite you. But I didn't realize that they're strictly herbivores. I thought that they were omnivores. So that means that they just bite people because they want to.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was going to say it reminds me of someone we know.
Speaker 2:Is it Ocean? Yeah?
Speaker 1:She doesn't bite, but she will. She's very protective of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I meant more that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yay, ocean's very territorial.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she doesn't like anybody coming near her moms. Yeah, it do be like that. Hey, we love her we do.
Speaker 2:That's all that matters. Should we move on from Mudang and start talking about the last two films we saw at TIFF I?
Speaker 1:guess. I guess this is the second installment of our TIFF episode, so I guess we should talk about it, I guess I suppose. So in this episode we're going to be talking about two films. The first is dead male and then the second is the substance, which has been like. The substance has so much hype around does it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm so glad. Yeah, like we'll get to it, but like I think that's one of my favorite body horror movies of all time I also think it's probably the best film that we saw during TIFF. I agree for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure, emphatically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I love that. It's just getting like all this attention, so we will talk about that. Let's start with Dead Mail first. Let's start with Dead Mail. Do you want to give the people a little rundown of what it's about?
Speaker 2:yeah, so dead male is a 80s film or a film set in the 80s, about this room in the back of like postal services where if you messed up your address or forgot to include something, they would have to track down who you were and where you were sending it to and made sure it would get to the right location.
Speaker 1:I don't believe those are still in existence no, I think it's just like oh yeah, and when we went to see it, there was one of the directors there, because it's directed by two individuals joe joe de boer, yes, not the de boer worms not the boer worms and kyle mcconnie yeah, or mcconnie, yeah, something, something of that.
Speaker 2:We don't know how to say names we're giving it hello brow, the show where we struggle to say names.
Speaker 1:We're trying our best, but yes. So one of the directors did a q a afterwards and basically said that they the film was inspired by an actual story of a dead male investigator. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this isn't entirely made up.
Speaker 2:It's based in, not fact no, it's like a cool idea. They're like, oh my god, this is like a thing that doesn't exist and is such a set in the time yeah they also so set around this kind of idea. A letter turns up in the dead male office, which is just a piece of paper covered in blood, saying I'm being held a captive against my will, please please help me yeah between these locations and typically what we get to in the first, I'd say, 10 minutes is we see two other characters.
Speaker 1:it's two women who are also they work in the post office and they come across this letter and they're like that's weird and they sort of think, oh, we should flag this in the dead mail we should give it to Jasper, to Jasper, and Jasper is the guy who works in the back. Yeah, and so that's sort of how the story kicks off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're not going to do like a synopsis of it. I don't think.
Speaker 1:No, I think what we can and I don't think we should spoil it. No, no.
Speaker 2:It is a. There are twists and turns. The trailer makes it look like a horror movie. It's a thriller. It's definitely big Silence of the Lambs, vibes kind of deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also I and I think you said this immediately after we were leaving as well it totally the film starts and you think it's going to be one thing, and then it turns.
Speaker 2:Entirely different.
Speaker 1:Into a totally different film with totally different characters, and the characters you're originally introduced into the beginning, like Jasper, like the two women who are working there, and best and best they. They're like secondary they're secondary here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we are gonna say spoilers now, just because I think we need to, in order to talk about this before we do. We should maybe give like the what our rating is. Like I, I would call it probably seven and a half yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought it was a very, very good film. We will talk more about the music, but it wendy carlos, who icon, trans woman who did the soundtrack to like a lot of the kubrick films, so clockwork orange, yep, you can hear her inspirations on it.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Like it's so unsettling the synth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's used very. I was going to say wisely.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it really sets a mood, sets a tone.
Speaker 2:We'll say spoilers here, because now we have to talk about synths.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's a film about synths.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which who knew?
Speaker 2:Because we went into it and we're like Now we have to talk about since yeah, because it's a film about since yeah, which who knew? I, because we went into it and we're like, oh my God, this is going to be like a film noir or not film noir, but like a detective tracking down this person. They're pitching. The trailer pitches Jasper, as he has a quote in the film that's like I don't solve murders, I find mail, yeah, and like the way they're framing the trailer makes it seem like it's going to be his it's all about, it's all about him he's trying to find, like this one man and these two guys are not in the film at all.
Speaker 2:In reality, it's the reverse yeah those two guys the guy being held captive, josh, and the guy holding him captive, trent are the entire movie yeah, that the entire movie is them, they like and they meet at.
Speaker 1:Like it looks like a synth conference. Yeah, it's like a or a meetup.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I think it was like a trade show kind of deal yeah like where I do not come from the world of modular synths neither do I so, but like I guess back in the 80s they were like you had to synthesize, literally sounds of things, and so josh is a engineer, engineer, I guess yeah, and he has put all of his savings into developing this one sound of an organ. I believe it was yes, and nobody's really interested in it, but Trent hears it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and is like we should work together on this.
Speaker 2:He's like do you have any other sounds? He's like, no, just this one. And he's like how about would you consider being a business partner? Yeah, and we can develop a woodwind, we can develop all of these things.
Speaker 1:and josh is like, oh, hell, yeah, okay, cool yeah, he's like wow, I met someone who can match my synth freak synth freak saying that 10 times fast would not go over well but it it is, I think I described to you after the film.
Speaker 2:I'm like in that scene.
Speaker 1:The vibe between the two of them felt like raymond holtz and kevin from brooklyn 99 yeah, like definitely the vibe between the two of them was like and this is probably purposely done- like there's unrequited love, there's tension there there's unspokenness.
Speaker 2:They're both kind of others in this. Like Trent. They both seem to obsess about this in a way. That's not the business end or the music end. They're obsessing about the synthesizing itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Things escalate, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, things very much escalate. I think basically what happens in to escalate is that josh, josh, he makes a breakthrough with their sound and develops a woodwind which at that time nobody had done a convincing version of yeah, and he sends it off to one of the major manufacturers.
Speaker 2:And you know they are like hey, we want to bring you out so that you can continue to work on this we want to hire you, we're going to bring you on, we're going to break you off, we'll pay for the IP and you know thinking like he's like. Well, you know, we're at our end, working in my fucking garage.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:Trent can't bankroll me forever. It's like, well, you know, we're at our end working in my fucking garage and Trent can't bankroll me forever.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, and like this is going to be great for us, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2:This is something that you and I developed. They're going to buy it. It's going to be technically theirs, but you're going to be paid out entirely. Yeah, trent takes exception to this.
Speaker 1:Not just exception.
Speaker 2:He, he's. Basically is like no, I own you. The character of Trent has this very uncomfortable race play. I want to say in a polite way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was definitely. I noticed it too. Do you know what it reminded me of, I think, just before? Yeah, jasper is also a black man. Yeah, and then Josh.
Speaker 2:And Anne.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they are all black characters and Trent has run-ins with all three of those, all three of them, and also is his like unrequited love interest in one.
Speaker 2:He's a javelin thrower.
Speaker 1:Yes, a black discus thrower yeah, so there's a yeah, I definitely picked up on that. Where I was like this is, I wonder if this is oh, it's for sure deliberate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he, trent, has this obsession with neapolitan ice cream yeah and whenever he's eating it, you just see him mixing it together and it's like there's a very clear chocolate and vanilla kind of yeah, yeah it. It's very uncomfortable and they do that like in the same way that they show would show somebody just drinking milk, to make sure you understand they're they're not the good guy. There's something off here but what I was going to say is it reminded me of a more subtle get out yes that kind of fetishization of the black form.
Speaker 1:I could totally see that, yeah, yeah so that it's fascinating, fascinating film.
Speaker 2:I really I enjoyed it a lot yeah, I really enjoyed it too.
Speaker 2:I think, if I remember correctly, it was like an hour and a half right very, very quick, yeah, so, and it didn't feel long I thought it did feel long, personally okay, oh right, yes, we did talk about the pacing pacing. I didn't think that it felt like, oh my god, this is dragging, but it felt like the pacing of an 80s film, yes which again, you know, all of our attentions are shot because of short form content. So if that's something that you can't necessarily handle, then maybe give this one a miss yeah, but I really liked it.
Speaker 1:I thought it was good. I thought, like you know, when they did the q a with the director after the film, he said some of the artistic choices that they made in terms of how it was filmed was also to really inspired by 80s well, didn't they say, they shot it on 18 millimeter yes, like I was like oh, like you really pick up on the graininess in it and in a very nostalgic kind of way, but not in a way that felt like everybody.
Speaker 2:I don't want to be like. Everyone who shoots on film nowadays is just this like nostalgic piece of shit who's trying to like do high art stuff, but kind of yeah, and this felt like it was like no, it's a film in the 80s. We have to make it feel like the 80s.
Speaker 1:So we're gonna do overhead lighting and we're gonna do 18 millimeter film the other cool thing that we found out from the q a was that they wanted to film.
Speaker 2:Was it in wisconsin or yes, they wanted to film on location.
Speaker 1:Yeah, somewhere in the midwest they said somewhere in the midwest, but they couldn't find anything. So they were like this is shot all over LA.
Speaker 2:Yes, they said they had Trent's house, where a majority of the film takes place is shot in five different locations, yeah.
Speaker 1:He was like please don't look at the door very closely, Don't look at the interior versus exterior door. You'll be able to tell yeah, which I never picked up on it.
Speaker 2:No, me neither. I'm sure if, like on second or third watch, we probably would have been like, oh yeah that for sure doesn't line up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and the other thing, like we won't say how it ends that we don't fully spoil it yeah but the ending is not at all what I expected no, I'm like it wasn't subtle at all.
Speaker 2:Like we had somebody in our audience ask him a question directly about the ending in terms of story, and like the director slash writer comes out and says well, yeah, but this happened. He was like oh, I didn't pick up on that. Yeah, so it's not subtle, but if you're, I guess, not paying full attention, yeah, it's like you can tell tell like there was a very deliberate thing that happened, and then yeah, yeah, somebody dies and it's very clear that they die, unless you're not paying attention yeah, so that's all we'll say but yeah, uh, I will definitely watch that again.
Speaker 2:I don't think it'll be like a annual tradition for us, but like I'm like if and when it's on streaming and somebody is like what do you want to watch?
Speaker 1:I'll be like have you seen Dead Mail? Yeah, it's a great film.
Speaker 2:I do think something like this would end up on like a Tubi or Shudder, or I'm one. I was thinking Shudder initially. Yeah, I don't actually think it will be on Shudder though. Yeah, it's not horror enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's also what I was thinking.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping, though, that it will wind up on a Tubi, or wind up on even a Netflix, like I really enjoyed this film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the other thing that we found out is that it had its first showing at South by Southwest.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that I think this was the second.
Speaker 2:Big yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, by southwest, yes, yeah, and that I think this was the second big yeah, yeah, big festival that it's shown at. So I hope by being at south by and then being at tiff, it kind of finds its its home somewhere yeah, I do too.
Speaker 2:I, yeah, I'm excited to see more from these guys.
Speaker 1:They've done two other features, uh, which I'll definitely go back and watch, yeah the final film that we went and saw was actually we were able to get tickets very last minute and we went and saw the Substance.
Speaker 2:And we saw it at 9.15 in the morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on a Sunday. So Doing the Lord's work, doing the Lord's work.
Speaker 2:If you have seen the Substance, you understand how funny that is, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like honestly truly.
Speaker 2:So that is yeah, like honestly, truly so, especially it's a body horror film and it is not just a body horror film.
Speaker 1:It is the best body horror film I have ever seen. Yeah, like I, you watch a lot more horror and you know I watch horror with you but but I think you you have much more, you have bigger opinions on the genre as a whole and I also, that's like I seek that out and like where you'll like be, like I'll just watch this entire season of some random reality television. What are these wives up to?
Speaker 2:I will go and watch a couple of horror movies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think for me too. I was like this is so much fun it is very high level.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about what it is a aging star who's won an oscar and is now like on an aerobics show and she's done that for the past.
Speaker 1:What like four years and she has a star on the hollywood walk of fame the star is actually demi moore, so yeah, the, the main character is played by demi moore elizabeth sparkle elizabeth sparkle. What a, what a great name. And this, this film, really is a critique, I think on. Like aging hollywood, you know the lengths that women go to to sort of keep up appearances. It's done by a female director did you write it as well.
Speaker 2:She wrote it and directed it. It's her, I think.
Speaker 1:Second feature she did revenge as well, which?
Speaker 2:is now at the top of my list for things to watch. It's Coralie Freguet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a French director.
Speaker 2:A French director. Excuse me, I haven't taken French in 20 years.
Speaker 1:It's been a while, but you can tell that it was written and directed by a woman, in the sense that, like the way the story was told wasn't and I think we talked about this when we left, because there's randy, not randy quaid dennis quaid, the other quaid.
Speaker 2:The better quaid, the less less, less problematic he, he plays like the director manager? No, I, oh, I guess he is the tv executive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the exec and you had said, oh well, you know, I'm really surprised that at no point we didn't see him being like sexually aggressive or anything like that, like he's gross he's gross in a misogynistic and literal way, like one of the first scenes.
Speaker 2:You see him like they do this extreme close-up while he's standing at a urinal walks out of the bathroom and then then smash cut to him eating shrimp with his hands yeah he's a gross person yeah, but he never like does anything inappropriate. He mentions how much he loves his wife, but like yeah yeah, which I'm like.
Speaker 1:If this was a film directed by a man, no offense to men, but that probably would not have been the case.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean especially in horror, where women are like the trope is they're sexualized.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That is, in most cases, you traumatize and you brutalize women, and that's it.
Speaker 1:So we get into, you know, the first, let's say 30 minutes, and Elizabeth Sparkle. She gets told that they are not bringing her back. She's having a rough go.
Speaker 2:Rough go. Gets into a car accident.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ends up at the hospital and there's this nurse that is helping.
Speaker 2:Strikingly beautiful nurse.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like skin, like you have never seen before, like mudang levels of skin yes, and he starts like feeling her spine and he was like, oh, you would be a perfect candidate.
Speaker 2:And she's like sorry and he ends up slipping her this little sheet of paper with a thumb drive on it and the paper says it changed my life and the hard drive just says the substance on it and I think it has a phone number on the back yeah so it shows a commercial which is like so, so, unhinged yeah, it's just like it's still you, but it's a better you, and just remember you. Both of you are the same person you, you are both, you only elevated yeah like it.
Speaker 1:It's so good it's.
Speaker 2:We're gonna, we going to say probably spoilers right now, because we do need to talk about very specific things, and the more blind you're able to go into this film, the better time you're going to have the trigger warnings are. Understand that this is one satire, so they're going to push things to the extreme. And two, it is body horror and it is the most extreme body horror I have ever seen. Yeah, and. I've watched a lot of body horror.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the first instance where we see Elizabeth taking the substance and then her becoming Birthing Sue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like wild the, and that's tame as far as the film goes yes the, the. The coolest effect I thought was the, like the double pupils, where it, like the eye splits off and like it looks like mitosis, like, and then it's the eyeball actually switches back and forth between Sue's and Elizabeth's eyes. Oh, and also then Demi Moore's back just splits open.
Speaker 1:Yes, and Sue needs to stitch her back together, and that's just. And then they have to like for lack of a better word, they have to swap fluids every yeah, seven days.
Speaker 2:It was like they, sue, had to take stabilizer which was effectively spinal fluid yeah every day, otherwise she just bleeds out. Yeah, yeah, it's just like devolving into a very strict seven day limit on. Hey, seven days on, seven days off, absolutely no exceptions. And obviously the exceptions happen, yeah.
Speaker 1:The exceptions do happen and you see the internal fight between Sue and Elizabeth, where Elizabeth calls the makers the substance customer service desk. Yeah, and it's just like, like I'm done with this, like she's not upholding her end of the agreement and to which they tell her you are one in the same, yeah you're one in the same.
Speaker 2:They also say you're welcome to stop whenever you want. Yeah, but she keeps going. Yeah, that that was the one thing I was a little I don't want to say confused about, but there felt like it was a little disjointed where they said you guys are one, and in the beginning they were both. Like Sue and Elizabeth were very aligned in their thoughts and beliefs and because that fluid went back and forth, I assumed that they were actually switching consciousnesses.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what I my take on it was that it's sort of, you know, as, as women, there's always this internal sort of struggle that you face.
Speaker 1:So of course she's like I don't want to, I don't want to stop this because you know I want to chase this eternal youth. I want to chase this eternal like where people love me and adore me for who I am. And kind of going back to when we saw the last showgirl, that story also dealt with, you know, ageism being cast aside, being shown that you're not worthy in a world.
Speaker 2:This is just that same thing but done in a completely different way yeah, yeah, it's I guess the logistics and sort of the full understanding of like, where does sue end and elizabeth begin doesn't really matter too much, it is very much. There they start disagreeing on things. Sue starts stealing time from elizabeth and it shows in elizabeth in terms of extreme aging, like the first time it happens. One of her fingers looks like like literally a finger from the roald dahl witches movie yes, literally that yeah and she's like what the fuck?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean there's so much we could probably say about the film, but I think really a you have to go see it b where it starts to get good isn't like no, it's entirely good. But when it starts to like pick up and you're like oh shit's happening the climax is in the like last 30 minutes there.
Speaker 2:There comes a time where we find out sue has stolen three months from elizabeth. Yeah, and the only reason she had no intention of switching back and the only reason they had to switch back was because she had drained, drained, her completely dry of stabilizer. And she calls the, the customer support desk, and says how do I get more? And she's he's like you gotta switch. That's the whole reason. You gotta switch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she switches and elizabeth is full-blown the witches like horribly grotesque yeah sue has a guy over at that same time, so it's her trying to get into the bathroom and figure out what's going on without being seen. This is the time that Sue decides that she wants to terminate.
Speaker 1:And only at this time, at this time when she is the witch. Yeah, and I don't think that we should spoil it from here on out, because we'd be giving away.
Speaker 2:I feel like we have to talk about the climax.
Speaker 1:We, uh, we can't no, no, no, we can't like the. That's basically. You get towards it. We can talk to that point but like I think if we say anything past that point, it really spoils it for people who are going to see, and I want you to go and please see it.
Speaker 2:There's a point in the film where you're like this is the end and then it goes on for an extra 30 minutes and those 30 minutes are the most fun I've ever had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, period Also visually it's so appealing in the sense that like the shots that are made, oh gorgeous, yeah. Like there's this one orange hall where originally it's the studio where elizabeth used to shoot her show. Spoiler alert sue then ends up getting the show that elizabeth used to have and they, oh they, always do these shots down this hall and it's just like well, it's almost identical to the hallways in the shining yes, where they have like the carpet as well, and it's that hallway shot that really long unsettling, and it's like, oh, I loved all of the interspliced like almost arthouse symbolism.
Speaker 2:Like the fly in the producers rewind at the beginning. Yeah, they do a lot with like fire in between shots. It is a gorgeous film it is. If you've seen. Have you seen society? I think I made you watch the shunting scene from society.
Speaker 1:I don't remember if, if you did, I have you've walked it out yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:If you've seen society and you know how that ends, think about that. Turned up to 11, which is hilarious, because that was already everything else. Turned up to 11.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, and remember we saw this at 9, 15 in the morning yeah it. What I like really appreciated about the audience, and also what we found out afterwards, was the audience was also like living for every single moment that was happening Like people were clapping, people like.
Speaker 2:You will laugh uproariously, and if you're not laughing uproariously, it's because you're so disgusted by what's going on, like the number of times we grabbed each other.
Speaker 1:Like, just like it was like oh my God, no, oh no other. Like. Just like it was like oh my god, no, oh no. After we left the film, we found out that the substance actually won the midnight madness people's choice award deservedly, yeah, which I am not surprised no, at all like they had two other showings that day yeah so spoiler, we didn't have to go at 9 50 in the morning morning.
Speaker 2:No, I'm glad we did.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm so happy that we did too, because it was such a vibe Dude.
Speaker 2:I had to have a nap after I was just like I need to lie down. I like body horror, but like.
Speaker 1:I'm so overstimulated.
Speaker 2:Literally I'm like that was so much blood yeah.
Speaker 1:Also the shots of like the eggs and then splitting. Oh, I know, it's there's just so much and I think if you watch it you will love it too yeah, please, please, watch it, what did? What did you give it as a rating? Nine, nine and a half.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not quite a perfect film, because I do feel like it went on a little too long I agree.
Speaker 1:I feel like it didn't need to be as long as it was Wasn't it like two hours 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was almost two and a half hours. It was a very long film.
Speaker 1:And it didn't like, unlike Dead Mail, it didn't feel like two and a half hour. But I agree, you felt it, though, like I, I would disagree. I didn't feel that I would disagree.
Speaker 2:I didn't feel that by what I mean you felt it is after the fact. It's like running a marathon where you're like, okay, I got the runners high, and then the next day you're like I feel terrible. That's what I mean okay, yeah, fair at the time it did not feel like two and a half hours.
Speaker 1:I mean, there are definitely films that I've gone to see that have been two and a half hours and I'm like this definitely did not need to be two and a half hours. I was literally thinking it in my head, literally. I like Dune, but yeah it did not need to be that long, yeah, but also I think we've said on the podcast before I'm like no movie needs to be over two and a half hours.
Speaker 2:No movie really needs to be over two hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like two hours is fine, we get it. Get your point across in two hours and that's it. So that's, you're losing half a point for that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, tiff was a lot of fun. Yeah, we are both incredibly stressed during this time and even still, I'm glad that we went.
Speaker 1:Same. I'm so happy that we went. We didn't get to see as many films as we wanted.
Speaker 2:No, I'm glad. Honestly, though, for my own mental sanity, I'm glad we didn't. Yeah, just as a recap for everybody, I think top to bottom in terms of rating, at least for mine, it went the substance piece by piece.
Speaker 1:dead male last showgirl yeah, I would say that's, that's pretty accurate but again, all of them were phenomenal, highly recommend I just.
Speaker 2:You know, if you're only going to see one and you have the stomach for it, see the substance. If you don't go see piece by piece, yeah, that's it. That is it. See the substance. If you don't go see Piece by Piece, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's it. That is it. That is the episode. That's the episode.
Speaker 2:Tell the people where they can find us.
Speaker 1:Well, you can find us on the World Wide Web. We have a website, it's hylobrowpodcom.
Speaker 2:That's H-I-G-H-L-O-W-brow dot com.
Speaker 1:And then we're on Threads, tiktok, instagram, and that's also the same. It's at highlowbrowpod. We're going to be back next week, yeah, and that will be our last episode in our current house. Yeah, we Bittersweet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is bittersweet.
Speaker 1:We're going to take a little bit of a break just so that we can get settled in. So we can get set up.
Speaker 2:I'm going to get my PMP, yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to do all the things and then when we come back you know we've been talking about maybe if we'll do something like we did last year when we watched Gigolos Gigolos.
Speaker 2:We'll do something. We'll do some background research on where they are today.
Speaker 1:I don't think we should go back to Gigolos.
Speaker 2:No background research on where they are today. I don't think we should go back to gigolos. No, no, no, no, no, no. I was gonna say maybe we do something like the oc, because I haven't seen the oc I.
Speaker 1:I think I watched like the first season we'll find. We'll find something we'll find something that both of us could align. Yeah, and like, have you ever watched laguna beach or the Hills?
Speaker 2:No, oh my god, I actually got Laguna Beach mixed up with the OC, so that's the one I meant. Okay.
Speaker 1:There you go. I feel like that would be that if you watched Laguna Beach and the Hills, you'd be like, oh, now I understand why you watch all of these trashy shows, and it's like, yes, Was the Hills, the one with that guy who's very into crystals. Yes, Spencer.
Speaker 2:Spencer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Spencer Pratt.
Speaker 2:Man Spencer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the show. That's the show. Bye, bye, thank you.
