Haunted Ozark Theater

Episode Twentyfive - Religious Horror

• Paul

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Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater … H-O-T … your “hot” horror podcast! When religion meets horror, flesh crawls! We're taking a look at Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Midnight Mass, 'Salem's Lot, Carrie, Prince of Darkness and a bunch of others!

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

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater. H-O-T. That stands for Haunted Ozark Theater. And we are your hot horror podcast. We're hot. Hot. I wish. And we're here to talk about religious horror. It's an interesting marrying of two seemingly opposing concepts. And there's just a ton of stuff out there where they do this, where they they take a look at these two things, you know, in the same film. And it's very interesting. And it's very common.

SPEAKER_00

The more I was like, this is in a a ton of horror movies, a lot more than I ever realized when I started really looking at things.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, most horror movies are gonna have some kind of element of good and evil, devil versus God, light in the dark, light in the dark kind of thing. So we could apply this to tons, but I tried to, for me personally, on my list, I tried to keep it to the movies that were pretty overtly religious, not just, you know. I made levels. Okay. And also, um, I did not include anything that's like gotta do with cults because technically a cult is a religion, but I I kept all the cult stuff out. All my movies are more of the like Western Jude Judeo Christianity kind of a thing. So that's how I limited myself. Nice. I've got a couple of cult movies, and let's see what you think. Okay. Hopefully you've seen them too. Awesome. Well, let's do this day in horror history. What do you got, Paul? April 2nd is the day that we're recording this, and it is the release date of Hellboy. The first one they originally came out today. I gave anything to have that trilogy. Twenty-two years ago. Has it been that long? It's been 22 years. So Guillermo Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman got together and brought Mike Mignola's comic book to life.

SPEAKER_00

I love that comic too.

SPEAKER_01

I do too. I'm a big fan of Hellboy. Um I I wasn't a fan of the comic before the movie. It turned you on to it. The movie turned me on to the comic, yes. But I since then have have amassed a nice little collection of the comics. And um, yeah, so what do you what were you what are your thoughts on?

SPEAKER_00

I I was always fascinated with Hellboy. Grew up, we went to the theater, watched one and two. It really I think we talked about it, another guy at work talked about how bad I wanted that trilogy. And Ron was really pushing for it.

SPEAKER_01

And well, I've heard very recently, I've heard Ron Pearlman say, I if he calls me to finish it up, I'm there. But how old is Ron? He's like 80. So I mean, if Harrison Ford can do indie though, yeah. Well, and and in the same interview, he said, I'll start lifting right now, I'll be in shape, and he's like, Give me eight weeks, I'll be in shape, and we'll do another Hellboy movie. If he said, if Guillermo calls me, it's on. I think they should. Yeah, so Rocky's. What did you think about the reboot? So I haven't seen the newest reboot. Um, I saw the one that they did a few years back with David Harbour. That's the one I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00

I'm not talking about the uh the real low budget one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I liked it. I liked it because it was a little more unhinged. Yeah, it got horrible reviews, a little more of a horror movie, kind of more straight-up horror. Um, Del Toros, I think, is PG 13, and I think it's more faithful to the comic books. So I enjoy them both, but for different reasons. But but still, the original is yeah, so good. Hands down.

SPEAKER_00

It's so good. And both of those together, good movie night. Yeah, the second movie is maybe even I don't want to say better.

SPEAKER_01

It might be better. It's pretty close. It's a great movie. It's it's a good one-two punch, like you said. You could make an argument for either one of those being the top movie of those two, of those first two. They're both really good. I uh uh venture to say horror comedy. Yeah, I'd say like horror action comedy, comic book movie. But um, I mean, there's definitely horror elements in Hellboy, and and that's why I felt comfortable talking about talking about it today. But I will say that one of my all-time favorite lines from any movie, horror or otherwise, happens in the first like five minutes of Hellboy. What is it? And it just cracks me up, and I don't know why, but it's when Hellboy first comes out of the portal, and he's little still, and somebody's like, he's got a stone in his hand, and then somebody's like, I think that is his hand, and then the army general guy goes, Look at the size of that whammer. I don't know why, but to me, that's the funniest. I forgot about that you just broke that. That's the funniest, most ridiculous. That's my favorite line in all of history. Left field line. Yeah. Well, first of all, I've never heard anybody call a hand a whammer. Yeah. Ever. Only on Hellboy. And the way the guy delivers the line. That's what really gets you. Just everything about it. It is that is my favorite line ever. I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. We're gonna put that on a shirt for you. Oh man. And I'll say, I'll catch myself saying it like when no one's around. Like I'll be at work and like a big old fat squirrel run by. I'll say, look at the size of that wear.

SPEAKER_00

I don't want to say that in public. That's awesome, though. Cool. Great movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I enjoyed it quite a bit. And that was that was my uh incidentally, that was my rewatch this week. Okay. When I saw that that was gonna be the this day in horror history pick, you had to watch it. I was like, you know what? I haven't seen that in a good minute. So I put it on and thoroughly enjoyed it and remembered why it is so good and a classic. It is.

SPEAKER_00

What'd you rewatch? So did one rewatch and I finally got to watch uh Bone Tiple and Dude. Oh loved it. Isn't it good? Loved it. Loved that they had um um what what song does he sing? Oh, um Number of the Beast. Yes, yeah. I thought that was awesome. That was a great scene. In the first 10 minutes, that one kill from he he the alpha rips the head off, and you see the spy. Yeah, the whole vertebrate comes out and then the Jimmy's. I I loved it. Yeah. Now I'm curious who the it shows what's his name from the very original at the end. Killian Murphy. Yeah. Um whose name is Jim. Jim, you're right. Not Jimmy, but Jim. Is Jimmy gonna survive? Is what I was wondering. I know they crucified him upside down this way.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no, he's he's done.

SPEAKER_00

You think so? I think he's done.

SPEAKER_01

I think I wonder what the story will be for that third one then. Well, I think it's it's the female Jimmy that made it out with the and the kids, Spike, Spike, they're gonna be meeting up with Jim. And I'm guessing they're gonna be going back to the island where the first one started, because there's that baby on the island. Yeah, so I think that's in I mean, that's just my guess. I haven't heard anything about it, but I love that they brought Killian Murphy back because that's really gonna connect, you know, dialogue full circle. Yeah, yeah, that's that was cool.

SPEAKER_00

So I got to watch that and I did love it. You're a hundred percent right. Awesome movie. My rewatch, I always talk about my seasonal picks. Yeah, saw this one 2010 with my nephew, and for spring, this is the perfect spring war, the crazies. Oh, yeah, loved it. And I didn't know it was a remake until I it was a couple years back, and I was like, and they're two completely different films, very different, but I love the 2010. Like I said, theater, and this is one I like to watch every spring.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because I watched it, I probably watch it every couple years. It's definitely high on my rewatch list, and um, that's one of the ones where I would go out on a limb and say the the remake is better.

SPEAKER_00

Better right, yeah. It is, yeah. So that was my rewatch movie. Nice.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I um sometimes feel like the crazies and um planet terror are very similar to each other. But Planet Terror has humor and the crazies. When did Planet Terror come out?

SPEAKER_00

I think just a couple years prior. Because I know we had that was the big zombie boom. 2010-ish, Walking Dead's coming out, yeah, and you started getting all these zombie movies.

SPEAKER_01

Now, just real quick, thinking back, I have my answer. I want to know what you your answer is. What kicked off that zombie craze? What do you think kicked off?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I remember Sack uh Snyder, he redid Day of the Dead. Yeah, and I thought that was a great remake. We talked about that. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

In my mind, what really kicked that off was Shauna the Dead. Shawn, you think so? I I feel like it was after Shauna the Dead that everybody went crazy for zombies. Maybe so, and I don't know if that's the one, but in my mind, that's what it feels to me like that's the one. Love Sean of the Dead. Yeah, I do too. But that was like people went and watched that, and then all of a sudden, collectively, we all decided zombies are cool, and we need way more zombies in our life, right? And then everything was zombies for, like you said, a good 10 years after that. Yeah, just everything was zombie left and right. Good point. Yeah, I like that. All right, so we're gonna get into religious horror, and um just a quick little uh I actually was watching an interview with William Friedkin who wrote The Exorcist, and he said what the Exorcist is about in his mind, and I think this is a good definition of what religious horror is in general. He said it's quote, the mystery of faith and the existence of good and evil in everyone. And I think that's a good way to sum up not just the exorcist, but but religious horror in general. Right. And to me, um you take a nutshell. Yeah, this is muffshell chaos. You take, you know, the terror of a good, scary movie, and you combine it with religion in one form or the other. As I said, um I kind of limited myself to just kind of basic Western Jude Judeo Christianity um in on film, and you have just a very interesting combination, um a combination that seems like, as I mentioned, those two things should be at odds with each other. They're very thought-provoking, though. It's very thought provoking. But I think they're actually very comfortable bedfellows. I think they they really are complimentary, and I wouldn't even go as far as to say that they're two sides of a coin. They're they just have a lot in common with each other.

SPEAKER_00

Should religion be this scary like that? I mean, is it the perfect kind of setting for horror?

SPEAKER_01

Because the Bible's scary. Well, I mean, yeah, it is. Absolutely, but I think what it really boils down to is you know, ultimately religion deals with um what happens to us after death.

SPEAKER_00

The great unknown.

SPEAKER_01

And it's and and in a lot of ways, um horror deals with the same thing. You know, horror is uh the terror of dying. And then what you know is a believer. They're both asking this, I think they're both asking the same question, just in different lights, but in totally different ways. And I think very intriguing, yeah. It is, it is. And again, um, as we talked about last week with our horror horror based on a true story, um everyone has had some experience with religion. Right. Even if you're not a religious person, you've had your living you have, yeah. And I think that grounds religious horror in reality, and I think that brings it home and brings it right into your lap. And I think that makes you confront it. You have to exactly. That's exact that's a perfect word for it, is you have to confront it, and now it's all too real, and now it's scarier than you realized.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I know you're gonna talk about this movie. We talked about last week, and it is the gold standard for what we're talking about tonight, the exorcist. Yeah, and I thought about a core memory, even being so young. What terrified me the most wasn't the girl, wasn't the atmosphere. I remember going, if that that preacher died, he can die. I'm I'm screwed. Oh a man of God like that, and he's dead. I remember being like nine or ten, watching and then going, there's no hope for me. If the pre the preacher always lives, it's a very hopeless movie.

SPEAKER_01

That's very true. And I'm glad you brought that up right away because there's three movies that I wanted to just go off right off the top of the list. I just want to say them. We're not gonna dive into them because we've dove into them before. Are these your old-time classics?

SPEAKER_00

Because, like I said, I've got a list and I'll just name my my all-time classics. We'll get there. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

No, but I I wanted to recognize the Exorcist because it's pretty much the ultimate religious.

SPEAKER_02

It's the gold standard.

SPEAKER_01

And we crowned it last week as the scariest movie based on a true story. I'm gonna crown it right now as the scariest religious horror movie. What about the scariest horror movie? Would you go so far? Be so for me, yes. For me, yes. The ultimate personality, yes. But we don't need to talk more about that because we've talked that one a bunch. Another one I want to just briefly mention is The Witch. We've talked about The Witch quite a bit. I love the Witch. We talked about it during our folk horror show, we talked about it during our top 10 since 2010. We talked about it on that show. Um, and it's really a supernatural period piece kind of a movie, but the religious part mostly happens at the beginning, and it's about sex, S-E-C-T-S, sex of religion religion, because um the family that are the main characters, they're booted out of their village for having different religious beliefs. They they are like a splinter of the Puritans, of the Puritans, yeah. They had slightly different and that's gonna hear that's that's gonna be a recurring theme on my list of things. That's a very common theme in a lot of things. Is uh is uh these fanatics on one side or the other that create these splinters or these fractures in you know the religious zeitgeist of the day, and then and that is horror imitating life, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because what the movies I'm gonna go for are so true to what's happened, it's terrifying.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Paul. So I mean the whole thing happens to them because they had the courage to say, Well, we believe something different. Right, and then look what happens, and then the mass hysteria of the village kicks in, and they're like, Well, you gotta go. Yeah, and so that was that's scary. Um the other one is Late Night with the Devil. We've talked about that one quite a bit. I love the movie, um great movie, and I wanted to just mention that as being a neat little religious horror film, but we don't need to talk much about it because we've talked about it a lot. Sounds good to me.

SPEAKER_00

So, what do you got? I'm gonna kick off my first one, and we've never talked about this, but it is a classic, and that's Rosemary's Baby. Oh, yeah. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01

I will say that Rosemary's Baby is probably the earliest religious horror movie that I remember. This was one of those ones that I saw very young, okay, and it was already, you know, a 15 or 20-year-old movie when I saw it. And that was the first, that was my first experience with religious horror. Nice, okay. Absolutely first.

SPEAKER_00

How did it make you feel? Creepy. It just a creep out factor, the satanic cult. Creepy movie. Were you old enough to get a sense and and pick up on this is happening? They're trying to get her pregnant with Satan's baby. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, I this is no dream. This is what was going on.

SPEAKER_01

I wasn't young like I was with some of the other stuff I've talked about, but I was probably eight or nine or ten.

SPEAKER_00

So you were perfect to be like, something's really wrong with this.

SPEAKER_01

I was old enough to understand that she was being raped, she was being raped by the devil, right, and the people in the apartment building were all in on it. And the whole cult baby was gonna be the Antichrist. Like I was old enough to get all of that, and it was very scary. Yeah. And at that time in my LUT life, my exposure to religion outside of film was very limited. I I'd, you know, gone to like a Catholic funeral and I had been to like a Christian uh vacation Bible school, so I didn't have a whole lot of knowledge to compare and contrast with what I was seeing on screen. But I knew that it was creepy, and I knew that there was something kind of unnatural about horror, which I was very familiar with and loved, being kind of crossbred with religion.

SPEAKER_00

Right, that's perfect. Good answer. Yeah, good answer. And uh something we don't talk about, you know personally I love scores in a horror movie. And I don't know if you remember this one, but it's somewhat settling. The beat of it. Yeah, and it it just tells it's almost like the exorcist. There's something off with the beat, and it it just it does something to the mind. Yeah, and they do it perfect.

SPEAKER_01

Well, Roman Polanski was really good at that. Yeah. In all of his movies, he was very good at at scoring it and scoring it in an unorthodox way, and it plays a huge role in this movie. Yeah, evoking feeling with the score. What do you got? I'm gonna just use your Rosemary's Baby to talk about real quick. Um, I'm gonna lump these into a sub-genre of the sub-genre. I'm gonna talk about real quick Antichrist movies. Oh, okay. So we have Rosemary's Baby, uh, we have the Omen franchise with Damien. This is I'm doing it all for you, Damien, or whatever the line is. Yeah, that's it. And then This is all for you. Yeah, and then um that's a long franchise. That's I think some people don't realize. I think there was five original movies, then there was a remake, then there was an omen TV show that flopped. I didn't know this, yes, sir. And then just um two years ago, the first omen came out in the theater, which is a prequel to the original. And I actually I didn't see it in the theater, but I did see it uh as soon as it hit streaming, and it was very good.

SPEAKER_00

So, what's the one I remember? And I'm let's not date ourselves here, uh, but it was they marketed it because it was 666. Do you remember that? Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Um, that might have been the remake.

SPEAKER_00

I think it was.

SPEAKER_01

I think it came out in 06. Yeah, and I could be wrong, but that's how my memory that's how I'm remembering it. But the omen, the original is is a classic, and I would say the the one that most recently came out, the first omen, which is a direct prequel, was really well done. And um those two tell a very like cohesive story together, really good. Yeah. I'm gonna I got one more, yeah. Let's hear because I'm gonna and this is uh another more recent one that I actually did go see this in the theater uh two or three years ago. Immaculate.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you we talked about it.

SPEAKER_01

Um you said it was decent. It was decent, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say it was uh fantastic, I wouldn't say it was destined to be a horror classic, but I would say that it was very well done. Um it had a unique uh take on the Antichrist thing. And Sydney Sweeney gave a actually really good performance. Um there's a scene where she's giving birth and they uh are like super zoomed in on her face. And it's just she says it's just her face for a good probably two minutes of screen time, uninterrupted, but Of her delivering a baby.

SPEAKER_00

And I was very impressed by her acting when it was she can convey all that the emotion. She really felt it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I really believed that she was having a painful childbirth. Well, good.

SPEAKER_00

That's her job. Yeah. So I'm gonna see all your Antichrist movies in the name of this film. It's called Antichrist. Oh, yeah. With William Defoe. And this it creeped me out. Mars Van True's. Yeah, and we talked about movies that were banned. This movie to this day is banned in France. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, this is a hard watch. Trippy. It's a it's a total mind job. It's a mind play. Very um graphic. It's a beautiful shop. I will tell you. All of his movies are cinematography cinemographically cinematography or whatever. They're they're beautiful. So it's uncomfortable, though. It's very uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00

Very uncomfortable. But I I'm glad you brought that up because I was going to mention this on scene. If you see it now, I won't watch it again.

SPEAKER_01

Why do you think it's called Antichrist?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know what I'm I mean, because it's not necessarily about the Antichrist. Yeah, and that's not necessarily the loss of the child, and just I don't know. Maybe it was the end for them? I don't I don't know. Yeah. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know either. There is the yeah, there is the the fact that they lost the kid, right? Right. Um, but then that's kind of the only thing that really referenced that. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't want to watch which one of them would be the Antichrist. Yeah. Maybe they're each an Antichrist to each other. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Look at the big mine on bald and the big one.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, what next one do you want to go to?

SPEAKER_01

Um I'm gonna shift gears real quick. I'm gonna talk about a shift. I'm gonna talk about a horror television series. Okay, go ahead. That is a religious horror that I quite enjoyed, and that's Midnight Mass.

SPEAKER_00

Who, brother, that's the spiritual successor to uh Salem's Law to me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

In so many ways. I love Midnight Mass more than a haunting uh Hill House. Okay, or Bly Manor. Yeah, I thought now my wife is that's blasphemy. You don't say that. I absolutely loved Midnight Mass. The guy who does is the preacher of yeah, uh he is amazing in that. Hamish Linkletter, I think, is the actor. Um unbelievable. I was captivated the whole, I think, eight episodes. Yeah. And how the guy they killed him off. And I was like, they killed off our Fiome guy? Like, wow, okay. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It's really, really well done. I'm glad you brought that up.

SPEAKER_01

It's um awesome portrayals of not just Christianity, but there's also a Muslim character. Yeah, the sheriff. And he gets flagged for it. And they get there's a lot of back and forth between the Muslim guy and the Christians of the town.

SPEAKER_00

And that shows so about forgiveness and redemption. It's really well done.

SPEAKER_01

Really, really well done. And also, it's uh, I'm just gonna spoil it, so if you haven't watched it, cover your ears. It's it's also ultimately a a vampire, you know, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Which he I think it's awesome. He the whole time, father man, why say his name escaping uh I don't know, I don't want to butcher his name, but he believes it's an angel. Yeah, and he's praying to it, and the goddess sent me this angel, and it's so he's so good at it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's really, really, really good. And it's it's a good horror show, it's a good vampire show, and it's a good bit of religious horror. It is, yeah. Yeah, I don't I wonder how Catholics feel about it. Yeah. Well, let's talk about Salem's Law, because that's on my list. And you're absolutely right. It's uh it's a very spiritual successor to Salem's Law. And Salem's Law is a fantastic piece of uh religious horror.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and it's my number one favorite TV horror show of all time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the the TV Yeah, the CBS in the three two-hour blocks or something like that. It's like six hours. I have it on Blu-ray, and it's fantastic. Um, but yeah, Father Callahan is he's not the main character, but he is definitely the religious lens that you watch Salem's Lot through. And that was a master stroke for Stephen King to to have us look at the events of Salem's Lot through Father Callahan and have that color in all the you know religious hues. Yeah, that was very smart and brilliant, very well done, and makes it awesome.

SPEAKER_00

I've this is funny. I was a little too young to be watching it, but I remember that's where I first learned if you make crosses like that, because they use the little hospital, like the things you put on your tongue to say oh, and they tape them out, yeah, and it keeps the vampire. I remember doing that with everything after that.

SPEAKER_01

But it doesn't work ultimately with uh Barlow. Well, Barlow, well, you have to have face, right? It's too powerful, and yeah, Father Callahan lost his face, which um comes back in the Dark Tower later on. I know that's your jam. Big tower. Yeah, I'm a big Dark Tower fan. Um, but yeah, Barlow, I think I told this on the podcast before, but um, me and my cousin used to watch that. I think his mom taped it off a off a TV when it first aired, Salem's Lot. And so me and my cousin used to watch Salem's Lot on VHS. Like we were yet little. Like we were too young. Way too young. Yeah, I love it. And I would be over at my aunt's house and she'd tell my cousin to take out the trash. And if he gave her any lip, she'd say, I'm putting up Barlow's gonna Barlow's gonna get you. Nasty. Really? Oh, yeah. And that did it. And he would jump up and run and take out the trash. Love it. But then sometimes, even though he was obeying, she'd like she'd lock him out when he was on his way back from the garbage can, and she'd say, Barlo's right behind you. I see him, Barlow's coming. The masculine lock him in the basement until Barlow's down there with him. Is he okay? Did he grow up okay? Well, her. She was my dad's sister, if that tells you anything.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So they were there were two peas in a pod for sure. Me and my cousin grew up very similar, you know, both because we had the siblings for parents, and they were both.

SPEAKER_00

I'd love that they use that for a threat, though.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Dude, I know you remember the same word they can't.

SPEAKER_01

It's let me in.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. Freak me out.

SPEAKER_01

Floating out front of the window up on the second story. That's that was awesome. That was awesome. Um, yeah, Salem's Law is fantastic. I highly recommend you read the book. I highly recommend go watch the original.

SPEAKER_00

The I the, like you said, the two years ago they did the remake on HBM.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Just not the same. It just, I mean, it wasn't bad, but it's not it doesn't compare to the city. It doesn't compare. That the original, again, it was made for TV. Um, it was directed by Toby Hooper, though. That thank you for bringing that up. Yeah. I think that it came out at the right time, though. It came out at the right time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And yeah, it was like it's like a six-hour movie, though. Yeah. And I think it was, I think they aired it on three consecutive nights, like three two-hour blocks.

SPEAKER_00

Could you imagine us being back then going and having the man getting ready to watch this and two-nighter, man, we'd be so excited.

SPEAKER_01

I remember, you know, while like I said, watching the VHS tapes. So like I still saw like the commercial breaks and stuff. Yeah. So, but uh, but no, I wasn't old enough to watch it live, you know. But how cool would that have been? Yeah, how cool would that have been. Um, real quick, since we're on that subject, how about Carrie? Another Stephen King.

SPEAKER_00

Uh now would you go? I know the mom is super fanatic. That's the just okay.

SPEAKER_01

That's my angle. Okay. You know, everything that happens um to Carrie is of resulted the mothers exacerbated by mom's religious fanaticism. You know, kind of like um kind of like I mentioned when I brought up the witch. You know, there's a lot of uh religious horror that deals with these people are yes, they're you know, quote unquote Christians, but they've taken it to the extreme. Yeah, you know, and and Carrie's mom is one of those people. What should we talk about? I mean, that's that's real life. Yeah, that happens.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, we all know people like that for sure. Yeah, I didn't even think about Carrie Good. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay. What do you got? I went, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna shift another gear. Let's go to fourth gear. Okay, I got some modern religious words from 2000 and now.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, give me some takes on what you think. Um Saint Maude. I have not seen Saint Maud, believe it or not. Really? Okay, check that out.

SPEAKER_01

I've heard wonderful things about it. And it's on my two watch list, but there's one that I have to admit I haven't gotten around to yet.

SPEAKER_00

You're you're gonna love it. Okay. Okay. Exorcism of Emily Rhodes. That is amazing. Based on a true trial, yes, real case, yes, scared me when I watched it, Paul.

SPEAKER_01

Most people say that next to the Exorcist, this is the best Exorcism movie.

SPEAKER_00

I would only go as as far as say the Exorcism three. Exorcist three. But I'm I would fight with that.

SPEAKER_01

Exorcist three is a good movie, but it's more of like a serial killer crime drama.

SPEAKER_00

Drama, yeah, in the spiritual aspect with the right.

SPEAKER_01

But Exorcism of Emily Rose is like a courtroom drama/slash crime thriller thriller kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00

But you do obviously get to see what happened to the final yeah, and it's that it's very spoiler. She died, and she did die in real life. In real life, and they did have a uh uh a case about this, and it's yeah, check it out in the movie. It's the sister, it's the girl who plays dexter's sister, Jennifer Carpenter. And she is uh you feel horrible for it.

SPEAKER_01

This is the movie that I think put her on the map. You feel horrible for it, Paul. Yeah, it's it's she is put through the ringer.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so but that's a fantastic movie. This one we haven't really talked about, and it's I've watched it a couple more times, and it the more I watch it, the more I see, the more it gets under my skin. The first time I watched this movie, I absolutely hated it, and everyone loved it. And I'm talking about Hereditary.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Thoughts.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I love Hereditary.

SPEAKER_00

Uh I didn't hate it. It keeps getting better for me. Okay. The more I know about it. Yeah, I think it's a lot of it. And the little things I'm catching.

SPEAKER_01

I definitely liked it better the second time I watched it, but I didn't hate it the first time. But I will also say, now this is Ari Aster, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I am in a controversial hot take that I think it's actually um Ari Astor's weakest movie.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but look what he's made. So is that it's not really a diss because he's not a diss.

SPEAKER_01

I don't mean it in a bad way. I just remember I just I think he's made three movies, and to me, he's number three on that list. Okay, but that's not a diss. This is a great, great movie.

SPEAKER_00

Now you say that, I'm gonna say something kind of controversial. Maybe not, maybe you agree. The last 20 minutes of this is some of the scariest film I've seen in the last 20 years. Yeah. Any to that, it's crazy. It heats up so good. Tony Collette, right? That's and when she finally makes that turn and she's going after her boy. I was like, dude, the the actor that plays herself. The son yes with that nose.

SPEAKER_01

He's heartbreaking. Yeah. I mean, it's look how that ended. You feel how sad he is that his mother has just basically totally turned on him. Yeah. And when she was meant to the whole time, yeah, yeah. The signs were there. Well, and it's it was hereditary. She couldn't help it.

SPEAKER_00

It couldn't have been avoided. Okay, what do you got, Paul? I named off a couple.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, let me grab my note here. Um, I did have Exorcism of Emily Rose on my list. Here's one that I did go see in theater that I loved and I still love to this day, Devil's Advocate.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, with um Keanu Reeves. Yeah, Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino as the uh lawyers.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. That is such a good movie. Yeah, it is. I remember I went and saw it. I was dating this girl, I took her to see it. She brought her friend and her friend's boyfriend, and I didn't really know them. Um but the um boyfriend, when we came out of the movie, he goes, That this movie makes me want to go do bad stuff. And I said, and I had I had just found religion at that point in my life, and I remember saying the opposite of this movie. But man, that's a fantastic movie.

SPEAKER_00

And it's more of a that really is the devil versus kind of god angle is Al Pacino, it's the devil.

SPEAKER_01

It is the devil, and yeah, devil incarnate. But that's that's one of those where maybe not a horror movie in the strictest sense, but it's definitely qualifies, I think. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

It's not a lore though, but yeah, I um yeah. I made this list for you now, and it kind of breaks my heart because you're in the won't no cult stuff. So I just want to throw these in and you kind of give me a quick second, what do you think? Uh the dark cult back, what's religion or and these are some of my favorites, dude. Okay, the sac from it. Yeah, yeah. Loved it. Based on Jonestown, cult plus religion plus realism equals disturbing. Yeah. Okay. That's on my list. Is it really? It really is. It is okay. I didn't know if you'd have it because it's a religious cult, rural America barrel.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's that's very much one of those, you know, religious fanatic kind of I mean, it's a cult, but they're he's like he's like crazy preacher man, you know. I think there's still supposed to be like a sect of Christianity in Red State. And I believe Kevin Smith directory. Yeah, yeah, good. Yeah, one of two horror films that Kevin Smith has done. Yeah, Tusk being the other one.

SPEAKER_00

Um, quick, we've talked about this a little. Um, Wicker Man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so that's one where I love Wicker Man, and I just I didn't put on the list because for it's kind of culty for me.

SPEAKER_00

And I know we both talked about this in this movie, is so underrated, in my opinion. Apostle.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah. Apostle is really loved. What's the guy? Dan he's from Downton Abbey.

SPEAKER_00

And he plays beauty and the beast, because that's all my wife and talked about.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, he's beast, that's right. He is great in the beast. He's a human form of beast. Um, that's a really, really good movie.

SPEAKER_00

And again, it's weird Isolated religiousness.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's it's it's faulty, it's liminal, it's and the violence in it. But it's yeah, top tier. Yep, no, I agree. That's a good one. Okay. That was a that was like one of those Netflix late at night ones that I just kind of stumbled on, and then I watched it and I was like, that was amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that was so good. It's so underrated, though. There's so many people don't know about that movie.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I kind of feel like maybe it was a next Netflix original.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know if it ever like made it to the theater. And it's still on Netflix if it's original, right? We'll get rid of it. We'll have to check.

SPEAKER_01

No, I'm pretty sure that it's still on Netflix. Uh I can't say for sure that it's a Netflix original, but I feel like it didn't have a theatrical release. Okay. But anyway, that's a good one. Very good one. So, yeah, I have Red State. Um, here's one. Uh, John Carpenter. You know where I'm going with this? Prince of Darkness. Prince of Yes! Yes, sir. Nice.

SPEAKER_00

How about that one? Didn't even think about it. Very nice. Oh, that's a great movie.

SPEAKER_01

It is now in that movie for y'all who haven't seen. Good man, that brings back some memories. There you go. Yeah. It's kind of goofy in a way, because you got like these college kids, they're studying a cylinder full of goo, and the goo is like the embodiment of Satan. Yeah. But the goo, of course, finds its way out of the cylinder as it always does, and starts infecting people.

SPEAKER_00

Where do you rank this with his movies?

SPEAKER_01

I think that it's underrated. Yeah. I think that, you know, obviously when people hear John Carpenter, they go Halloween in the thing, and they overlook this movie, and they shouldn't overlook it because it's really good.

SPEAKER_00

That one and the fog, I think, are very underlooked, and they're both classics to me. Yeah. I'm so glad you brought that up. That is a fun. I need to re-watch that. That might be my rewatch.

SPEAKER_01

That was a late 80s one, 88, 89, something like that. 88, I believe. Yeah. Um, but John Carpenter was at the height of his powers, I think, when he made this movie. I think he had he had the vision and the drive, and Hollywood was behind him at this point. And he was like, This was just like fire and an all on all cylinders kind of a movie. It's a great movie, it's a really, really good movie. Yeah. I I love it. Good pick. Thank you. Good, good pick. Uh, how about I got two more on the list. Let's see if you've seen them. Because they're both, I mean, they're both, they were both big movies, but they're both kind of forgotten, I would say, um, these days. The first one being Stigmata.

SPEAKER_00

That is where she is uh oh, what is her name? I think it's Patricia Arcane. But she starts getting the wounds of Jesus. My sister loved this movie, and I was I uh young, and it creeped me out, and I would watch bits and pieces, and I finally got older. Great movie. Yeah. Creepy Factors 10.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, very good. Yeah, very good. 1999, I believe. I think you're right. I think you're right about that. The other one I have on my list here that again, I'm just trying to throw you some curveballs here. Uh, The Ninth Gate.

SPEAKER_00

With uh um Johnny Depp. Yes, in the book. Yes, great movie. Awesome. That was just on Netflix, I believe, not too long ago. Or Tubi, maybe Tubi. To be as all of them. Uh yeah, my mom loved that movie. Yeah. So we watched it.

SPEAKER_01

My dad loved that movie. That was that movie. So my dad passed away in 2013, and I think The Ninth Gate came out in the late aughts, so like 09, maybe something like that. 08, 09.

SPEAKER_00

If not earlier.

SPEAKER_01

I think it was later.

SPEAKER_00

It was okay.

SPEAKER_01

It was one of the last horror movies that my dad recommended to me that I hadn't seen. So it's special to you, maybe. It is, it is for sure. Because my dad, you know, I got to a point where he's throwing movies to me, and I'm like, oh, I've seen that. Come on, Dad. Come on. And then I'm throwing movies to him that are brand, you know, brand new, and he's checking them out based on my recommendations. So like our roles had kind of reversed at that point. But he calls me up one day.

SPEAKER_00

Well done, Paddo Bond.

SPEAKER_01

And he's yeah, he calls me up one day and he's like, I got one that I think you might not have seen. I'm like, okay, what is it? And he's like, It's it's Johnny Depp. He's a rare book collector, and he gets his hands on this book that that can summon the devil. And I'm like, Oh yeah, that sounds great. What's it called? And he's like, the ninth gate. So I went and rented it and watched it, and then I remember calling him back and saying, Dad, that was good. Good job.

SPEAKER_00

Like, yeah, and it's underrated. A lot of these movies are. You don't hear a lot about that movie. Great movie.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm gonna match that one because this one goes right to it, and a lot of people, it's got a huge actor, Matthew McConaughey. Where am I going? Frailty.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Is that not awesome? It's a story a father believes God told him to kill demons. In this whole movie, you're like, this dad, he's nuts, and at the very end, you find out God was talking to him. And it you're just like, Yeah, love that movie. Bill Paxton.

SPEAKER_01

The big twist was that it was all for real.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, great movie.

SPEAKER_01

Good, good, good pick. That one, I love that movie, and I've if I would have uh remembered it, I would have put it on my list. That one I was that one just didn't pop into my head.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. This is one I we've talked about, I don't think you've seen it. I wanted to bring it up because you need to.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And a lot of people don't believe in this, but it's um Os Perkins, one of his first films, and it is in my leagues above long legs, and that's whole miners. The black coat stock.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the black coat's dog.

SPEAKER_00

It is it's it's really cold, it's empty possession, it's driven by violence. Yeah, it's it's a lot better than long legs.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, I have. Seen it based on your recommendation. Okay, good. And I it's probably still my favorite Osgood Perkins movie that he's made.

SPEAKER_00

Mine too. I did like The Monkey, but I laughed so much during that, I was like, is this horror?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I was watching some videos in preparation for this, and I was uh just watching various videos about religious horror, and this one guy just he's talking about religious horror, and then he just takes a left-hand turn and starts bashing long legs.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I like him already.

SPEAKER_01

I was like, I thought the same thing. I'm like, he's going way off topic, but I can't disagree with him.

SPEAKER_00

Well, who knows, dude? Maybe in five, ten years we'll be loving long legs. You never know. You don't know about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But uh yeah, that's that's what I got though for religious horror. What do you think? I've got a couple more I'd like to bring up real quick.

SPEAKER_00

Keep going. Did not like this movie watched it once, mother. I haven't seen it. Don't watch it. I hate batching. Uh it's not horror, but it's super religious. Yeah. Mother Earth. Um, this one I do love though, and I know you've seen the pretty sure Jacob's Ladder. It feels like purgatory or hell. It's spiritual horror to me. Yeah. And another like Tim Robertson is great in it. Mind job. Yeah, you feel so is it going on? Is it real?

SPEAKER_01

This is, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00

I I think your dad would have liked this movie for a while.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, he did love it. Yeah, he 100% loved it. We watched it together multiple times. And in my opinion, Tim Robbins' best performance that he's ever given. More than Shawshank? I think so. Because in Shawshank, he doesn't have to carry the movie all by himself. Okay. But in Jacob's ladder, he does. He carries it by himself.

SPEAKER_00

How old were you when we watched this? Do you remember? When it first came out, I was probably 12, 13. Did you remember how like what were you thinking? Is this guy nuts? Is it like oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, that's that's what you definitely think he's losing his mind.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Awesome. Uh what else do I got? Have you we did talk Exorcist movie? The Taking of Deborah Logan.

SPEAKER_01

I've seen it. Uh I've only seen it probably once when it first came out, and I enjoyed it, but I don't remember too much about it beyond that.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Um, we brought up the Exorcist 3, and you're Yeah, I to me that's that has that's missing a lot of the religion in it. Okay. I mean, I it does have some, but to me that crosses fully over into the like serial killer crime drama side of things. Gotcha. It's a good movie, it's far superior to the Heritage, but but it's it's just vastly different than the original Exorcist.

SPEAKER_00

I absolutely agree. Uh, The Void. Oh, yeah. Cult horror with cosmic, almost love crafty. It's very lovecrafty, right? Yes, very love crafty. Would you put it in with what we're talking about? I put it on my list and I love the movie.

SPEAKER_01

In the broader sense, yes.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, according to my little stricter definition that I use to limit myself, no. But again, I'm I vi I put myself in a box on purpose because we could talk all day about religious horror, because you can you can pretty much take any horror movie and find some kind of like religious angle in it or some kind of spiritual angle in it.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna finish, and I save this to the very end, because this movie um it's not horror. It means so much to me, though. Okay, and it it is a horror in a sense, and I'm talking about Passion of the Christ. I don't how how this movie made me feel. Even if you were not religious, to see what Jesus and he did go through this, whether you believe he rose or not, Jesus went through this, guys.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, probably ten times worse in real life.

SPEAKER_00

You've suffered this for real life. But it it's I can watch a lot of horror and I can watch a lot of stuff. This is one of the hardest films to watch.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it I I hear you. It's it's real life horrors that somebody had to endure, but also the depiction of Satan in this movie is very freaky, right? And I would say that yeah, it's definitely not a horror movie, it's not, it's but it's got moments that kind of cross over into that realm.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, and just the effects of this were all practical, and just the pain and agony and that's horror to me. That's what he had to go through. And I just wanted to end off.

SPEAKER_01

That's the most spiritual horror movie to me, right there, because I mean Yeah, I mean, you yeah, in a lot of ways you could say it's the ultimate religious horror movie, right? Yeah, but yeah, it's hardcore.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, that's very hardcore, brother.

SPEAKER_01

It's uh I think that's one thing that I've talked to, you know, a lot of horror fans, and uh while very few of them would agree that it it belongs in the category of horror movies, uh, every one of them has has said that was hardcore.

SPEAKER_00

My dad was probably rest in peace, Dad. I love you. He was probably the toughest man ever known. He was just stung cold, no bull crep kind of man. It's the only movie he cried. Wow, and I yeah, yeah, he was like it moved him, and I was like, I that meant something to me just seeing it, my this grown huge man crying over this. Right, but it's yeah, it's tough. It is tough.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that that definitely takes you into the hard to watch territory. And I mean that's you need to be prepared to watch this movie. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Easter coming up. Maybe if you don't believe, you do believe, give it a we watch it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think a lot of people are gonna be watching it this weekend because it is Holy Week and Easter is tomorrow's good Friday, Easter's We celebrate it for Jesus. I think a lot of people will watch this movie this weekend. Um But yeah, it's it's uh it's I don't even really know what to say. Yeah, it's it's it's a it's a it's hardcore. We'll just say it's a very hardcore experience, yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

So you might check that out if you don't want to go into the I don't know that horror horror. Yeah. But it is it is a horror. I don't know. I just I'd like to say lost for words for it.

SPEAKER_01

I hear what you're saying. I do, I really do hear what you're saying. Well, I'm gonna circle back real quick to we talked about uh Salem's Lot and we talked about Carrie, and that made me want to finally do an episode that's been on my mind. So our next episode next week, we're gonna talk about Stephen King. All things Stephen King. I want to no, I don't want to talk about his movies. What do you want to talk about? I want to talk about his books. I want to talk specifically about uh because I thought we can do a whole episode about horror literature. Um but I felt like if we did that, it would kind of just devolve into a discussion of Stephen King.

SPEAKER_00

It would.

SPEAKER_01

So I figured let's just do an episode about Stephen King.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I've read enough of his books on this. Same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I've told the story about uh the goth girl in seventh grade who got me to read Pet Cemetery and turn me into a Stephen King fan. I'm gonna challenge myself to go into my yearbooks and get find her name before our episode next week.

SPEAKER_00

Do it so I can shout her out. It's so funny you brought this up because three weeks ago I got done reading Tommy Knockers.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I love Tommy Knockers.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_01

That's a good one. Yeah, that's one of the ones that he wrote while he was definitely high on cocaine. He was on something.

SPEAKER_00

And um, it's crazy. The book is nuts. It's a very rotten teeth. Was he off meth? He is a very crazy book. I kind of took that with the rotten of the teeth out. I think he had bad teeth as a kid. Maybe that was symbolic for him.

SPEAKER_01

Uh maybe, I don't know. But Tommy Knockers is is very cool. It's an awesome read. And that is very Lovecraftian. Yeah, absolutely. To me, um, I feel like now, and I didn't realize this till later on because I read Tommy Knocker's way before I got into Lovecraft. But when I read Color Out of Space for the first time, I was like, oh, this is where Stephen King got. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I look forward to this. This will be a good one guess, too.

SPEAKER_01

I do want to do a quick little kind of overview at the beginning of just horror literature because we've mentioned it, especially on our Golden Age of Hollywood episode. Um, you know, when movies were brand new, uh they're looking for scripts essentially to shoot. And one of the first places they started looking was books.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

And one of the first things they found was a lot of gothic horror. And um, so again, horror literature has been around a really long time. Yeah, Frankenstein and Dracula. And it is directly responsible for a lot of our horror cinema that we celebrate, you know. So I do want to talk just a little bit about um those early days, just kind of to set things up. But then, yeah, I want to go, I want to go all in on Stephen King. Well, we'll have enough. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We'll have enough. So tune in next week, y'all, for that.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, we have a five hour podcast about Stephen Triple. You guys have a great weekend. Take care.