V/H/S: The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She was Younger

This week's bonus episode we are covering Joe Swanberg's segment in V/H/S. More bad boys.

Chapters

• 0:00 Bonus Intro And Setup
• 0:33 Why This VHS Segment Sticks
• 1:36 FMV Vibes And Screen-Life Horror
• 2:37 Creatures, Aliens, And The Reveal
• 4:10 Director, Writer, And Best Jump Scare
• 5:10 Slow-Burn Tension And Tech Choices
• 6:30 Other Screen-Bound Horror Recs
• 9:00 Plot Walkthrough And Big Twist
• 13:20 Gaslighting And Aftermath
• 16:30 Gender Tropes And Horror DNA
• 18:10 Final Thoughts And Next Tease

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello and welcome to a bonus episode of We Recommend a movie podcast where every week we recommend a movie for you to watch and then come back here and listen to us discuss. I'm Jesse. I'm Jason. I don't know what I did to deserve someone. You're so good to me. Oh because this week we recommend VHS segment The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily when she was younger. Great title. I love the title. Alright, Jason. So on the last episode. Yeah, right. So on the last episode, you said this was kind of similar to Tuesday the 17th for you. But with more breasts. Discuss. Yes. Two four total breasts. Um yeah, so uh what'd you like and uh what'd you not like on it?

SPEAKER_01: 0:49

Uh I don't know. It's just kind of like I I do like FMV. Like um especially video games, whenever you're they're just kind of out of pocket. And that's what kinda I kinda liked about this one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

At the same time, it's kind of What do you mean FMV? I don't know video games.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09

It's like the whole video game is you watching recordings of people talking on the camera. Yeah, yeah, gotcha. You have to investigate using like what's things they say and like to figure out what happened to the people.

SPEAKER_00: 1:24

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25

And that's I kind of like that about this.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27

Yeah. Yeah, and I I I understand I have my issues with this one too. And it's mainly deals with like the creatures that are just children. Children.

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

Yeah, it's kind of like it's kind of but they're supposed to be aliens, right?

SPEAKER_00: 1:41

Yeah. It's creepy at first, you know, when you don't see them, but then when you see them just sitting on the floor, it's like they're just fucking kids. Oh, there's a bunch of assholes. There's some kids. Um, but so this one is the one directed by Joe Swanberg. He's actually a pretty good director. He's done so him and like Jake Johnson from New Girl, Nick, he like they're I think they're buds. They've done a lot of, they've done a few things together. Um, it's also written by Simon Barrett, who also did w wrote the uh tape 56 wraparound thing.

SPEAKER_01: 2:07

Yeah, it's it did give me the the best jump scare, I think, out of all of them.

SPEAKER_00: 2:11

No, no, see, so this is what I want to talk about. Like, uh part like in my notes, I put walking around the house is spooky. Yeah. With like low um bad lighting, like bad lighting, bad video. And then like you're just kind of seeing the guy and he kind of looks interested. And then whenever, you know, this is the fourth or fifth time I've seen this whole movie. So like it's also fun re-watching it with him in the corner because you know he's trying not to let her see it because she doesn't he doesn't he doesn't want her to know what's going on at the same time. So that kind of adds an extra element of probably why I like it a little bit more than maybe you might. Um, but yeah, just I like I love the twist. It was pretty cool. It's a good twist, and it like do you just think it's a ghost, and then it's like, oh no, it's alien shit. Um it's just like body farm. I wish the kids maybe looked a little cooler or something, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 3:01

Yeah, or just like have real aliens. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 3:04

Yeah, but it was uh it was a cool idea. That was fun. It was um just it's it's pretty slow, but I kind of like that about it. It made it feel real. And this was kind of the first time I saw they and them people doing like a Skype type movie because they've done it now multiple times. There's uh Unfriended and Unfriended 2. You got the movies or like some uh I think it's called like missing or whatever, and it's just it all takes place on a screen and someone's trying to figure out where someone's been kidnapped and they're trying to figure out where they're at and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:36

Oh, like the guys dying like in the chair, get about to be killed by people who are watching.

SPEAKER_00: 3:40

It's just like um his like daughter or wife or someone got kidnapped, and he uses like Facebook and stuff to try to find them and uses like phone locators and things like that. And it's really they're really fun to fight all the trolls, yeah. Um but then there's also the best one I've seen, it's called Host. It's only like 64 minutes, it's on chutter. Um, it's like these people are like doing a you know, like a ritual over Skype and stuff because it's it they filmed it during uh COVID, so this is a way to make a movie during COVID, and it fucking rolls. Nice, like the ghosts are really good. It's like 20 times better than this, though I do like a lot a lot of portions of it. That's cool. But it's just like, hey, they had a really good idea and they had plenty of time and during COVID to work on it. Um but yeah. Um, so one of the things I have, Daniel Kaufman, who played James, he directed a documentary called Can't Can't Stop, Won't Stop, a Bad Boy Story.

SPEAKER_01: 4:37

It sounds like that one.

SPEAKER_00: 4:40

It's about the uh Don't Stop Ever Stop It. It's about the pr uh the rap company that makes music. Uh the lead in that is P. Diddy. Oh, good. Good, good, good. That was the most interesting fact I heard.

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

No problem about it with that guy.

SPEAKER_00: 4:56

So maybe we should figure out how if Daniel Kaufman's been to any parties, find that guy. He's been because he, you know, might rip an alien out of a lady. Maybe that's what P. Diddy was doing. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 5:08

Yeah, he's saving those people.

SPEAKER_00: 5:12

But anyways, uh the stuff where um also an element of this that is really good. Whenever he tells Emily comes up with the idea that she's gonna close her eyes so she doesn't get scared, and James has to watch what's going on around. Good. That was pretty funny. Great. Because if you watch it at night, completely dark room by yourself, which is how I watched the first one, it got me, man. This is what we did at the Hollywood horror night?

SPEAKER_01: 5:39

Yeah. Just walk close your eyes. No, like so. We went through a haunted house. Ashley held up her phone and she's like, You guide me. I want to get video of the haunted house, but I'm gonna close my eyes and hold up my phone and you guide me through the house.

SPEAKER_00: 5:50

And I'll watch it later.

SPEAKER_01: 5:52

And nothing got killed. Just the roof. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 5:58

Well, this is an interesting corner you filmed for two hours.

SPEAKER_01: 6:02

Um she was pushing me, so we were going so fast. Yeah. Um ran into a blue a glass wall because it was like there's a monster behind it. Yeah. And I just bumped into it because I couldn't see anything because it was bright outside and dark inside. Yeah. My eyes hadn't adjusted.

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

When you went to Universal, did uh and did the horror nights, um, did you get to walk in as a group or did you all like go in like single file? It was kind of single file. Yeah. It's just people, some people take too long to go through. It's like, hurry up. Ain't that scary. Damn, I ain't real.

SPEAKER_01: 6:34

We were zooming.

SPEAKER_00: 6:35

Yeah. But yeah, that's pretty much everything I got. Um, the general discussion of the sick thing that happened to Emily when she was younger. Oh, it's such a fucking rad title. I love it. It's my favorite title at all.

SPEAKER_01: 6:46

So, what happened to her when she was younger? Her leg thing? Oh, right, because he's been Yeah, they've been friends since 12 years old. And he's been doing this.

SPEAKER_00: 6:54

She was in a car crash when she was 12 years old. And that's how he constantly is like, hey, you were in a car crash. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um, and so we'll hop into the plot. Or was she in a car crash? Well, but she wasn't probably okay. So, tape 56 continued. Back in this VCR room, the old man is back, but the guy watching the tape is gone. Where did this guy go? The two from the basement. Yeah. The two from the basement come back to the room. They think their friends left, and one guy is gonna go look while the other guy watches the tape. Guy sets up the camera like all the other guys and puts in the tape. Segment four. Yeah. The sick thing that happened to Emily when she was younger, I will once again say hell of a guitar. Um, so a woman named Emily and her boyfriend James video chat. Emily starts talking about a bump on her arm that she has. She asks James about a doctor. Um Isn't he a doctor? Yeah, he's gonna be a doctor. She asked James about a doctor he has her go to. She jokingly asks when James becomes a doctor if he can support her so she doesn't have to work. Hey.

SPEAKER_01: 8:02

Did she ever think that maybe I shouldn't just go to the doctor to check out this lump on it?

SPEAKER_00: 8:07

Well, I think she has, but she's going to like his doctor, and I'm assuming it's probably part of it. I'm assuming this is a whole big scam. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and she tries to convince him by showing her a boobs. He's like, Well, would this help?

SPEAKER_01: 8:19

Very much so. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 8:20

It's like, wow.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

Yes. I forgot what you were helping, but it helps.

SPEAKER_00: 8:25

Like, I will do it. So they talk about her apartment being haunted. James does not believe this, but um recorded scares around their apartment. But he ends up recording some of the scares around the apartment that occur. She walks around saying she hears footsteps in certain areas. James tries to explain it away. She says, Next time it happens, call on.

SPEAKER_01: 8:44

No, my neighbor upstairs is a horse. I know what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_00: 8:48

Duh. Mr. Ed or whatever it is. So the next night she hears something at her door and calls James. She goes out to check with James watching, who tells her not to do it. He's like, Hey, what are you doing, dude? Stay in your room, lady. What if it's someone in your house? So while explaining that after an accident, uh and James moving away when she was 12, things started getting weird. While telling the story, suddenly we see a small figure in the background. Then suddenly, what looks like to be a child comes into the room and slams the door.

SPEAKER_01: 9:24

Yeah, that scared the shit out of me.

SPEAKER_00: 9:25

And they're freaked. Great scare. Wonderful. Watching this in college, as a child, not a child. I was in college. As an adult in my room, in a tiny ass room, because you know, apartment. And I went, oh. Yeah, got me too. I was like, oh, that was good. Because you see it and you're like, oh, it's just gonna be one of those things where it's in the background and it's scary. That's a punch the closest child to me. And then it's just gonna, oh okay. I'm calling social services because I have a beard kid. But you just think like the kid's gonna like eventually walk away, right? And it's gonna be like, James, it's gonna be like there's something behind you, but he doesn't. And um, so yeah, James is like, it could have just been the breeze. What are you talking about? And it's like, and that's when you're gotta think, I don't what's up with James? Why would he say it? There's obviously a child there.

SPEAKER_01: 10:14

Like, yeah, and do you see a breeze? Yeah, it's like I saw something, but it could have been a breeze.

SPEAKER_00: 10:19

Maybe your window was open.

SPEAKER_01: 10:20

Maybe I maybe I saw the wind.

SPEAKER_00: 10:22

I saw the breeze. She tell uh he tells Emily he didn't record. She's like, Of course you did. The one time you're not recording. I bet you got my boobs, though. Yeah, oh, totally. Uh, she keeps itching the lump on her arm as well. That night she hears a noise again and calls him. She gets scissors and goes to check out what's happening and showing James at the same time. She goes to look in the living room and uses camera for light. Uh so she like grabs the like uh just you know, video camera or no uh picture camera and like starts taking big pictures and she eventually sees what looks like a child and it starts to glow. And James says he wasn't recording again when she runs back into her bedroom. It's like I was I just woke up, I was busy. It's like, man, it's a button on your button on the screen, man. What's this what when was this made? Uh this was 2012. I don't know when it's supposed to take place. I'm assuming around the same time. Um, but yeah, a great little thing, except for the can the the little when it starts to glowing, I was like, eh, it's a little too much. But yeah, no, uh, and it kind of reminds me of Saul. Yeah, scene in Saul where he takes a picture and the pig mask comes out. Always effective, always works. Taking pictures in dark room, something jumps out, scelly. Strobe lights. Yeah. That's awesome. And because it was kind of because it's you're seeing it through like a shitty webcam, so it looks even glitchier. So it's kind of like it, it's like you're trying to look even harder to see if you see something, then you see it, and it's like, ah. So she tries to ask her landlord if anyone has ever died in the apartment thinking it's a child, the spirit is a child. Uh the landlord denies. Emily shows James that she is, she's like, Yeah, so you know, the thing in my arm, I thought it might be a bug bite. So uh I cut a hole in my arm and I'm digging around.

SPEAKER_01: 12:07

She's lost her fucking mind. I mean, at this point, Emily Maybe she really does have to watch a call.

SPEAKER_00: 12:14

She's like a day with somebody or something. You gotta have a friend. Are you just like a lonely person hanging out with this guy? Like is this her only friend?

SPEAKER_01: 12:22

Like she has no other contacts, people that check up on her every once in a while.

SPEAKER_00: 12:26

It definitely seemed like it. She's just like go to a hospital. I don't know. I mean, it is rough. And Jesus, go to the doctor girl. Yeah, she's really digging in there. And then like James is like, hey, stop. Put some dirt on that. Why? What are you doing? It's like, even though I'm just here to take an alien baby out of you, it's like, I don't want you to, I don't want to see this shit. You're grossing me out. Like, sheesh. But really, he's doing it because he doesn't want whatever's, I'm assuming that's a tracker. Tracking device is what he says. The tracker, yeah, I'd assume. So one day, Emily wants to go into a room and search with her eyes closed so she doesn't get scared, and James can tell her what's there. James guides her. Uh, she soon faces two children, a boy and a girl. They attack her. Emily appears unconscious, and James quickly enters the room with the children, and it is shown that they are working together as James has always been with her in the apartment, and he extracts a strange fetus-like thing from her back. Where was James? Was he like in an apartment next door? It had to be. Yeah, I'm assuming. He's just in the bathroom. Yeah. Soul time. It's like, oh, this was a locked door. You didn't know it's here. Um, I do like the scene. I mean, the kids is sitting there, it's kind of like, eh, whatever. But um, yeah, when he like pulls the fetus thing out of the back, I was like, Yeah, that was weird. It's pretty sick. What are they pulling out of there? And then I was thinking, I was like, how are you gonna explain this? How do you explain your back being cut open like that?

SPEAKER_01: 13:51

Um car crash?

SPEAKER_00: 13:52

Yeah. And uh with some concern for her uh life, he asks them how many times they're gonna need him to remove it before any more grow inside her, as well as the tracking device implanted in her arm. Uh, they respond with inaudible whispers and he prepares to break her arm and bruise her eye to make it look like a car accident again before noticing that her webcam is still on. Uh, he turns it off, and the scene jumps forward to Emily talking to James with a black eye and her arm in a splint. It's like, yeah, girl, you just fucked, dude. You got scared, you ran out into the road and you got hit by a car.

SPEAKER_01: 14:24

And it's like, dang, I wish I'd be like, 'Most gaslit girl on the planet.' That's what I put at the end of my notes.

SPEAKER_00: 14:30

It should have been like that one time Emily was gaslit. But everyone she knew. Wild, man. It's like, oh, you want to call the police? I'm sure like the police have some thing for this. Or did he just throw her out in the road and was like, Yeah, she got hit? I don't know. Wild, man. Wild. It is scary. Um, but yeah, and then we also get like some information. It's like, you know, like how many more times are we gonna have to do this? So it's like he's been doing it all a lot of different times, I'm assuming. He's also talking about like, look, I'm supposed to be in Michigan. That's a long way away from here. I can't just keep saying I'm in Michigan when I'm writing in her house. Um, which I think is actually pretty interesting, the whole him being in the house the whole time or at least next door or something. That was fun, I thought. Or and maybe he does live a distance away, and like whenever it's like, oh, it's getting time to rip out a fetus of your back.

SPEAKER_01: 15:24

One of them back fetuses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:26

So she tells James how she went to see the doctor he recommended who diagnosed her as having a mild form of schizophrenia, making her believe that the ghosts were all in her head and that she ran in front of a car and does not remember. Always trust your doctor. It's like you should um we get the line, uh, kind of heartbreaking, actually. Yeah. It's kind of what makes me like it more. It's like, you should be with someone, you know, someone that deserves you. And he's like, No, I love you, baby. You're the only one for me. And then they hung up, and a video cuts to James talking to a different lady and it's shown he is going to repeat the same process. More boobs. Also dating him and also shows her boobs. Yay. The end. The end. Yeah. Um, I like all the walking through the house. That was pretty cool. That was great. I it's fun. I like the twist. Um, but yeah, it just doesn't fully work. And I I don't know why. It works better the more times you see it, actually. That having James at the corner is very interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 16:21

Like, there was a lot of stuff that did work, and yeah, like definitely having him in the corner when you get to the end, you realize that he's doing this to all these people.

SPEAKER_00: 16:29

Another bad boy. So many bad boys. Bad. It's just weird. Like, I want to know, did they all come up like is there was there a theme like shitty ass boys? But then like it's not it doesn't fully work because the next one, the last one, and the one before this, it was a girl doing it, and the last one was a guy doing uh and nice guys, yeah. So it just seemed like and maybe they're just kind of going for like the old, you know, a lot of these people are probably Gen Xers or something directing these, and you know, they probably grew up on 70s and 80s horror, which was mostly, hey, it's people taking advantage of women, and then the women like kill men.

SPEAKER_01: 17:07

That's a scary thing. Uh for me, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_00: 17:11

I feel afraid for women all the time. Yeah, and they they you know grew up in the era where like every movie has to show boobs, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 17:18

Yeah, they do though. It's contractual.

SPEAKER_00: 17:20

Yeah. So like I I'm assuming that's why there's so much like men manipulating women in these, but I don't know. This one is fun. I like this one.

SPEAKER_01: 17:30

Maybe they're just not creative enough to scare women. Yeah. So you have to show them getting assaulted.

SPEAKER_00: 17:35

It's like, yeah, this is what I want to. If I ever got a woman, this is what I would want to do to her. I'm gonna put a bump on her arm and she's dig through her arm. That's crazy. That's crazy. Crazy. Like, I wonder how many different girls like he has set up doing this with. Probably a bunch. I would assume. And like, what are the aliens? Like, what are you? What is he getting out of this? Just boobs? Uh maybe money. Maybe money. Alien money?

SPEAKER_01: 18:00

Space books. I have five zips. Um not dying, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:07

Possibly. Maybe like they can manipulate stuff and they like give them better jobs or make them smarter. I don't know. But yeah, that's pretty much it I got for this one. You got anything else for this segment? No, it was pretty cool though. Yeah, so that's the end of this segment. We only have one more bonus episode. Wah, wah, wah. But it's a fun one because next week we're doing 103198. I love this one. It's great. It was, it was I think the first time I watched it was my favorite. The hands and stuff. Yeah, the hands. Uh, but yeah, join us next week for that. Like, follow, subscribe, leave us a message, review us. Thank you, Joey Prosser. Guys, we're gonna see you next time on the Flippity Flop. This has been the We Wicked Men podcast. I'm Jesse. Jason. Uh um, and you guys, you guys deserve to be listening to you guys, uh, you guys should be listening to uh podcasts that you know that you deserve. Bye.