Terror in Tandem
Horror-curious? Want to explore what the horror genre has to offer? Looking for insight into the macabre? Then let our two charming hosts guide you through the underbelly of the unspeakable. Terror in Tandem is a celebration of all things horror, brought to you by Laura and Richard.
Terror in Tandem
Made You (Watch)
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Another forceful watching! Nah, just one host “making” the other watch a horror movie, which isn’t bad at all.
This time it’s 2005’s Wolf Creek and 2008’s Eden Lake. So put another shrimp on the barbie and come picnic by the lake with your favorite podcast. (Spoiler: it’s this one).
Welcome to Terror and Tandem, a podcast about finding entertainment in the macabre, hosted by the knowledgeable and lovable Laura and Richard Mathiason. Each episode we discuss the horror genre from books to TV to movies and beyond. Sometimes even from the beyond. You can find us on all the things at Terran Tandem, pretty much. And Tarantandem.com. It's our website.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we should rewrite that part.
SPEAKER_01Why?
SPEAKER_00I mean, because you know. I mean people find us. It's perfect, is what I meant.
SPEAKER_01I wanted to make a big announcement.
SPEAKER_00I want I'd love to hear it.
SPEAKER_01Um, thank you to all of them.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, is this why you've been throwing up in the morning?
SPEAKER_01Oh, don't even. Now it's recorded. I'm too old.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I'm too addled. Um flipper babies.
SPEAKER_01I just want to thank everybody who's ever listened and downloaded episodes. We are less than 500 downloads away from 10,000 episode downloads.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, everybody.
SPEAKER_00That is amazing. And it only took 9,900 episodes to get there.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that's how math works.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean we've recorded 990 episodes.
SPEAKER_01Mm-mm.
SPEAKER_00Thousand oh math.
unknownGod damn.
SPEAKER_01Wow, you really know how to stick that pin in the balloon.
SPEAKER_00Sure do. 10,000 downloads. Almost. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01We'll let everybody know when we hit it. We're not gonna have a cake or anything.
SPEAKER_00Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01Or should we?
SPEAKER_00You'll know because the well, the sky outside will be uh blood red.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're gonna hire a blimp.
SPEAKER_00Uh it'll be blood red. The the moon will be.
SPEAKER_01We'll hire a blood-red blimp that um leaks blood.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, that's exactly it.
SPEAKER_01I I'm saying it's a crop dusting blimp that dusts with blood.
SPEAKER_00I feel like we won't have to make an announcement. Just the like everyone across the globe simultaneously hearing the trumpets of Gabriel Blairing will it'll be a signal. We did it, everyone! Yeah, 500 away.
SPEAKER_01No, you did it, everybody.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_00This is what this has all been about. Fulfilling 10,000 downloads as part of a long game ritualistic incantation.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00So chop chop, folks. I want my soul back.
SPEAKER_01You're not getting it. It's worthless. Yeah, no worries.
SPEAKER_00Raggedy at this point, right? Like it, I don't even know if I want it back. What's been done to it? You know, I um we're coming up on some sort of anniversary, I think, for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or maybe it just popped into my a never-ending scroll of doom.
SPEAKER_01But um Well, one of the movies we're gonna talk about today is it has a similar vibe, for sure.
SPEAKER_00And that movie had the best tagline and a great poster, and then the tagline um, who will survive and what will be left of them? That's fucking great. Because, you know, when you think of the last scene of Marilyn in the back of that pickup truck just having a full mental breakdown and screaming, covered in blood, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01It is definitely one of the most accurate uh reactions to the trauma that she experienced. Yes. Or, you know, Final Girls characters.
SPEAKER_00That's what bothered me about TV shows for the longest time is someone would buy it, and then the next episode they're like, well, back to normal life. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, fucking people I just are that are acquaintances in my life that die, I'm like wrecked for a while.
SPEAKER_01Did Buffy do that when her mom died?
SPEAKER_00No, that was the that was an early example, at least in my experience growing up, that episode stood apart because she was traumatized by it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, that was a good show for that that sort of thing. It really did deal with long-term consequences of things that happened. And by the end of it, Buffy was pretty damaged.
SPEAKER_01Did you see The Sons of Anarchy news?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's gonna be some kind of like limited series. Um Charlie Hunnam is the mastermind behind it. Okay, everybody's coming back, and it's kind of like an alternate situation, which works around, you know, that everybody pretty much bit it.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um your favorite is coming back too.
SPEAKER_00Who's my favorite?
SPEAKER_01You know, the um the the beauty and the beast guy.
SPEAKER_00Ron Perlman? Yeah. I mean, he's yeah, hellboy, everyone's favorite. No, I uh good, you know, because listen, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that when you end a property and then revisit it like 15 or 20 years later, it's just gold every time.
SPEAKER_01But isn't that a more accurate reflection of biker culture? Is older some of those folks were kind of washed up looking a little raggedy 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Anyway, sure.
SPEAKER_01I guess and then the Firefly animated series doesn't seem like it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00What? Why are you getting all this terrible news?
SPEAKER_01I well, that sounds like terrible. Um I mean, I think it was like uh at Comic Con there was conversations about that show is fucking they had everybody ready, but it's not getting to the next step in like production.
SPEAKER_00Cursed property.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I wish they had never announced it.
SPEAKER_01Well, they probably feel that way too.
SPEAKER_00Great. I feel like Wash.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know how accurate that news is, but But you heard it here second, folks.
SPEAKER_00Um speaking of seconds, what are we doing today?
SPEAKER_01We're doing one of our favorite slash least favorite episode themes, which is our made you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Where we usually force our eyes open and tie each other down.
SPEAKER_00No one's ever disappointed, no one's ever upset about it.
SPEAKER_01Made you watch. Nobody procrastinated until moments before recording and paced around at seven in the morning talking about how anxious they were.
SPEAKER_00I can explain.
SPEAKER_01Nobody did that.
SPEAKER_00Made you watch.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a made-you watch episode, everyone.
SPEAKER_00We made each other watch that we did a movie this time, yeah. Like the other times. I well, this time you made me watch 2008's um Eden Lake.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And you made me watch um 2005, yes, Wolf Creek.
SPEAKER_00Ooh. So the pattern here is beat. Oh, right, right, yes.
SPEAKER_01No satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00It's um buckle up, folks, for uh a dive into the human monster, um, where no one wins and everyone gets just stabbed to shit.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, it was like lots of stabbings.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, bleak. So yeah, we we so this is how this one came together.
SPEAKER_01I my original idea spin on this one.
SPEAKER_00I'm glad to. My original idea was I was like, ooh, let's do classic movies, but like I want to go really old. Like, you know, so I picked Fritz Lang's first talkie, M, uh, which is like 1930 or something, uh, with Peter Laurie, you know, and I'm like, ooh, it's so such an ideal of German expressionism, and blah, blah, blah, this, this, and that. And then Laura suggested Eden Lake because I have never seen it before.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's hard to find a film that you haven't seen that I have.
SPEAKER_00But I'm not gonna par Eden Lake with M.
SPEAKER_01I don't know why.
SPEAKER_00Because these need to have some sort of connective tissue.
SPEAKER_01They don't and haven't and at all before until this episode. But okay.
SPEAKER_00This particular psychic psychotic breakdown, I mean.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I made you read a folk horror book and you made me read a um book about hell and the and that's folksy. Torture.
SPEAKER_00So um, you're right. I don't know why, but I just felt like I had to match it with with with whatever. So this is a bleak episode, everybody. But uh it works. It really does. Because these two movies have eventually a lot in common.
SPEAKER_01I'll be made to watch M and I'll have to find a classic horror movie that Richard hasn't watched. M stands for I have watched, which is gonna be very difficult. So I'm gonna.
SPEAKER_00It stands for maybe.
SPEAKER_01Have to watch it is? No.
SPEAKER_00Oh. That's something in German, probably.
SPEAKER_01Mukduck.
SPEAKER_00It's actually mukbang. Um, so we are gonna be talking about these movies, and do you want to go first?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So um go for it.
SPEAKER_00Eden Lake?
SPEAKER_01No, Wolf Creek. Ah, Wolf Creek. Okay, start with Wolf Creek. Sorry, everybody. We're we're new to podcasting.
SPEAKER_00We know what we're doing. We're trying to we're good at it.
SPEAKER_01And we're not near 10,000 downloads or anything.
SPEAKER_00This is going really, really well. So in 2005, uh a gnarly little movie called Wolf Creek came out. Director uh Greg McLean, it was this his breakout movie for sure. Um, he's gone on to direct uh Wolf Creek too, but he also did Rogue, which I'm pretty sure you have seen. The giant crocodile movie with Michael Vartan.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I love that movie.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Same director. So Melissa George. I think.
SPEAKER_01Um No, it it it is that's an affirmative.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, no, that's from Alias.
SPEAKER_01No, but she was in a different croc. No, it was that other, the other blonde.
SPEAKER_00Sure. No, that blonde, Rada Mitchell, yes, yeah. So anyway, uh, sorry, sorry, Miss Mitchell. Um Greg McLean uh shot this for $1.1 million, and it was filmed, you know, primarily in South Australia around Adelaide.
SPEAKER_01When did he write American Pie? The song.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So anyway, it's that was his dad, Don. Um famous, nice guy. We uh so anyway, getting back to old Greg, uh $1.1 million. Now, this was a an an international sensation when it came out. I remember when it came out, and I I I saw it not in the theater. I I think I just rented it, but um it's uh it's gnarly. It um it's a very tightly focused and brutal movie um that I remember at the time I knew was based on uh the real-life backpack murderer murders in in the Outback from Ivan Millat.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, that's how it starts.
SPEAKER_00Australian serial killer. Yeah, yeah. So this the McLean has said that he this and a another um more recent to him event, but it's really the backpack killings um that inspired him. And um, look, if you've seen Wolf Creek, you can pretty much put it together. It's it's it's largely the same thing. So um anyway, the real strength of this for me is and for most people, is gotta be John Jarrett's performance is Mick Taylor. He is electric.
SPEAKER_01I mean he's so charming, but also weird, like filled with red flags, but also like funny and yes, kind of um it it's it's a theme for both of the movies where it's disarmingly friendly, and then you self-analyze whether or not you're the weird one. Oh, yeah. Whether you're taking this weird or is this person weird instead of trusting your gut, you're like, well, socially, this is how you know he's accommodating and he's helping us, and he towed our car, and he's gonna fix our car for free. So we have to be friendly and we have to accept all his weirdness.
SPEAKER_00We'll get into all that. Mick Taylor, you know, John Jarrett playing Mick Taylor is he's the ultimate sh uh wolf in sheep's clothing. He is a highly intelligent, manipulative um psychopath uh who parades around as a bogan, you know, just an outback redneck, do, do, do, do, do, and you know, that's his like his lure. That's how he draws you in, is you you feel disarmed. But one thing I want to say about the the Wolf Creek and and the and Mick Taylor, the character is they do very, very smartly do is because he's played with such charm, you want to like root for him, right? But they throw in so many elements to his character, his racism and his misogyny and his sexual crimes that make that impossible for you. So the movie presents this cycle.
SPEAKER_01And the killing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, listen, listen, the killing is something that audiences can forgive when they're like, if you give them like a charming murderer, you can root for Sweeney Todd, you know. But by making him abhorrent as like a toxic, gross sex criminal and hateful person, that prevents the audience from connecting with him. And there are moments of discomfort when you're watching it where you're like, yeah, that's pretty good. You know, it's funny, or it's like he does something, you're like, Oh my, you find yourself like chuckling a little bit, or at least like nodding, and then you remember, no, no, no, no, no, man. This guy's a fucking monster, he's not like a a charming rascal. Um, I thought that was really smart to make sure his character was not because killing people on on camera is not enough for an audience to turn against you.
SPEAKER_01But it's not at all funny, no, it's a very serious, deeply nihilistic movie.
SPEAKER_00But he employs a lot of wit and sarcasm, and you know, there's a he jokes a lot, and you, you know, he's extremely charismatic and charming.
SPEAKER_01It does, it's really effective because it's meant to disarm them, which they are, and it's meant to disarm the viewer, which you are.
SPEAKER_00But the viewer has Until you're not. Well, the viewer has the the benefit of knowing that he's the murderer.
SPEAKER_01Right. So, like, even with that knowledge, you're watching Because like why are we watching this movie if it's not allowed?
SPEAKER_00But that's the strength of John Jarrett's performance in this movie, is like, even with that, you're like, man, this guy.
SPEAKER_01And we're picking up on the more red flag subtleties of his character coming through when he's talking to them around the fire. Um, because we know that this is gonna turn at some point, and you're kind of waiting. I mean, it's like halfway into the movie where well, hold on.
SPEAKER_00Let's let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's start uh going back. We um I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Adelaide because we do have some listeners from there. That's where this was shot. It's a real big deal. Um it was a big hit, spawned a sequel. It was gonna have a third movie, but that kind of got derailed. It did get two seasons of a TV show um called Wolf Creek and um Wolf Creek season two. And the third movie that uh wasn't is finally being done. Greg McLean is producing, but he's not written or directing this one, writing or directing this one. Um it's Wolf Creek Legacy. Um this will probably be the capper because it's true. Jarrett's like in his mid-70s at this point.
SPEAKER_01Well, if it's legacy, then he obviously has a child out there or someone he's training, like the Saw movies. Creek Rising, which it's if you like the Saw movies, this is much better.
SPEAKER_00Oh, this is not yeah, but it's not like a traps and torture movie. It is a torture movie, but And traps. Yeah, but it's not like uh it's not like the the rude gold. It's not a game, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it is very traptions, you know.
SPEAKER_00It's similar to those like the reason I chose this movie for you was certainly as a reaction to the movie you chose for me. Because I've never seen Eden Lake, but I know of its reputation. And I chose this because you've never seen it. It definitely vibes with your your proclivity towards human monsters, like you like a good um real life bad guy, and the fact that it's not directly based on, but it's heavily inspired by true crime, and the strength of the the the main character's performance like just really elevates it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it but it is, it's a sadistic, mean, very gory movie that when it was released it got the kind of reviews when a horror movie gets these kinds of reviews. I know I'm going to like it because it you know everyone was saying, like, God, it's really well shot and it's really well acted, and it's amazing what they did with the budget, and it's very tight and it's scary, but it's so fucking graphic and violent.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's not a there's not a lot of violence. There is some, but there's not a lot. There's more blood than violence.
SPEAKER_00It's more the like cruelty of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, and I think oftentimes with monsters in movies, especially human monsters, we expect some sort of catharsis of someone there's gonna be a final girl, someone's gonna get him, they're not gonna be uh, you know, it's not gonna end as bleak.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, spoiler for a 21-year-old movie, it's uh it's a bummer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but one person does survive.
SPEAKER_00Unless you're Mick. Well, and that's a that's a recurring theme. The second movie ends as well with with a survivor, but like, uh Is it a female?
SPEAKER_01Is it does he still do the same composition, which is two females and one male? I mean, it's not no that's the thing with what uh is discovered in this movie is he doesn't really have an MO. No, he has hunting grounds.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like basically you you if you stray into this very large, you know Wolf Creek, yeah, space he just hunts, he hunts, that's all forest or whatever it is. The Mick Taylor, he doesn't see them as human, he sees them as he calls people pigs like a lot. Um and uh he sees them as like animals, so he just he hunts. Yeah, so there's not really a motivational pattern, but like he's also like a racist prick, so I don't think that's what drives him though. I think he will just hunt whatever crosses the creek because throughout the other installments in the series, he is a wide range of victims.
SPEAKER_01So what's interesting, can I start talking about let's talk about the movie? Yeah, what's interesting is out as we start, we kind of feet meet the two girls who are traveling from the UK, from England, um, and they're going to take a road trip with an Aussie named Ben. So it's Liz and Christy and Ben, and they're gonna take a road trip. And they talk a little bit about the chemistry um that they have, you know, with Ben. And it's it it it's a little like uh incestuous, but there's no sex. Um, but there is like a little flirting and things like that. Anyway, flirting. Ben picks up a car from somebody and it sort of sets the tone for the movie, I think. Um because the guy that sells them the car is very misogynistic, talks about um, you know, you're going on a road trip, a long road trip with two Sheilas and do, you know, like that's gotta be hot.
SPEAKER_00It's classic, like wake in fright, you know, outback Australian unfriendliness kind of thing. Like, you know, uh everyone's sweaty.
SPEAKER_01And at the end of the movie, or like as we get to kind of the the um critical scene of where things really shift in tone, you have to wonder whether the guy that sold them the car is in on it. It feels because when they stop for lunch.
SPEAKER_00A hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01It feels very much like this is all putting these people in the situation.
SPEAKER_00I think there's sort of an unspoken thing with the townsfolk of like, he doesn't hunt us.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00He only hunts you.
SPEAKER_01Or like you're gonna take a road trip to Wolf Creek. Well he's not gonna make it any further.
SPEAKER_00It's like these out of town, well to do people that sneer at us, you know. Yeah, you think you're better than us, aren't you? Sorry.
SPEAKER_01I mean, the road trip is pretty amazingly shot. We see a lot of these beautiful landscape shots and um Um the sky, and you know, it's like a really fun montage of playful youth um just enjoying a carefree road trip. And then they when they get to Wolf Creek, they do this really long hike and it it rains, but they don't let that ruin them their time, and they come back to the car and the car won't start. And this is where the whole tone of the movie shifts. So we're basically watching this movie with these carefree uh friends that are having a really nice time, but we're seeing little sprinklings of warnings that aren't very obvious, but we know it's just gonna be bad.
SPEAKER_00A little good foreshadowing to to get you get one cheek off the couch.
SPEAKER_01One of the things I really liked was when she Liz and I'll talk about that, but Liz finds the video camera that they've been filming, and she sees Mick's truck at the restaurant days before. I know the truck.
SPEAKER_00The truck itself looks like it's hunting you. Yeah. It's a scary truck.
SPEAKER_01It does, and he's very pissed off.
SPEAKER_00And in this part of Australia, there are like one-lane roads that go for like and dirt roads, endless fucking like hundreds of rooms.
SPEAKER_01Also, dirt roads and no signs and no lights.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like if somebody's coming up behind you, there's that's it. There's no one else around.
SPEAKER_01So they're they're hanging out in the car trying to stay warm, figuring out what they're gonna do, and they see somebody pull up behind them, and it's Mick in his truck, and he's like, Oh, this is what's wrong with your car. Yeah, I'm happy to tow you, and then they have a conversation because they're like, We don't have any cash, really. And then Ben asks them, like, are you gonna charge us? And he's like, Oh no, don't be stupid. Like, he's kind of rude about it.
SPEAKER_00He takes like weird offense to being asked such a crude question.
SPEAKER_01So as they're being towed, and they're being towed in their car by Mick's truck, they're in and out of sleep, and at one point Liz says to everybody, We've been driving for hours. So this also gives you a sense of like, where the F are they? Yeah, they're so off track now, their car doesn't work. We get to this really kind of crappy camp. That's what Mick calls it. My camp. It's got like it's like a junk camp. It's like what you would think somebody who fixes cars like has around where they fix cars, yeah, you know, like rusty metal things laying everywhere. And he's like, you know, you guys want to eat something. Here there's some water, they drink the water, and he doesn't drink the water, and they he drinks whiskey, I think. Um and they go all lay down to go to sleep around the camp while Mick then goes to fix the car. So then cut to Liz wakes up in a some kind of shed and she's um bound and gagged. So then it just plays out from there, and we realize what's happened to all of them. They've been drugged, he's taken apart every single piece of the car and laid it out, and it's a count and mouse from there. So Liz Did you say accountant mouse? Cat and mouse.
SPEAKER_00I thought you said accountant mouse.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00And I'm picturing a little mouse with like a little green visor on, and I would watch that show.
SPEAKER_01Um, accountant mouse. Liz tries to be getting up, Liz tries to find Christy and does. She they try to find Ben, but they also try to escape, and they kind of do. And here's where it really starts to get bleak. You have that initial, oh, they're gonna make it, but they're in the middle of nowhere. They don't have shoes, they don't have coats, they don't have any means of transportation, they don't have a phone. So they are still, even though it's this big wide open space, right? They're still trapped. They're trapped because there's nowhere to go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh, I mean it's the outback. It's there's fucking it's desert. It's an all the world's remaining dinosaurs live there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it's um like very filled with snakes. It it's it's a what I really found compelling about this was it was a escape and a re a retrap. An escape and a retrap and then a kill.
SPEAKER_00And also like a little like kind of survival horror.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a little like, oh, she's gonna make it.
SPEAKER_00He went on uh the Greg McLean also directed Jungle, the the Daniel Rick.
SPEAKER_01Which is what I want to watch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, is the one where he's surviving in a horrible jungle. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01So nobody makes it out alive except Ben, and we see his story um and how he like gets away. Um not great. I don't think things will be great. And he was like hell, so the intro and extro is that a thing? Outro. Outro. The intro and outro, the intro talks about um, you know, there's like a little intro panel that says all these people that go missing every year in Australia. It's like a little based on a true story, you know, because all these people go missing, some are found, but most are never heard from again. And then we see Ben at the end being taken away in handcuffs, and the little end blurb is they were he was held for a while, but then he was let go be but they couldn't find where he was talking about, they couldn't find any evidence, no bodies were ever found, they don't know who Mick is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh it's like no one believes him, right? It's great. I know he has to live with that survival guilt and also the way they sort of reveal Ben, you know, it because you're really following the girls.
SPEAKER_01Well, honestly, Liz is really the the the one with the best survival instinct and her end is so depressing because you're really of anybody you're rooting for, because Ben is really useless, he doesn't protect the girls, he he doesn't even when he eventually escapes, he doesn't even try to find them.
SPEAKER_00I mean he's been through it though, yeah. Of course, it's crucified, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Of course, but you know, Liz's instinct is I gotta find my bestie, I have to make sure she's okay. Yeah, where's Ben?
SPEAKER_00Like she really that's where the mean streak of the movie is, is like even if you aren't, I mean, a lot of times when you're watching slasher type movies and a character dies, it's like, well, yeah, you made terrible decisions and you couldn't control yourself. But yeah, when Liz buys it, you're like, geez.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then the method she dies is really sad and terrible and it's hard to watch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's degrading.
SPEAKER_01Um, and just you know, I think what happens is that Mick bites off more than he can chew, which is also kind of a humanizing element because he's like, These fuckers gave me a little bit more of a runaround. I don't think his plan was to have Ben escape, but he doesn't seem bothered by it. Yeah, you know, the final scene is just really Mick walking into the sunset.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, his hunting grounds, his hunting grounds are vast, yeah, and inhospitable, but he survives them.
SPEAKER_01And that's the other thing about this movie, is it's really like a good companion with what people's fears of the Australian Outback are is like very hostile, very desolate, um, that the landscape can be your downfall.
SPEAKER_00Or that you're gonna run into some fucking freak maniac who's like ba-da-da-do-do-do-right.
SPEAKER_01Like when you run out of water, you're like, Oh, I could really use some water, but it's laced with sleeping medicine.
SPEAKER_00It's the same reason I don't want to go deep into the bayou or a holler or some shit. You know, I've seen too many movies.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I'm sure there are nice people in both places.
SPEAKER_01My conclusion is because of the slow build and kind of the anticipatory anxiety that this film created, the payoff was really satisfying, and it wasn't overly violent for violence's sake. It was this guy is a serial killer, so there's gonna be some violence, but I didn't think it was really egregious, so I liked it. Nice. I thought this movie was good. I did it, I enjoyed it as much as you can enjoy a nihilistic slasher Australian torture movie.
SPEAKER_00Um I I I gave all the the credit to to John Jarrett's acting, but the Greg McLean is a top-notch director. Like it's a tight movie and uh does a really, really good job.
SPEAKER_01What he did was made me really sad for these three kids.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean? Like, because they were so carefree and just living their lives and not doing anything disrespectful. You know, it wasn't one of those things where they're like, oh, you can't burn, you can't have an open fire here, you can't camp here, like in the in the national forest that or in the national uh Wolf Creek. They didn't disrespect any of those rules, they weren't disrespectful, they didn't like do anything to deserve this, and there is no motivation for Mick other than that's one.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I also thought you might like this because you're a really, really big fan of the original Strangers. Yeah. And there's the same element of like, you no one deserved any of this. Right. Even by the warped morality of movie standards of like, yeah, maybe this person didn't get deserved deserved to be murdered by Jason, but they were super annoying and racist, so it's satisfying to watch the or they're like a relation of somebody who tortured Jason, you know what I mean, as a kid or whatever. The randomness of the of the the horror makes it cool. It's sad too.
SPEAKER_01And one of the saddest parts is when she finds other people's belongings and and a camera from a family with kids and they're all drinking the water. Yeah. And she's been doing this a while. Okay, so it's not just playthings because some you you start to think it's like, oh shout out to our Adelaide listeners. Yeah. Don't go to Wolf Creek.
SPEAKER_00They they know that, they know that. We are the ones who like you know, they're just standing there watching another group of tourists go to Wolf Creek, like, oh no, not again.
SPEAKER_01Well, Ben should have known better then.
SPEAKER_00Hmm, yeah, Ben.
SPEAKER_01So Wolf Creek.
SPEAKER_00Classic Ben. Wolf Creek, everybody.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for doing that to me and making me watch it.
SPEAKER_00You're welcome. Now, after a quick break, we'll get to what I had to watch.
SPEAKER_01Let's do it.
SPEAKER_00And back. And we're back.
SPEAKER_01We're I am we're back at another popular vacation spot called The Old Quarry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Remember the old quarry when we used to go to that quarry? Because it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01When I first watched this movie, I was like, what the fuck kind of vacation and beach situation is this? Why why is he gonna propose here?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's because he went there as a kid and is nostalgic. So this movie, uh, why why don't you give us a little something something?
SPEAKER_01Um, so Eden Lake from 2008, um, written and directed by James Watkins, who made The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe, which I liked. And he did the Speak No Evil remake, which I did not like because I liked the original Speak No Evil.
SPEAKER_00And I will tell you my hopes for Clayface, though.
SPEAKER_01I will tell you that James Watkins for this movie did not listen to the studio.
SPEAKER_00Eden Lake.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for Eden Lake. They wanted him to change the ending, and so I cannot understand why he was I think for Speak No Evil, he probably was going to mirror the original ending, but because of pressure, they were probably like, No, you have to, and I guess maybe he gave in this time because um this ending and Kelly Riley, I guess, pulled him aside when like they were filming the ending after they filmed the ending, and she said, People are gonna hate this. And he was like, Yeah, well, this is how it ends, though. And you know, she was like, Okay.
SPEAKER_00It's the reason the movie is known, like it it it has gained you know, legendary status for being like having one of the ultimate downbeat endings.
SPEAKER_01So it's starring Kelly Riley, as I mentioned, Michael Fassbender, who also has some penis play in this movie. Yes, in a different way than other movies.
SPEAKER_00There is something in Michael Fassbender's writer that is just like my penis on mentioned, shown, tortured, included in some way, and Jack O'Connell, and this I believe was my first exposure to him. He's very young.
SPEAKER_01And this is one of his early movies. I know he was in This is England, um, and some other movies, but I think this is kind of early on in his um acting because he's a a teenager. A young teenager, though. He's like 16, 15, 16.
SPEAKER_00Severe England face.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he does. Like he's got that resting England face. Yes, resting resting, um, like resting Saxon face.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh so uh Michael Fassbender and uh uh Jack O'Connell would go on to do the film 300 together.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And box office and critical reception were pretty solid. The production budget was 2 million and it made 3.9 to 4.3 million worldwide.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, the UK release, it was like number 12. The US, it was a quiet release, and some of the critical reception, like the it's a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics. And uh the popcorn meter is a 65%. So I think the ending and like similar to Wolf Creek. I think if you like Wolf Creek, you like it. If you don't like it, you don't like it. I don't think there's any middle ground for either of these films, and I think they kind of have the same overall vibe, except for I would argue that Wolf Creek is a much slower, kinder entry into the end, and Eden Lake is a much more fast-paced anxiety um move into the end.
SPEAKER_00It's an intense watch.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, and this was came out of the um hoodie hoodie hoodlum movement of the UK.
SPEAKER_00Oh, right. Yeah, it was around the time like Harry Brown came out. Yeah, Michael. Exactly. Harry Brown was is a good fucking movie.
SPEAKER_01Um, and this is a really great end of summer horror film.
SPEAKER_00You want to see old people beating them?
SPEAKER_01This kind of has like an end-of-summer feeling. Yeah, and it's a strip-down slasher, it takes away that masked killer, but it's like the all like m powerful monster, and basically replaces it with menacing hoodie-clad teenagers.
SPEAKER_00Children of the of the corn.
SPEAKER_01And it also touches on like the societal fears of like sociopathic kids and class loathing and like how rural communities keep outsiders and gentrification from happening in their community.
SPEAKER_00Sundowntown for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_00So you yeah, right off the bat, this movie's phenomenal. Uh, it's an excellent movie, top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01Even though you hated it, really.
SPEAKER_00Hated the experience of watching it because I I'll get into that.
SPEAKER_01But let's just cut to uh our episode on the deep dive of hereditary. And I've had to watch that movie twice now.
SPEAKER_00Got to watch that movie twice.
SPEAKER_01Honestly, how many days it took me to recover. Uh, just Richard deserves to feel uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry, this is a a no snowflake zone, okay? So uh yeah. Anyway, speaking of my feelings, um I this movie's great, it's fantastic. Now, the the acting is excellent, the pacing is great, um, it's very, very scary, and what I especially liked about the main characters, Michael Fastbender and Kelly Riley's characters, is like in a lot of these types of movies, it's like the annoying yuppie dicks that get their comeuppance.
SPEAKER_01Again, kind of disrespectful, yeah, and they're not following the rules. No. They're fine, they're very humble.
SPEAKER_00The only quote unquote crime they have at all is being naive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's it. But like these people don't do anything wrong, they get really pushed, they get thr then like very quickly thrust into an untenable situation by these fucking human beasts.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're just trying to have a little in it like engagement trip, and these uh teenagers start to bother them, it kicks sand, it disrupt Yeah, it starts with like just sort of peacocking and and and whatnot. And then And Michael Fassbetter does like the masculine thing, which is like knock it the fuck off.
SPEAKER_00He does, however, I would say he's extremely like reserved about it. Yeah. Like he does tell them off once, but he doesn't peacock back at them, he doesn't try to start any trouble. He actively tries to avoid trouble with them.
SPEAKER_01Like that's why I said masculine and not toxic masculine.
SPEAKER_00However, he does lose his cool when he goes into their house. Yeah, that was a bad move. But the thing is, like, they were always fucked.
SPEAKER_01They should have left the moment while their car was intact.
SPEAKER_00Well, like the moment that these kids started occupying the beach they were on, they should have been like, Yeah, you know, gotta find a new plan for our vacation.
SPEAKER_01Um, sometimes you can't coexist.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and there that's that's their crime, is they they just are naive. They don't think anything bad can happen to them because nothing bad has ever happened to them.
SPEAKER_01It's the speak no evil of it all. Yes, you know, that's why these kind of films are a little related.
SPEAKER_00Not that these even in speak no evil, there see in this movie, their doom happens very quickly, like their fate is sealed, and it's really not they don't introduce the doom. No, in speak no evil, there are multiple instances, and this is when the motive is revealed by the killers, this is part of it where the victims' own decisions along the way really seal the deal for them. Um, and when they ask the guy at the end, like, why did you do this? He's like, Because you let us, you let us do it. Yeah. Um, Michael Fassbenner and Kelly Riley, they didn't do anything wrong, and they they really gave it the old college try to get out of there. Like, I like I think their relationship was very believable and very sad. So sad. Yeah, it was it was very, very tragic. Um the like way that they try to defend each other from these these hoodlums. But what the movie also does very well is it's a group of chavs, like young kids and shit, but Jack O'Connell is the one that is the monster, like the true monster. It shows you, like, you know, there's the ringleader, and then there are just the spineless dicks that when it gets really bad, none of them want to do it, but they're also too scared not to, so they go along.
SPEAKER_01Also, the difference between the two movies is Wolf Creek is uh um no violence and then violence.
SPEAKER_00This is violence, the whole escalating violence, and it gets ongoing, escalating violence until it's ultimately like very gnarly, yeah, and you know, the it's grisly, and the the the eventual deaths are pretty horrifying. Um and sad. Yeah, and very sad, but like Jack O'Connell's ringleader is the one through violence and shame and social pressure is making all of this happen. And the ending, I'm gonna we're spoiling all this, right? So yeah, it's they they burned Michael Fassbender alive. Um Kelly Ran.
SPEAKER_01After stabbing, slashing his face, stabbing his genital. Leaving him for dead. She really tries to save him.
SPEAKER_00It took so many stabs to get all of his penis. Um that that went on for like eight minutes. It was really so yeah, uh, he got the uh the old in the woods vasectomy. Um, and uh we watch Kelly Riley, you know, go from sweet school teacher school teacher for for like kindergartners, like trying to give these kids a chance, yes, and also like not want and then she's you know defending herself.
SPEAKER_01She's she kills one by stabbing him in the neck, and it it's well she quickly realizes that trying to survive and hide is not gonna cut it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so she fights back, she she murks one with a a broken piece of glass, and genuinely it's another great scene where like it crushes her to do that, like yeah, you still stabbed a kid in the throat, and like and it's unfortunate the one that she stabs is like the least yeah, but he still stabbed her husband.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, like he's on his way out, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't matter. So the the only satisfying parts of this movie are when she you know takes out like a couple of these kids, but the ending essentially, she you know, she keeps getting every she makes multiple escape attempts and does escape and gets in a truck, gets in a truck with a guy who's going to pick up the kids because it's the brother. And so she escapes that.
SPEAKER_01But she doesn't, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00And then she crashes into you know a parked car, goes to a house, help me, help me. Everyone's it's a bunch of adults.
SPEAKER_01Both adults having a little gathering, and they're like, Oh my god, you poor thing. She's covered in blood. They put a blanket on her, they start sitting on the room.
SPEAKER_00But then you start looking around the house, and it's like, these people are scumbags, man, but also like they're dirty.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's the parents.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you see the picture of Jack O'Connell.
SPEAKER_00Kelly Riley, you know, it gets discovered that she killed some of their kids at this party.
SPEAKER_01He shows up and tells them. Jack O'Connell shows up story.
SPEAKER_00And this is the best part of the movie. Essentially, you know, they the parents they uh grab Kelly Riley, they decide we're gonna handle this our way, and they drag her away screaming, and you hear her in the bathroom, they lock her in the bathroom. Well, uh after that, they they drag her away and they're gonna kill her, and they do, and um but you don't see any of that. You just watch Jack O'Connell putting on Michael Fassbender's Ray-bands that he stole, and um like looking at himself in the mirror, all proud and shit, but the scene where they're taking her away, it's his father, and he's intimidating the other adults into doing what he's saying, using the same language and techniques that Jack O'Connell used. So, like the whole cyclical, you know, nature of it is it's a generational violence. That's what elevates this movie above others. It's not just the twist and turns. I think the character depth and the the the it has a little bit more to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's no remorse, and then you know, obviously Jack O'Connell's character will never be redeemed. He's a sociopath, so you know, it's just gonna perpetuate that and his parents will clean up his messes and he killed one of the kids himself in a terrible way.
SPEAKER_00Uh it's um it's a really nasty movie. The ending I've seen the people I guess you know, if you if you hate the mist, you're gonna hate this because it's a deeply unsatisfying ending from the point of view of needing closure, closure. Yeah. I thought I think it's an like out of this park, like crushing perfect ending for this movie.
SPEAKER_01It is it's the only way that the ending wouldn't have been like obvious.
SPEAKER_00A cop-out, yeah, yeah. And the you know, what this movie did so well was it subverted all of the tropes. Um Michael Fassbender, the the husband with muscles and and penis, is the first to go.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Kelly Riley, the the little, you know, kind of pretty uh school mom, is fucking badass. Like she she goes through it, she steps on a uh blade and you know, like gets all fucked up and bloody. And she listen, she doesn't make it, but that is not boy. She she really gets there and gives it the college try. She takes out a couple of her attackers. She is and this isn't like in a nicer movie, she survives.
SPEAKER_01These kids, these teens, they're not like well organized, and this isn't premeditated.
SPEAKER_00No, it just sort of but they really work together, like you know, um once the inciting incident occurs, uh it just and everyone covers for each other.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, they even say at the end, like, you know, the cops are gonna come ask questions, like doesn't mean they're gonna get answers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like ultimate peer pressure that uh all these kids kind of follow Jack O'Connell's lead.
SPEAKER_00And right at the beginning of the the movie, there's a throwaway line where Michael Fassmanner's like, you know, I used to go here as a kid, and we have to this is gonna be our last chance before the development, like Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So right, there's that development and the fencing there's definitely encroaching um element of money.
SPEAKER_00There's like a lot of class resentment of these this town that's been you know ground down and passed over, and I only imagine like during the Thatcher years was was ground to a paste, and now it's gonna be you know sold off by carpet baggers, and then these two upper class posh uh beautiful people come in from out of town, and oh la ti-da, this is so nice for us. We're just having a nice weekend where like this is where we're dying. So I get that.
SPEAKER_01And it's sort of also like well, we'll just kill every single last one of you.
SPEAKER_00That's it, yes.
SPEAKER_01You you take it's like a line in the sand, like literally a line in the sand.
SPEAKER_00There's um so in Wolf Creek 2, uh, the which by the way I do recommend, it's very good. And the opening is so. I'm definitely gonna watch it. I want to see what the opening's so good, but there's there's like a moment it when he's he's taken out a victim, and the victim's like, you know, they'll come uh they'll come looking for me, and he's Mick's just like, yeah, it doesn't mean they'll find you. Yeah. Um hey folks, it's co-host Richard here, just dropping in to let you know that at this point in our recording, uh moments away from the end of the episode, our sound engineer walked across the equipment and cut us off. So this is the actual ending of the episode. And I did just throw our sound engineer under the bus because that is a more whimsical story than me forgetting to hit record.
SPEAKER_01Terror and Tandem is written, produced, and recorded by Laura and Richard Mathiason, and edited and mixed by Richard Mathiason. Our theme was written and performed by Carrie Denver, and all other music was written and performed by David Sospanic. All opinions expressed on this podcast are our own and should be taken as such. Thanks for listening, and please remember to give us a like, a review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you next time. We're standing right behind you.
