Episode Twentytwo - WWE Films

Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater … H-O-T … your “hot” horror podcast! In this episode we discuss the films produced by WWE Studios; See No Evil 1 & 2, The Day, Barricade, No One Lives, Oculus, Leprechaun Origins, and Incarnate.

Title Song: Hellfire by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) https://creatorchords.com Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Graphics by Jacob Hedges

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater. H. O. T, your Hot Horror Podcast. This is Paul sitting across from Cody. And as promised, we're going to talk about WWE Films, which was rebranded to WWE Studios, I learned. And they made eight total movies that could be classified as horror films. And we're going to talk about each one of them here in just a few minutes.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

And I know what everyone's thinking. Oh, a bunch of wrestlers and all that. There's some good ones. So I think you guys are going to be surprised if you haven't seen that.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

There's actually minimal ref wrestlers in any of these movies.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

I did my little research in just a little, all of them but one had the wrestler as a villain.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Okay. So yeah, it's not just chocked full of wrestlers. It's got actually quite an impressive little cast list across the eight films. And uh yeah, we'll dive into that here in a minute, but we got to talk about, of course, this day in horror history.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Today is March 12th, and um we've talked about this guy briefly in the past when we did our uh episode about horror hosts, Sven Ghooley. Ooh, cool. Today is Sven Gully's birthday. Okay. Or would have been if he was no, I think he is still with us. I I'd have to double check on that, but today is his birthday, and he was the big time horror host in the Chicago area. Yeah. And um made quite a name for himself, I think, with the name itself, and also his appearance. He had a pretty uh flamboyant appearance, you know, and uh yeah, cool, cool character.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

That name alone just released it like you whatever that name is ghouly.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah, and horror hosts, for those of y'all that don't know, uh, back in the 70s and 80s, um most metro areas had a creature features uh block of programming, sometimes on Friday nights, sometimes on Saturday mornings, most usually on Saturday nights, and the creature features would have a horror host, and the horror host would um introduce the film, take you to commercial break, bring you back from commercial break, provide some snarky commentary, and sometimes poke funny, poke fun at some of the you know goofiness of the B-rated movies or the you know the so bad it's good category of movies.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

I don't want to say the only one out there, but the biggest one was right now is Joe Bob Riggs, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah, Joe Bob Briggs is probably one that everybody's aware of, still going strong to this day. Um Elvira, of course, is is top dog probably in the as well. Um but yeah, Sven Gooley, he's he was he was a big one. He was a big one. And if you haven't listened to our episode about creature features and horror hosts, I recommend that you do it because I'm really proud of that one, and I was really passionate about that one because I had a creature features uh where I grew up and I watched it religiously, and it was a huge influence and formative thing in my life, big time. So check that out. Yeah, that was a good one. What did you rewatch this week?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

I think we've talked about it, and I don't think you've ever seen this one, and you're you gotta watch it. It's 1981's Dark Knight of the Scarecrow. It was made for TV. It uh it's got a character Bubba, and he is the bad guy in Dark Man. Oh he plays a mentally challenged young man, and he gets wrongfully accused of a crime, and these vigilante uh country boys kill him, and let's just say he gets his revenge on on the town for that they go to trial and everything, and it's a missed trial and everything. There's a big injustice, I'll just say that. Okay, and uh the the scarecrow comes back, it's really cool little little hour and a half movie.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

I do remember you talking about this in the past, and I I gotta watch it. I had me to watch it. So it was on TV originally.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

1981 made for TV. Uh pretty 99% sure CBS.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Okay. And it's streaming? Yeah, it's on Tubi. Oh, Tubi. Perfect. Perfect. Tubi's if you don't mind commercials, Tubi's the place to go, man. Yeah. Tubi has a huge library and it's all free. You just got to sit through some commercials. It's a good time to get up and go to the bathroom or watch the dishes. Refill your screen when we were kids. Yeah. What'd you rewatch? We finished our scream journey.

unknown 5:09

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Except for we haven't gone to see seven in the theaters yet. I've been watching that this weekend. That's gonna be on the plans for this weekend, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

What did she think about six? I've been wanting to like she liked it.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Um, she liked it quite a bit, but she really uh when it was all said and done, I asked her what were her favorites, and she said number one was still the best.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

It really is, and so I was like, And for people who don't know who just uh we're talking about Paul's daughter.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, my youngest daughter has been on this scream journey. Um so I was happy that she identified on her own identified the original as being the best, and she said she really liked five. Okay, she said that five um was the first one that kind of uh in her not in this is not exactly what she said, but the spirit of what she said was basically, you know, two and three and four all tried to do their own thing, and and five really got back to the spirit of the original, and that was kind of the gist of what she was saying. Did she say anything about six with no um no Sydney? Sydney did yeah that the uh yeah, she she definitely noticed Sydney's absence, but she in part five, there's a scene where uh Mindy is talking about how near and dear part one is to of stab yeah to everybody and how it created a whole new you know uh generation of horror fans, and um you know the stab fans fiercely protect its legacy, and and she even says something along the lines of most of us saw that when we were 10 or 11 years old, and my daughter's 11 and Scream was her first movie, and so she turned to me and was like, That's me, like I'm that I'm that age, I'm that generation that they're talking about. I'm always gonna and she said, like, I'm gonna come back, I'm always gonna come back and rewatch the screen movies. So this this is this was her jam.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

You might ask her, and I'm gonna ask you. I I'm sure I know the answer, but out of all these, there's seven now you haven't seen seven, but favorite killers.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Is it Billy and Stu, the original, or do you oh yeah, Billy and Stu are still the best. Um, I did like four is a kind of a jumbled mess a little bit, but I liked Emma Roberts Killer with uh Coley Coke's brother, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Emma Roberts was pretty ferocious and pretty in the hospital at the end.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

I thought that was cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah, she was good. And then um part three, it's something one killer, yeah, it's her brother Roman. Yeah, that's the only one that has uh a single killer. Um and then Mikey Madison in part five. Yep, you know, kind of she's made a name for herself as an actress now, but back then I don't think anybody really knew much about it.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

She was up and coming, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

She was up and coming, yeah, and she she did good.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And one thing we never talk about was Scream. Uh correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think there were any horror movies where there were two killers. I mean, I can remember being a kid watching that going, which one? It's got it, which one? Yeah, and then you find out at the end, it's two, yeah, there's two of them, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Yeah, that's true. I'm sure there's others, but not many others. And that's definitely a hallmark of the scream movies. And you know, you always you spend the whole movie if you're seeing it for the first time, but you are familiar with the rules, you're spending the whole movie thinking, which two is it?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, and that's Kevin Williams. I seen an interview with him. And thing about ghost faces, it's anyone can be ghost faced, right? And that's what's scary about that character. Anybody, yeah, your neighbor, your best friend, and that's the kind of fun of these movies. Yeah, boy or girl, younger old. Jason's Jason, you know, Michael's Michael Further, but ghost faces anybody who puts that masculine.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Right. And then that way he lives forever. Exactly. You can't kill a yeah, because he someone can always pick up that mask. They do, and they always do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Well, I'm glad she's liking the Brock Olin.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yeah, yeah. So we'll see seven uh this weekend, and uh I'll let you know how it goes. Okay, but let's talk about WWE Studios. So, yes, we're talking about World Wrestling Entertainment. Um and I did find a little documentary about the rise and fall of WWE films, and uh it was very interesting. It all started with No Holds Barred all the way back in 1989. Debo Debo, yeah. Um so Hulk's star was at the pinnacle of itself. I mean, he was top dog at that time, and so uh Hulk Vince McMahon, being who he was, said, How can we cash in on Hulkamania even more than we already are cashing in on? And so he said, Let's make a movie. And so they made no holds barred.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

And that wasn't made by WWE Films, that was just and I heard I've seen a documentary just on that movie, and I guess they the director was doing everything, and Hulk and Vince over the weekend were like, We're gonna change all this, really, and they rewrote everything to Hulk Hogan's likings. Let's just say that.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Oh, okay. I didn't I didn't know that part, that's cool though. But it was a it was a modest success in the Hollywood in Hollywood terms. I think they said it had a budget of seven or eight million, and it did like 20 million at the box office. So it more than doubled its money, but it got paid, which made Vince McMahon say, we can keep doing this. Yeah, you know, we can keep doing this, we can keep making money. Uh we got the actors in our under contract already, right? Um, we got the money, and um let's just let's just keep this train rolling. Well, it took him another 10 years.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I was gonna say no holds more, 89.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

89, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

So it took him another 10 years to really develop the studio into its own thing because he did want to divorce himself from the Hollywood system because he didn't want to share revenue with anybody.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Sounds like Vince would be. Yeah, absolutely. That's why he's a billionaire again.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Exactly. So after um after No Holds Barr, he worked on it behind the scenes for like 10 years before he got the studio up and running. And then Scorpion King was their first movie with The Rock. And Rock had already been in a few things, Hollywood's on the Hollywood side of things. So he But this was his first like solo movie.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

This was the first time that he was the star because I remember he's in Mummy Returns and that CGI of him in the world.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah, that terrible CGI, yeah. So um WWE films kicks off with Scorpion King. They did a lot of stuff in the early 2000s, yeah. Mostly um action movies, starring, you know, guys like John Cena or the Marie. Yeah, or Triple H or you know, somebody like that. And then they broke into horror with C No Evil 2007 with Kane. Yep. So Kane uh plays the villain in Jacob Goodnight. Jacob Goodnight. And C No Evil was a great movie.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Oh, yeah, and let's touch on this too. Uh, we never talk about Jacob Goodnight. No, and he is a cool killer, he's a cool villain, he's huge. I like the hooks. Yeah, the backstory with his mom and the religion and the eyes. I was like, Yep, I was really shocked with how good that character was.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

It was very well done. And um, he got two movies. The second movie was great. We'll talk about that one in a minute. And um, yeah, there's they could keep going to that well if they wanted. Yeah, because like you said, he's he's a memorable enough villain, he's got enough going for him that makes him unique, and um someone who horror fans can get behind and root for.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And it's not very often uh Glenn Jacobs Kane. Uh most of these killers usually have to have a mask, but he's just got that look, the two different colored eyes. He pulls it off so so good.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, he's great. Um, so that's that was the first uh WWE film or a horror film, yeah. And they did a great job. Really, really good job. Um, for all y'all who don't know, we're gonna spoil probably all these movies. So just spoil alert for the eight films we're about to discuss. Um, it's a bunch of uh uh juvenile delinquents who get sentenced to like a work program in an old abandoned hotel.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yeah, that had burnt down on the top floors, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

And Jacob Goodnight takes this opportunity to stock them all throughout the hotel.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Did you now I don't when watching that, did you ever think that was his mom? Because she's the one who sets it up and gets involved. Did you go on? Not the first time, neither do I and I like that too.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Yeah, no, and yeah, like your your eyes see the sin, and so you can't what was the whole thing with the sin and the eyes? I see your sin.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

I'm gonna you know make it clean, and he takes out the ice. Yes, yes, I got um a very Jason Voorhees with mom, but uh he in this instant, it's not like Jason, because he he does kill us mom, he infells her. And there's one thing I wanted to say, and I I the first time I watched this, I think it was like 2010. I didn't watch this when it came out. He has a system where a trip wire and it rings the bell so he knows what Friday the 13th did that. And I got mad because I was like, they ripped off Friday the 13th. Well, it's see no evil came out before that, before the 2009. Uh and I gotta give credit to that. Yes, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, you're right. I thought that was really neat. The remake came out two years later, yeah. But yeah, I don't think I saw this in the theater. I don't have a memory of seeing this in the theater, but I do remember watching it, probably got it from Blockbuster, and had no idea that it had any kind of affiliation with WWE, other than you know, I knew Kane was arrested.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Well, let me tell you, you would have if you were a wrestling fan, because they kind of turned Kane into the Jacob Goodnight character for about two months before the movie to really promote it. He was really good. Like on Monday Night Raw kind of.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Yeah, okay. That's cool. That's cool. And that's another thing is you know, a good opportunity for cross-promotion. Right. For you know, as I'm sure Vince McMahon thought about all that ahead of time. Um back to the documentary just for a second. None of these movies killed it at the box office, but they all killed it in DVD sales. Okay. So that's what kept them going. That's what kept them going. That's exactly right. So this is the thing, is Vince told people if they don't do well at the box office, who cares? We got millions of wrestling fans around the world who will buy the DVD. And it sounds like they did, and he was absolutely correct. I saw us said something like they sold like 80 million DVDs or something like that. Are you kidding? No, I'm not kidding at all. Like over the course of they were around for about 15 years, and I think they did something like 50 or 60 films, something like that, uh, all together. Okay, you know, because they did some family films, some comedies, and uh, of course, all the like Halo Gunfire action kind of stuff. There's eight horror movies, but they they they tried to do a little bit of everything. Ranged out the whole point.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Um they were they did cartoon crossovers with Scooby-Doo and stuff like that. So yeah, so they they they dipped their toe into all the pools, and yeah, when all was said and done, they sold like 80 million DVDs.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Wow, I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, so that's what really kept the train rolling, even though they weren't killing it at the box office. And none of them were critically, you know, well received. Most horror movies aren't. But most horror movies aren't, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

So we got See No Evil, yeah, their first adventure. What was the cycle one ball?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

The second movie that came out is called The Day. The Day? Um okay. Have you seen The Day? No, okay. So I hadn't seen it either, but I watched it. This is one that's got a pretty good cast. It's uh Don Dominic Moynihan, uh, not long after Lord of the Rings. Oh yeah. Uh uh Shannon Sossamone. Okay, and uh Sean Ashmore. Really? All in it. What's it about? It is like a post-apocalyptic deal where something has happened to the world. They I don't think they really ever explain what has happened to the world, but uh people are basically roaming the countryside trying to survive. Just they're just forced to roam and you know it's like the road. It's it yeah, it it had when I was watching it, it had a real Book of Eli vibe to me in my that's how I took it anyway. But what it's actually about is um this group of four or five young people are traveling you know across the countryside just trying to survive. They're starving, they're you know, trying to lay low and not draw any attention to themselves. But one of their group is really sick, and so they find an abandoned house and they take up in the abandoned house to just basically rest so that the guy who's ill can recover and then they can get back out on the road. Well, the speaking of you know uh the place being rigged with alarms, there's a faction of cannibals who have actually rigged this house to set off a like a bell at their headquarters. A dinner bell, so to speak. So to speak, yeah. So this alarm goes off just because they're hanging out in this house, and then the cannibals you know converge on the house.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Pretty good cannibals are and any wrestlers that stood out as in this?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

No, there's so this from what I excuse me, from what I um gathered from my research, this movie was actually only distributed by WWE. Okay, so it was made um completely apart from WWE. They ended up with the rights to distribute it. Right. But it is a WWE film, and it and the cannibal stuff makes it you know kind of a horror-ish movie. Now, good cast, good kills. It's got some really good kills in it. Really? Yeah, really practical. Um, I think for the most part they're CGI, but this was that sweet spot, like between 2000, like 2005, 2005 to 2010, where CGI was good. Right. Um this was right in that sweet spot. I think a lot of it's CGI, but so it didn't take you out of the it didn't take me out of it at all. There was some really good kills in it, and um, yeah, so it's all about cannibals um trying to bust into the house, and it's and it's these people trying to basically they fortify the house and they're trying to keep the cannibals out. Okay, you know. I like it. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. Like I said, good cast and good kills. Okay, uh, it's very dark, not like in mood, but like literally dark. Like it's hard to like you gotta turn the brightness up on your TV to see what's going on. Okay, yeah, gotcha is shot very, very darkly. Um, but uh it was a decent little film, you know, decent little film. It's good to see some of these actors in these. Turns and um yeah you'll see some good kills and you'll see some good you know cannibal stuff always fun to see some good cannibal yeah I mean there's uh that's a whole subgenre of horror movies for sure so the day yeah third on the list was was Barricade okay yeah have you seen Barricade you haven't seen that one nope Barricade was interesting um it all came together in the end which I was happy about but it was a little confusing along the way I felt like it bought borrowed heavily from the shining really not in a supernatural way just in the setting so this movie stars Eric McCormick Will from Will and Grace um he's one of these guys who is like addicted to his work is a workaholic like Jack Torres and his wife is like you know we need to spend more or you need to spend more time with the kids we should take him to this cabin that I used to go to when I was a little girl and um he's kind of like yeah yeah yeah well you know maybe one day we'll get around to it kind of a thing it's kind of a jerk at the beginning which is funny to see Eric McCormick. He's a jerk yeah um well wife dies she has an accident and she dies and so that you know kind of gives him the conviction to a really spend time with the kids and try to be a better dad or present dad for his kids but also he wants to honor his wife's memory by taking them to the cabin that she suggested that they go to so they get to the cabin and all hell breaks loose at this cabin. They first they get snowed in first of all okay so they're stuck in the cabin. Um are we talking all hell breaks loose like evil dead like well that's the thing is so he's he's a a psychiatrist I think is his job and he's very grief stricken and he's taken his own pills that he should be prescribing to his psychiatry patients. So they set up the unreliable narrator thing so right from the beginning like you can't trust what's going on his okay yeah and it's told that's always fun too it's told entirely through his perspective it's gonna have a weird ending isn't it um not no actually it okay it doesn't at all um but through but while the whole thing's happening you're like okay either there's some supernatural stuff going on or he's losing his mind and you're trying to figure it out and you're trying to figure out which one it is yeah and you know you can't tell what's real and what's not kind of a thing. Did it keep you engaged? Yeah it did it was good it was good um and the other thing about these WWE films is every single one of them 90 minutes. Right the short and sweet yeah none of them are gonna overstay their welcome right you know but this one um I don't think it had any kills it's just a life dying yeah it's just trapped in the house and two kids yeah so yeah it's very like again it's very shining and but instead of Jack and wife and son it's dad and older daughter and younger son. Okay. So the older daughter is kind of the kind of the mom role I guess once they reach the cabin but um so just to spoil it for you um when they first get there they like kind of meet up with this caretaker who gives them the keys to the cabin and the caretaker has a cough and as the movie goes on the first the little boy develops a cough and then the dad develops a cough and then the the daughter the daughter develops a cough but you're so wrapped up in all the other stuff that's happening you don't really um notice the cough or really think much but it plays a part in it well in the end the whole the whole thing was just like a fever dream. I knew it yeah yeah the whole thing I hate when they do that man see that makes me mad though he he thought that the kids had actually passed away and he um they had been up there so long like the blizzard came and went and they were supposed to check out and they didn't check out so then the caretaker comes to check on him he actually takes the caretaker like hostage and ties him up in the attic and blames him for quote unquote killing his kids and but then in the end it's it he was in bed the whole time yeah he was in bed the whole time with next to his kids all the kids are okay the kids are totally fine okay the whole thing was a fever dream uh I don't know how I feel about that yeah it was a little I don't know I didn't know how I feel about it either it's it wasn't bad but I was kind of like okay but um anyway it was an interesting little film barricade then came out Barricade I think 2012 okay I think is when that one came out um so we got see no evil we got the day we got barricade yeah what's next is no one lives I love this movie this is a good one this is a good one this is a classic I like Luke in this movie Luke Evans another big name in yeah in a move in a in this movie um the wrestler here is like the main bad guy's brother I forget who the wrestler is but he's a big son of a gun what is his name um you put me on the spot he is a big dude yeah he's a big dude but Luke Evans takes short work out of him um but Luke Evans is some kind of trained killer hitman is and he's a psycho man and I love the twist of it yeah because they it's the villains are so douchey in this and you want him to die yes yes and and they do die and Luke Evans is not a nice guy I mean by all accounts he should be the villain right but you're rooting for him yeah because they kidnapped the girl yeah it essentially it's a revenge film um his he has kidnapped a girl and then the bad guys kidnap him kidnap the girl away from him and his girlfriend and the girlfriend kills herself so he's like on a revenge tour. Right he wants to make up for the fact that A they done him wrong B they caused his girlfriend to kill herself and C, they kidnapped the girl that he had already kidnapped so he just takes them out one by one. He is a badass in this movie. They did a great job and again they don't really tell you much about where did he get these skills but I don't think they needed to they don't need to yeah and there's some cool kills some very cool kills.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

This is teeter top for me for horror.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yeah but I would put it in it but I mean it it's a fine line right there yeah it's more of a action thriller revenge I think the revenge aspect of it and I and the gore put it into the horror category but it is it is walking that line but it's uh like you said earlier it's 90 minutes and I never got bored right I thought this was really really fun movie. The choreography like the fight choreography is really good kills and um yeah you just believe that Luke Evans is is a about us yeah you you buy it I and no I j I don't know I've really liked all the characters yeah there's a lot of these times with I in certain movies I don't but yeah I don't know there's something about this movie I really liked. They're like you mentioned they're they're the all the ones that he ends up killing they're all pretty douchey you want him to die. And they're all pretty like check the box this guy is that kind of guy this girl is that kind of girl yeah very cliche yes and but it's cool how he just takes them out. Decimates him yeah yeah he just very systematically eliminates yeah it's called No One Lives for a Reason.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

You got it I definitely check that one out yeah it's worth a watch next is probably this is probably their biggest most successful horror film you're gonna say Oculus it's Oculus yeah we've talked about this you told me you weren't a big fan which I'm shocked because the first time I watched this with my wife we were like WWE films yeah made this and I man this it's original it's unique yeah the brother sister story yeah the ending where she actually dies and they I was like they pulled the trigger on that yeah I was for the whole movie yeah I was I was just invested in it here's my take on it everything about it is good but it bored me how did it Kate Saganov said it come on man it I don't know it just for whatever reason I've tried to watch this movie two or three times and and I've gotten through it but I've really had to really force force myself to get through it. That honestly shocks me yeah because this is one I want to watch once a year and it I love showing it to people who've never seen it because it's usually real oh gosh like that's kind of fun and I will still I will say that I think my experience and my feelings about it are unique to me because everybody I talk to likes this movie.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

So if you haven't seen this definitely go see it and don't take my word for it may not be everyone's cup of tea I mean I'm just shocked yeah no but like you said it's totally original um it's got great actors in it who all do great jobs. What I don't know her name but she built into um guardians of the galaxy and yeah the it's it's based around a mirror and a brother and sister and the brother and sister story is told through two different timelines so they jump back and forth to when they're little kids and to when they're adults and they do it great.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

They do they do okay number one why it's great. Who directed it? Mike Flanagan Mom okay that mirror is in all of his movies. Yes I do remember you mentioning that to me and that's cool because it it it's almost like is that mirror causing all this stuff now was was Oculus his first featured film that he directed don't get me lying to you I do not I I think so okay I think so too um and I think I don't think the mirror is the source of anything in his other movies especially because he does so much Stephen King stuff. I think it's just but it's a little Easter egg yeah his baby yeah I think because it was I think his first movie that's that's how he gives it a nod in all of his subsequent work I and I don't just real quick I love how the sister she devotes herself because it killed her parents and she's just playing in every move and to see the mirror trick her in the end and what's kind of like your guy bear cake what's really happening and what's not you've got to figure that out and at the end you go none of that happened right it was all in their head and then she goes up right in the old face yeah yeah she takes it upon herself to basically be the guardian of the mirror so that this doesn't happen to anybody else especially her brother.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

But there's a bunch of time jumps in it where you know in one timeline it's them when they're like 10 11 years old or something. And then in the next timeline it it's them when they're like 25 or whatever and it jumps back and forth and paints the whole picture for you by jumping back and forth. Um there's again there's nothing bad about this movie. It just this is to me this is like Lords of Salem. Oh see we disagree on that yeah I I can't say anything bad about Lords of Salem it's but it's boring and I felt the same way about this movie.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

I know and that's cool though that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

That's why we have podcasts man so we can talk about it because it it's not fun to listen to people just rag on it. That's the thing we'll never do or people just agree yeah with each other on everything. You know that's not fun either um so speaking of ragging on a movie I know what you're gonna say next the next one to come out after Oculus is Leprechaun Origins.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

This is bad and we're going wrestling so little sworn hoggle plays uh leprechaun which why did he play well that's part of the problem with this movie is because um you don't ever get to see him.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yeah it's bad man and there's no reason that they had to have a little person in that costume other than just I guess to say they have to keep it you know with some kind of tie to the original series of movies. I didn't I'm trying to think of one good quality uh it's short so y'all have probably heard me talk about my love for Leprechaun. I love Leprechaun's got the little bubble in it yeah I love all the leprechaun films I love Warwis I think they're hilarious and um you know they ran their course and they they were done with them.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Well Leprechaun the first one it's kind of like Friday the or not Friday through the nightmare and Elm Street in a sense where Freddie is pretty serious in the first one and then he starts getting funnier and funnier in a cliche of himself when you say the same about Leprechaun because that first one it's not so serious but it's a little bit darker than it is you start getting Leprechaun in the hood leprechaun in space it's like okay but in the first one he still has the the goofy little rhymes that he says sarcastic yeah so but um so anyway I don't know if the rights expired to this or what but somehow WWE ended up with the rights to Leprechaun the whole franchise.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Right oh okay and they said we're gonna reboot it and we're not gonna we're gonna take out all the the comedy we're gonna make this a straight horror right and yeah so they got they get Hornswoggle I think that's what wrote it maybe well okay so here we have Hornswoggle who great opportunity for him yeah to to play the leprechaun character. I don't blame him then they cut cover him up in a costume that looks nothing like a leprechaun it looks to me it looked like one of the creatures from the descent that's very good I yeah that's what it looked like it looked like one of the little descent creature cave dwellers have a single line of dialogue Hornswoggle no the leprechaun never says a word he just growls that's as he kills people there's not a I just watched it today there's not a single line of dialogue from what they thinking yeah so Hornswoggle was completely replaceable. It could have been anybody in that suit um yeah it's such a departure from it's what you thought about the leprechaun yeah that's exactly right you know it's I get it I get the idea of hey let's reboot it how are we going to be different well we'll take comedy out and we'll make a straight slasher I get that but they just drop the ball on it and you could man you could really make the leprechaun character really creepy and they could have but it just falls flag guys and I hate bashing on horror I love try to love everything but this is just yeah it I'd watched it once and I I maybe a group of friends and we wanted to just laugh like this is definitely one of those movies like you could sit down with a group of buddies and like throw popcorn at the screen that might be fun yeah like that might be a good it's not good y'all uh it's I'm sorry yeah if you're a fan of it like you go why I mean tell us why really get some white onto the um this is the worst one for yeah I agree I agree and you said what's the good thing about it takes place in Ireland yeah okay it goes back to like the roots the grace like it says in the title the origins so but I don't think this is supposed to be the leprechaun that ends up being Ward Davis I don't no I don't think so but is that what they were getting at I have no idea and he I don't know the the probably the worst thing that they do and they do it over and over and over and over again is they have this like leprechaun POV vision. And it's bad it's like you know when when you're seeing through predators eyes right it's like that but not nearly as good and it comes like 20 years later so it should be a lot better a lot better. And it's just not um everything that the leprechaun sees is gold tinted yeah because why's obsessed with gold so he sees everything gold yeah oh my gosh so yeah watch it just if you haven't seen it watch it once just to say that you have seen it and like I said maybe be maybe have a big old tub of popcorn ready to throw at the uh screen yeah just try to go and think of it as a comedy it's there's nothing funny about it. Maybe that would help though I don't know I don't know I don't know what would I was I can remember being excited about that too and being like this I was stoked because I'm a huge leprechaun fan so I was way excited for it and then uh I'd rather watch Mike Myers Wayne pretend to be the leprechaun from Wayne's World than watch that again.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Yeah he did a better job.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Yeah that was that was something else for sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Uh okay two left on the WWE list uh next is the sequel see no evil two and I okay I was surprised because see no evil 2007 this one came out see no evil in 2014 usually you don't get a sequel that's that long they waited quite a while they did and this I've read this I like it better than the first one yeah it's the uh Twisted Sisters directed this Saska sisters and um it takes place which I love when horror movies do this that same night he dies they take him to the board boom and you're all I loved it yeah they pick up right where the first one let's talk a little bit let's talk about this this one um this might be the best of the bunch as far as WWE films does and it's got a lot of good things going for it number one they put a lot of money behind this movie it's got a higher production value I think the quality of the film looks everything about it is of higher quality for sure they got um they got came back as Jacob Goodnight Daniel Harris but then they sprung for uh a scream queen in Daniel Harris in the film and then yeah Sasuka Sisters come in to direct it and knock it out of the park I'm a big Sasuka Sisters fan I'm a big fan of their stuff and um this might have been this might have been when I kind of became aware of WWE as a studio pumping out horror films. Now this got you uh into it now if correct me if I'm wrong this went straight to DVD this didn't not have a theatrical run I I believe that is correct which I think it was great I mean I remember a lot of people talking about this it was kind of a a big deal when it came out yeah well I I had already seen the original and I was a fan of the original and I had already seen I think the Sasuke Sister has had made two films prior to this one and I had seen both of those and I was a big fan of both of those yeah so when I heard that a we're getting a sequel to see no evil and I was shocked and we're and it's going to be directed by the Saska Sisters I was pumped and I um I remember going to this little place that sold like used horror blu-rays and because I I figured they would have it and they did and I remember buying it hadn't seen it but I just bought it because I was pumped pumped for it you know and um took it home and watched it and loved it.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

It's really really good like you said um he seemingly dies at the end of See No Evil. They take him to the morgue and then this movie Picks up right there. And he's he's reanimated, or maybe he wasn't dead in the first place. But he's back on his feet only 20 minutes after you know being wheeled in.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Dude, I love that they decided to give him that Burt victim mask. Yeah. I thought in the apron.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

The apron is in great touch.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

And yeah, his look in this, he's so intimidating. Kane's already a big dude, but or Jacob, good guy. And I mean, I wanted to see more of these films. I know he's went on, he's a governor or mayor, a mayor, yeah, in a town in Tennessee, but I I've really dug this way. I I uh I'm with you. This might be my favorite out of all of that.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

I think this is the the best uh the most the well most well done of all the horror films that they that they put out. Probably as far as like production value, probably only Oculus was close to this one, as far as having just the budget behind it and good good production value. But you know, they went and you know, they went and got legitimate directors, they got a legitimate scream queen, and um you keep I she's in another one of the Twist Sisters films.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Is that blah uh what's the name of that one? Mary um American Mary. The lead in that is she's in this, and I thought she stole it. Oh, yes, Catherine Isbo. Yes, thank you. She is fantastic. She is good in everything. She has sex on top of Mr.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Jacob Goodnight, and I think that's what really gets you mad at this. That's what really wakes him up and pisses him off, I think. Yeah. But um, yeah, Catherine Isbo, who, you know, made her bones in ginger snaps. Yeah, yeah. But then became a scream queen as well, uh, in a tons of other stuff. And yeah, so you get both of them. You get Daniel Harris and Katherine Isbo and um Jacob Goodnight back and badder than ever.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

And spoiler alerts, he's still alive at the end, in which uh I thought it was neat that they killed off the fine girl. I mean, I love Danielle Harris, but I was like, wow, they killed her off, and you have a final guy instead.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And the whole thing takes place kind of throughout the hospital. I guess it's just it's I guess it is just the morgue. Yeah. Because there's it's it's all but abandoned. But the thing is, is they're it's very costly. They do, but they do go like up and down elevators and stuff to like different floors. Right.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

I never thought of it as a hospital though.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Okay, I always thought it was like the hospital above the morgue. Okay, maybe. But then that doesn't really explain why it's like totally deserted. Why I I'm trying to remember why were all the kids there? It was her birthday. And she's the morgue tech. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

That's their it's her birthday, and she's actually fixing the she's just getting off her shift, and they're like, oh man, that mass murderer's been caught bringing all these body shits.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

She's like, I can't leave you guys. Yeah, that's right. She was gonna go with her friends to celebrate her birthday, and then they bring in Jacob. Oh, okay. And so, yeah, she's she stays, and so they bring the party to her. Right. But really, Jacob brings the party. And they do.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

I don't know if you remember. Did you recently watch it?

SPEAKER_00 47:14

I haven't seen this one in a couple of years.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Do you they even do the I love when movies kind of do the flashbacks because it shows you a little bit of him and his mom from the movie?

SPEAKER_00 47:22

It definitely gives you more mom story. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

I really, really love this movie. I do remember that. Wish we could have gotten more of a Jacob Goodnight.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Well, maybe there is more to be had. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

I don't think it's gonna be from Glenn Jacobs.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

I was just gonna say they'd have to find somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

There's a lot of seven-foot wrestlers out there.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

But he did it great, man. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Those two turns, uh, I don't know if he's been in other stuff, but those two turns as Jacob Goodnight are very memorable.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

And have you seen any interviews of them make it? He is the for someone like that. The gentlest giant. Yeah, that everyone would talk so highly of him. Yeah, yeah. I always love to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah. Well, we're gonna end on a little bit of a letdown because the last movie that they made, neither one of us has seen. Yeah, yeah, I couldn't. It's called Incarnate. Right. And it's behind a paywall, so I could have paid for it and watched it, but I I didn't. So I haven't seen this one. You haven't seen this one. Aaron Eckhart is the big star in it.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Yeah, uh from what I've I remember the uh previous this had a theatrical run.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

Yes, it did. Is he uh uh Exorcist? I think so, yeah. So from the from what I read about it and a couple little YouTube videos, um this there's a boy, a little boy, who is it looks like at the beginning of the movie he's gonna be the victim of a murder, but then he kills the person who was gonna kill him. Okay, and then turns to the camera and basically reveals to the audience right at the beginning that he's possessed by a demon. The little boy is. And then, yeah, Aaron Eckhart, I think, is a is a exorcist or some kind of paranormal investigator or something like that. And he comes in to try to handle this kid. And you he's a big type actor. Oh, yeah, big time. Yeah, but it's it's it's a possession movie, and it's about a little boy who's possessed. I think we owe it to ourselves to find a way to get it. We need to we need to check this one out for sure. If y'all have seen it, please comment on our Instagram and tell us yay or nay. You know, what did you love about it? What did you not love about it? But um it it looks like another one that has good production value and you know, definitely a big name in it. And this is one of the newer ones. This is this came out like 2018, 2019.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

And it was their last horror movie.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

And this was the last horror movie that that WWE Studios did. And the fact that you still have to pay for it to watch it, I think, says something something about it. Yeah, it's not out there for free on Tubi. Right. You have to drop the$3.99 to watch this, or you have to have a subscription to one of the services that I don't have. I think it was Paramount, um, was the one that it's on. But anyway, um, yeah, we have to kind of let all the air out of the balloon on this last one. Um, because neither one of us have much to contribute to it. But um that's the eight movies, the eight horror movies. And then a whole they're pretty good horror movies. You know, that's not a bad body of work. It's you take eight, you take uh these eight films and you get rid of leprechaun and but even then, you know, uh the other stuff is good enough to balance it all out. It really is. You got eight decent little horror movies, is what it boils down to. And you got eight horror movies that probably not everyone's seen. And um, if you want to experience these and then share them with your friends, you'll you'll come out as you know the person who has niche knowledge of of these movies, because uh most of your friends probably haven't seen these, you know, but they're they're worth your time, I would say. Definitely, and they're a little page in the horror history book, you know, that belongs squarely to the WWE, and that makes them unique. They're they're they're definitely their own flavor. And I think that's good. I think that's interesting. Yeah. Um, I have several of these on Blu-ray, and now you know my collector brain uh wants me to make sure I have every WWE horror film on Blu-ray.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

I'm pretty sure you've seen No Evil One of Two, it's got a still box. I wouldn't be surprised. I think I seen the artwork and I was like, dang, that's pretty cool stuff.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

Yeah, I have those two, and I have Oculus on Blu-ray already. So I could get, and I would even get Leprechaun Origins on Blu-ray. I don't think I'd ever watch it, but I would buy it just to like put it on the shelf with all the other WWE films. And um yeah, why not? And maybe maybe put it at the very end of the of the row and then wrap it in gold, and then the row will transition into the actual leprechaun movies. Uh there you go. That would that was how I'll do it on my shelf or something like that. Okay, just to give it some kind of significance. Yeah, that one takes the the stinker award home out of those eight movies, and you know, like we said, we don't we don't love bashing on anything. But this was interesting. This was a what were they thinking? Yeah, kind of a thing. But uh yeah, again, incarnate. If you've seen it, please uh talk to us in the comments about it. Talk to us in the comments about any one of these that you have seen or or have you. Did you like it? Did you hate it? What do you think about it? I mean, I want to know. Um, but yeah, neat little again, kind of a niche, kind of a uh just a single page in the history of horror book.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

And it is neat that this wrestling company decided, hey, we're gonna take a swing at it. And did it fairly well, and I think like like him, hate him, uh, don't know a lot about him, but Vince McMahon, he knows how to sell to people. Obviously, he knew what they would want to see, and he knows probably his audience, core audience, you know, that demographic probably loves whore.

SPEAKER_00 53:40

Absolutely, you know, so yeah, it's the same guys who are you know listening to heavy metal, yeah, and um watching wrestling on Monday night, and you know, it's it's it's uh it's a logical marriage, right?

SPEAKER_01 53:55

You know, and he knew that, and he knew that I I could see Vince McMahon not watching any of those horror movies.

SPEAKER_00 54:01

He's probably never seen a single one of any of the movies that he's ever made. Yeah. Awesome. So, what are we talking about next week? Next week, uh we were kicking around the idea of uh visiting kind of a phenomenon that happened in the late 70s, early 80s. It started in England and it branched out to basically the entire Western world. And the Brits coined coined it video nasties, and it's basically the it was the it's an attempt to censor horror movies. Uh, you know, horror movies in the late 70s and 80s uh were under attack from I guess the British Parliament, and a bunch of them were labeled as quote unquote video nasties, okay, which is a very British term, I think. We'll dive into that.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

I'm curious to find out which one started it.

SPEAKER_00 54:54

Yeah. I'm gonna, I don't know for sure. I'm gonna guess that it was cannibal Holocaust. I was gonna say that, yeah. But um, a lot of movies, you know, Hollywood made spent money and time making a bunch of movies, and then they didn't get to see the light of day for years because of this whole video nasties thing. The UK said, Oh, we're not gonna show that. And then, you know, France and Germany and even America were like, well, if they're not gonna show it, then we're not gonna show it.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

We're not gonna make no money, right?

SPEAKER_00 55:26

And then, yeah, and so um, but then you know, all these movies did eventually come out, either with a delayed theatrical release or they ended up going like straight to VHS.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

Um, but there's wonder how many have been cut. Because there's a uh a legend about, and it's one of Milton favorites, they also run red. And supposedly uh I've heard from the director that there is a copy out there that um Warner Brothers will not release and it's locked up in a vault or something, and he's always uh wanted to get it out. And yeah, I mean it's already badass as is. I couldn't imagine that movie being more extreme, but God would I love to see it. Right. Yeah, so I wonder how many of those movies from that what do you call them, video nasties got cut down to be like, well, you've got to take this out and that out.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure there's plenty out there that, you know, they made they did make it to the theater, but they were only 70 minutes long, right now, and they were missing everything that made them that made them nasty, essentially, you know. So we're gonna uh research that over the next week, and we'll be back in a week to talk about it. We'll be good. All right, y'all. Thanks for listening in. Have a good weekend.