Haunted Ozark Theater

Epispde 32 - Summer Horror Blockbusters

• Paul

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Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater … H-O-T … your “hot” horror podcast! Summer is more than sunshine, it’s the season of blockbusters, and nothing beats a good horror summer blockbuster. Join us as we explore the best of the best!

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

© Haunted Ozark Theater 2026

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Haunted Ozark Theater H O T, your hot horror podcast. This is Paul sitting across from Cody.

SPEAKER_00

What's up, Cody? And Paul is the hot one. I'm just like telling the viewers when they because they're going, who's the hot one? It's Paul, guys. It's definitely Paul.

SPEAKER_01

I thought he was going to be modest, but we're going to talk today about the summer horror blockbuster. I'm excited. I did some cool homework, some cool research, dug up some good little uh tidbits that I want to share with everybody. But first, of course, we got to do this day in horror history.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, what do you got for us today?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I saw it right at the very top of the list, and I just had to go with it. I didn't have to dig any deeper. Today is the birthday of one Ashley Lawrence. Yeah, cool. And I feel bad because I left her off of my final girls list. You did. And I'm also kind of half in love with her. So I feel really bad that I left her off my list.

SPEAKER_00

Well, do you want to go ahead and tell the audience you're going to get a chance to maybe meet her in person pretty soon?

SPEAKER_01

Quite possibly. Uh, we're discussing going to HorrorCon OKC in July, and she's going to be a guest there. And even though I'm married, and even though she's probably married, I might just have to propose to her just to say that I did it.

SPEAKER_00

Just to do it, dude. Why not? I think your wife would understand, right?

SPEAKER_01

But that's the big uh disdain in horror history. Happy birthday, Ashley Lawrence.

SPEAKER_00

Happy birthday for some you rock.

SPEAKER_01

The Hellraiser series, among other things. And she's awesome. Not only is she a beauty, but she kicks butt in all those movies.

SPEAKER_00

She does.

SPEAKER_01

She's a I don't she made my list. Oh, yeah. You were the one that's the So and I will make sure I tell her this when I get the autograph. You'll have to say, uh, you made my list, but Paul forgot you off of his list.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we'll definitely have to get it back to the body.

SPEAKER_01

But I do feel great shame over that because she is really it's genuinely she's one of my favorites. Yeah, look who she was going up against. Yeah, that's the thing, man. At that time, like she came out of nowhere and blew people's minds. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, what have you been re-watching?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I I'm glad you asked that. You know, we always talk about every week what we rewatch. And I this is just to take a little moment. Everyone listening, and I'm gonna speak for Paul too, because me and him are like mindless, and how much horror means to me and you, not to get too mushy. I was having just a down week, and dude, I put on a great horror movie kickback, and it just brightened my day. And that's why we do this. I know that's why people listening love it too, but I just man, it it just reminded me of when I'm having a bad day watching people get slaughtered. I don't know what it is, but it kind of took me out of my funk. I'm in a great moon now. I just wanted to say that. That's why I love doing this. I love being able to have this uh forum to talk to people who love it and talk to one of my best friends who who's a whore head like me. And man, it's a privilege. Okay, enough of that. I guess.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I I'll follow that up because you mentioned the people who listened to our show, and I'll just say um last week's episode, the uh straight to video episode, did some numbers, dude. Awesome. Uh, you know, after uh we did some big numbers with Donamantis, and then um we kind of just went back to our regular numbers for a couple weeks, and then last week we did our straight to video episode and we had a big uptick. So people were people were loving that episode, apparently, and I'm I'm super thrilled about that. But I agree. Just this morning I got to work and my coworker was asking me about uh the aliens movies, and then asking me about what we're gonna be talking about tonight, and it just got me fired up. I mean, I'm already fired up on Thursdays because I know we're gonna be recording the podcast, but same, you know. I just talking about it just got me a smile on my face.

SPEAKER_00

And I got I have I don't want to get too far drawn into this, but I have people ask me all the time, well, don't you get tired of it? I j uh and I'm I'm not joking, Paul. Uh I watch not just for the rewatches, but I watch at least a Friday the 13th, a Halloween, a Texas Train Semester, or a Nightmare on Up Street, no matter what, weekly. Yeah, I just it's in my Rolodex, and I just I don't know if it's what it is about me, but I have to watch one of those weekly.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I go out of my way to make sure I I need to find a different one because I could talk about those movies every day. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No, I mean, do would we ever get sick of it? No.

SPEAKER_00

I think if I haven't in my 41 years of living.

SPEAKER_01

I think that if you and I could do this this one hour that we do every Thursday night, if we could do this 24-7, we would. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean because we like we never run into things that's okay.

SPEAKER_01

No, and it's just it's I I when I was talking to my co-work this morning, I was saying, like, I eat, sleep, and breed this stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I r we really do, guys. Seriously. To the music we listen to that influences this. I mean, it it's crazy. It really is.

SPEAKER_01

It really is like a lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00

So, okay. So, what have you been re-watching? Uh, I picked Jeepers Creepers. Oh, nice. I watched it with my 13-year-old niece. That's a good summertime. Yeah, it's the brother and sister driving home from college, and man, it's overall one and two back to back are awesome or aren't they? Yeah, there's not too many horror films that really go together. I'm thinking Halloween, Halloween 2, yeah, you know, stuff like that. They go, they just gel. Well, these two go to perfect ending.

SPEAKER_01

100% agree.

SPEAKER_00

I I just remember the first time I watched it. I don't know. I always I from the beginning of that movie, I always remember I oh, the sister's gonna die. I I don't know why they had that in my head. And then at the end, um dairy, he gets it, and then the worst way you hear him screaming in that dungeon, and then that the eyes are out of his body, not just that, like bored all straight through his head, dude. And then the creeper pops up and it's his eyes. That's awesome. Yeah, that was my rewatch.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I did not rewatch anything, I watched a couple of ones that have been on my list. Um, one was caught me even by surprise. Uh, it was the Memorial Day weekend this past weekend. Yeah, so everybody was home. And my wife, bless her heart, talked me into watching not one, not two, but three different Hallmark movies.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man. And are you okay?

SPEAKER_01

Do you need to well come come uh I think it was Monday night. It was uh, you know, last last night of being home with everybody, and I think they felt bad for me. And they said, let's let dad pick a movie. And I said, Well, you know, I'm gonna pick a horror movie, right? And they were like, Yeah, but just try to like keep us in the back of your mind as you're picking this, right? So my wife and my oldest daughter, they uh they love watching those true crime shows, like where a girl goes missing, kind of got thrown off the shoe the ship or something like that. So, yeah, so I um just started scrolling through I think Hulu, and uh Shelby Oaks popped up on the list, which that's directed by Chris Stuckerman. Yes, uh I I remember it came out last year, I remember it made some noise, I didn't see it, and I remember there was about a girl who goes missing. Okay, so I said, let's put this on and see what we all think. And um, everybody enjoyed it. Even my wife was like, This is pretty good. And uh I enjoyed it as a as a horror movie. It starts off very much like a true crime, one of those like Netflix true crime docs. Okay, it starts off like that, like the camera work and even like the the little titles on the screen, you know, telling you, oh, you're they're talking to this lady, and this lady is the cousin of this. It's a documentary style, it's very documentary style, and it's very just straightforward, like missing persons case kind of a thing. And then you get about halfway through, maybe two-thirds of the way through, and it goes full-on supernatural.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, this is a supernatural movie.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, oh yeah. The explanation as to you know how and why she went missing becomes totally a supernatural, straight horror show in a good way. In a good way, yeah. I liked it as a horror fan, they liked it as true crime kind of junkies, and there's somebody in it we know, right? Well, the main antagonist, which I won't say anything about what he is, is played by Derek Mears.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I thought. Okay, and does he do good in it?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And for those who don't know Derek Mears, he's my boy. He played Jason in 2009. He's been in Predator and he's been in a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01

He's big, big, tall dude, doesn't have a hair on his body, he's got a P shirt. Yeah, and uh, but from everything I've heard, always got a smile on his face, nicest guy you could meet right now. Be a nicer guy, yeah, is what I've heard about Derek Mears. And he's gonna be at Horror Con on OKC. So that could be another person that we get to shake hands with. But uh, I would recommend Shelby Oaks. It was good. I I didn't watch it last year because there was certain people out there saying scariest movie of the year or scariest movie since XYZ, and yeah, that kind of stuff turns us off here at Hono Dozark Theater. So I I let that one slide. But now that I've watched it, it was good.

SPEAKER_00

And any directors listening out there, if you really want to get us horror fans invested, I mean, it's kind of scary. You might you might want to watch it, kind of, and that would get me more intriguing because it's the scariest movie since the exercise. Because I've heard that how many times in every movie you every year. We hear that every year for the last 50 years. So spoil alert, no, they're not.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, rarely. The other one I watched is uh new one for this year that was on our preview show called We Bury the Dead. And that's got old Daisy in it. Daisy Ridley. Yeah. And um, you know, we've talked a little bit about Australian produced horror, and this was one of them. Okay. This is an Australian uh production. She is Australian, correct? I think she's British. Is she British? Okay. But she's playing an American in this movie. Okay. Uh, but the whole rest of the cast is is Australian, and the movie actually takes place in Tasmania. Um, I won't tell you much about it. Uh it was good. Is it horror comedy? No, it's not comedy at all. It is very somber. Um and I won't spoil it because it is brand new, but it is on the surface, it's a zombie movie. Um basically the American government has like this EMP kind of weapon that they're testing in Tasmania, and they accidentally set it off.

SPEAKER_00

And brings back the dead.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it kills everybody in Tasmania. Like, literally every single person in Tasmania dies instantly from this weapon. But because it's an EMP, there's no like physical damage done to the victims, it just kind of like stops their brain. Oh, okay. But some of them come back, some of them manage to reanimate, I guess.

SPEAKER_00

Well, if it killed everyone, how's their movie?

SPEAKER_01

Right, exactly. So Daisy, her husband was was on a work trip to Tasmania when this EMP goes off. So she volunteers for the like search and rescue party, hoping to find her husband down there amongst all the carnage.

SPEAKER_00

And so you go on this journey with her. I go on this journey with her, yeah. I'm guessing it gets dark and sad.

SPEAKER_01

It gets very dark and sad, but it's good, it's not a bad movie at all. It's not like fantastic, best thing I ever saw, but it's it's worth a watch. Um, and she does a really good job on it, in it. And the other guy, I forget his name, but he's an Australian actor that you will definitely recognize. He's the other lead, and he does a good job as well. And there's some there's some good gore. Practical that you can tell. As far as I can tell, it was all practical. Um it's just it's just an eerie, very atmospheric kind of like that. Yeah, I would check it out. Okay, thank you, Paul. Yes, sir. Good ones. All right, so let's get into the summer horror blockbuster. Now, if you did your research like I did your research, you're probably gonna come to the same conclusion that I came to, which is Cody, what was the first ever summer blockbuster?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, what is Jaws for 500? Is correct. And what kind of movie is Jaws?

SPEAKER_01

It's a creature feature, it's a horror movie. So the first ever What you call it a creature feature a mile off on that. No, it's a creature feature 100%. The studio actually, before they test screened it, they were thinking this is a B grade creature feature. Yeah, and that's the best it's gonna do, and best it's gonna be before they test screened it. That was their That's crazy. That's what they were rolling with. Um, so yeah, so again, horror films tied directly to the history of cinema, horror films breaking new ground in Hollywood. The first ever summer blockbuster was a horror film, and it was Jaws.

SPEAKER_00

Isn't that awesome?

SPEAKER_01

And I'm proud to say that. And I I I read a couple of neat little articles, and I want to read some quotes from some of these articles regarding Jaws. Okay. First article was written by Zach Schoenfeld. Uh, he says, Once released, Jaws wasn't just a blockbuster, it was a phenomenon. It became the first movie to break a hundred million at the box office. It instilled such fear that beach attendance took a well-documented hit and it forever changed the movie business. And then he expands on the idea that it was a quote-unquote phenomenon. This phenomenon shifted the seasonal logic of Hollywood from saving the biggest releases for the year-end holiday season, realizing there was tremendous money to be made in the summer. And then finally, it reset Hollywood's appetite for profit. It became the prototype for a new kind of summer blockbuster, a high concept, high-budget, high-profile picture designed to appeal across demographic lines and play on thousands of screens.

SPEAKER_00

And it, like you said, it was a horror movie movie. How about that?

SPEAKER_01

And one other article I read uh by a guy named Brent Lang, he says, 50 years later, we're still living in the entertainment landscape that Jaws Reshaped.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

And then here's a quote from our good buddy Eli Roth. He said, You still can't go to a summer blockbuster or the beach without thinking without thinking about Jaws.

SPEAKER_00

And everyone does.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, from kids that you know to the oldest person, you you've heard of Jaws, dude.

SPEAKER_01

So, you know, we've talked a lot about horror being the redheaded stepchild of of cinema. It is.

SPEAKER_00

But I think it's coming around.

SPEAKER_01

And I I agree that overall that still is the case. But, you know, with uh the more we research for this show that we're doing, you know, we find out these things. The first ever special effect was in a horror movie.

SPEAKER_00

The first ever summer blockbuster was in a horror movie. Record-breaking numbers, the money, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and then this this year we got some serious recognition from the Academy uh with centers and weapons. So it is coming around. Slowly. But at the same time, I just gotta say, all y'all that are sleeping on horror, you wake up, you're you're turning a blind eye to a major, major part of cinematic history.

SPEAKER_00

Great film telling. Just because it's a horror doesn't mean there's not storytelling going on. I'm not saying every horror movie is a masterpiece, but you will find, like we talk about, these hidden gems are just great horror movies that put you in the seat of those people and you're living it and you're you're rooting for them. And they're breaking new ground all the time. Why do you think that horror got early on in this stigma? Well, it's horror, so we're not we're not gonna even talk about it.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. I don't know if if it was the censors coming out against stuff early on that gave it kind of a stigma. Or my personal feeling, and I'm no psychologist, but I think that everybody loves a good horror movie, even if they don't want to admit it. Even if they don't call themselves quote unquote horror fans, like how you and I said we eat, sleep, yeah, drink, and breathe. Like not everybody obviously feels that way, but everybody, I think, if they're being honest with themselves, enjoys a good horror flick.

SPEAKER_00

Everyone's got one that they love to watch.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. But I think there is some shame or embarrassment that clings to some people. They don't want to admit that they like a horror movie or that it's kind of like people with wrestling.

SPEAKER_00

I've noticed there's a lot of closeted end wrestling fans like they'll watch it every Monday, but if you No, I I I don't watch that stuff. I mean it could be.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, I think that as as we get further away from the um stigma that's surrounding it, I think you know those uh preconceived notions will relax a little bit. Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean, there's let's just let's just look at it for what it is. First ever blockbuster.

SPEAKER_00

And we talked to you brought it up. Steven Spielberg really was an unknown. He did duel and he might have had another movie, but he wasn't did Close Encounters come up before Jones? No, no, those after. See, so there you go. This was his big break-in movie was a horror movie. Absolutely, absolutely. There you go. Good research thing, man. Good research.

SPEAKER_01

Um, you got something you want to throw in?

SPEAKER_00

I wanted to put my first experience with a summer blockbuster horror. Um, and it I just remember this being a big film. It really piggybacked off the success of Scream, and that's why we got this movie. And it's 1997's uh I Know What You Did Last Summer. Okay, and it is that summer movie that's the 4th of July and that town they're in. And I read this was a big movie at the at the theaters, like all the kids were watching it, the young people, and it was a big blockbuster movie. They really sold it as that.

SPEAKER_01

I agree that Scream wet the appetite. Oh, definitely because early and mid-90s, horror had pretty much dried out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Scream is the one that got the art bump in the hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01

Scream came out, and then a year later, I know you did last summer came out, and people were actually excited to go see it in the theater.

SPEAKER_00

And it's funny because Kevin Williams uh wrote both those. I think he directed I Know What You Did, but the it was kind of like with Jaws. This is a beat. They thought this was Scream. This ain't nothing, it comes out December. You don't put something you think's golden in December, that's when you put your December, January, February. Usually your bad film set comes out. Well, boom, it explodes. So, what do they do with I Know What You Did Last Summer? Comes out in July. Yeah, boom, yeah. And it did it did good for them.

SPEAKER_01

It got the sequel, so and uh a kind of a legacy sequel just last year.

SPEAKER_00

Last year, yeah. Well, it got a part three, but we're not gonna talk about that today.

SPEAKER_01

So um let's just talk numbers here, real quick. Because I found a list of like the all-time highest grossing summer horror movies.

SPEAKER_00

Can I take a guess? Yeah, because that made my list, and this it's it was such a great time more. I remember everyone was talking about this. The guys I worked with who didn't even watch horror went, you gotta go watch it. And I'm talking about uh 2017's it.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, are you calling that a summer movie? Oh, how could you not? It came out in I think it came out in September. Did it really? I think both of them came out in September. The first one and the second one two years later. Can we call September September? I mean I didn't. I didn't. I I I because I had the same thought as I I remember it being a thing that everybody you know collectively were lining up to go see it. Yep. Um but um when I went and looked at the release date I was like, oh I thought it came out earlier in the year. But they those are both those were both uh September releases. Wow, okay. So I'm calling based on my research, I'm calling uh you know, May, June, July, August is what I'm then I'd have to go with Alien. Um the Alien franchise I took the whole Alien franchise, every single one of their movies was a summer release. Yeah, from the original all the way up to the most recent Alien Romney. Yeah Alien at the summer box office throughout its entire lifespan has brought in 1.5 billion. Yeah. But what's the highest single film horror to come out in summertime?

SPEAKER_00

Is it newer? New ish. Is it a Jordan Pill movie?

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no, older than that.

SPEAKER_00

1999, the sixth sense. The sixth sense, so M. Night Shamala. He is that horror though? I was thinking about this. Is his movie horrors, horror movies? Because that's like saying Twilight Sone is horror, and maybe a little of it is, but 90% isn't. It's psychological.

SPEAKER_01

I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying. But for this list that I found? Well, for the list that I found, because I just basically typed in summer horror blockbuster box office numbers, kind of a thing, you know. And this this for the list that I came across, this is the top earner in 1999, and this thing did take the world by storm. Yeah, it was huge. I see dead people. And this is one of those things where it may not be horror to us, but to most people, I think this this freaks them out. Would M.

SPEAKER_00

Knight Chumlett call himself a horror director?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. That's a good question. That's a good question. But the sixth sense.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, okay.

SPEAKER_01

At least by box office numbers, is the top earner as far as summertime horror releases. $672 million it did at the box office. Next is another one that I know I don't know if I would necessarily call it horror, but uh World War Z.

SPEAKER_00

It's zombies. Brad Pitt. I did 540 million. I didn't think it did that good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, uh on 2013, and that that was a summertime release. Now here's the here's the franchise crown. Okay. This franchise with its main movies and all of its spin-off movies, every single one of them has been released in the summertime. Every single one of them. These are summer staples. Two billion dollars overall at the box office. And these are whore. Conjuring.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01

Every conjuring film and and the nun and Annabelle and all that stuff, they always put those out in the summertime. Every single one of them. Verified, tried and true, conjuring franchise. Wears the crown for highest grossing in the summertime ever. If you take them all and you add it all up two billion dollars, ain't nothing gonna be.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, that would be tough to beat. That's tough to beat. That's tough to beat.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, we talked about Alien, another franchise that did big money, the mummy franchise with Brendan Free.

SPEAKER_00

Someone told me they're making another one.

SPEAKER_01

They are, they're making another one right now.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, they are. He's great in those things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so the mummy always come out in the summertime, every single one of them. Uh 1.4 billion.

SPEAKER_00

I will I'm not, I mean, we can argue semantics. That's not whore. I agree. I'm I mean, I'm not sure. We would never talk about I love the mummy, don't get me wrong. No. But I'm never gonna go, that's a great horror movie. That's not saying Ben Hells.

SPEAKER_01

I totally agree. Um on that list of top earners that I just spoke of, Sixth Sense probably wouldn't fit our criteria. No, World War Z probably wouldn't, mummies probably wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00

Conjuring wood, aliens franchise would. Maybe we could have a category of word like baby soft whore. Yeah, maybe you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Or just Mnight Channel Up films.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But here's one that is full on horror. Another 1999 cultural phenomenon took the world by storm. Blairwood's project. Yes, sir. Came out in the summertime, did big, big money. And for the budget, 248 million at the budget at the box office on a nothing budget. I mean, I don't know if anyone will ever replicate the the uh financial windfall that that movie is responsible for.

SPEAKER_00

And look what that set up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

The found footage. Yeah, you're really good at this. Any more found footage movies before that that were huge? Or was Blair Witch the first one to really capitalize?

SPEAKER_01

There was a few that were notorious. Cannibal Holocaust. Yeah, you know, is that's true.

SPEAKER_00

But I don't think that was even mainstream like Blair Witch was correct.

SPEAKER_01

No, definitely not. Definitely not. That's why I say is you know more notorious than it was, you know, uh anything else. But yeah, I I would say I would say that the found footage genre predates Blair Witch by at least 20 or 30 years, but Blair Witch is the one that brought it into the consciousness of everybody.

SPEAKER_00

And I always loved that about horror, and you know, a horror movie's maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, but when you got little ladies, your neighbors going, did you hear about this Blair Witch movie? And like I can remember my old neighbor talking, like, yeah, oh my god, I can't believe that's gonna, you know, the it was on characters. And they're putting it on the theater, and yeah, as kids, they're they're really showing people dying. Like, and my sister's like, We gotta go, we gotta go more, and we went, and I was terrified.

SPEAKER_01

No, I agree. That was a huge summer. Uh if you think about not only Blair Witch and Sixth Sense both coming out that summer, Star Wars came out that summer. Uh yeah, Phantom Menace, and I think Matrix came out that summer. I think. Yeah, oh that was huge, big, big summer at the box office.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but let's talk real horror movies here for a second. Because yeah, you know what I'm gonna go to for my summertime movie. Let's hear it. Friday the 13th, dude.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm gonna go ahead and say Friday 13th is the king of summertime horror. Of summertime horror. How can it not be? Every single Friday 13th movie except for the remake.

SPEAKER_00

There you go. And I don't know why they put that on Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. Every single one except for the remake came out in the summertime, all the way back to the original 1980.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's I and that should be law. It should just be law for Friday 13th. It's like Halloween. I never uh Rob Zombies one came out in September, and then there was one that his part two came out in August.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like October. We'll get to that. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. But yeah, Friday 13th, everybody but the remake, so every original main line summertime king came out in the summertime every time. Yeah, 400 million at the box office, all totaled up over the course of 40 years or whatever, however long it's been. Um but Halloween, um, you kind of have to release Halloween movies in the fall. Oh, yeah. That's just the way it goes. But we did get a couple of uh token summer releases. Uh H2O and Resurrection both came out in the summertime. And as you mentioned, the Rob Zombie uh ones were summertime movies.

SPEAKER_00

Why do you think they do that? Just for money? Is it more marketing? And that these experts go, okay, they're gonna make more money right here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think really it just boils down to what else they gotta go up against. You know, if if you're gonna like nowadays, you're not gonna put anything out if you know the next Avengers game, uh, next Avengers movie.

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna be right next to it because it's gonna be blown out of the water.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so you just don't even do it. You just you move it around to a different weekend where it's gonna do better. Um so I think that's a big part of why things end up where they end up. But you know, with horror, as we talked about in the last episode, kind of previewing this episode, it's summertime and it's Halloween. In my in my you know, rule book for what it's worth. If you're gonna be releasing a good summer or a good horror movie, it's gotta come out in the heat of summer or it's gotta come out around Halloween.

SPEAKER_00

I totally agree. That would be like with uh Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I couldn't see that getting released a week before Christmas. Right. You want to feel that summer heat. And I remember when the remake came out in 03, they it that came out like the first week of October, but here in Arkansas it was still hot and it just had that feel to it. And I I get why they put it out then, but that should have been an August movie to me.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? 100%. I mean, that movie looks hot and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

You can feel the heat, yeah, the grinds, smell the nastiness.

SPEAKER_01

For sure, for sure. What else you got?

SPEAKER_00

One I just went back to, and it's uh three years ago, well, three years ago now. Uh it wasn't a blockbuster one in the sense that the whole world, but for whore people, it was something really new, and that's in a violent nature. Yeah, and I'm really bummed to find out that uh part two comes out this year. That's not what I'm bummed about, but it comes out in December.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And uh anyone who's done any research on it will let you know because I'm a huge fan of it. This one takes place in a summer camp with these kids. And I'm thinking that's summer time. Yeah, I I just scratched my head. And I I'm I brought that one up just to ask you your thoughts on that. And will that cue the mood of it? Like if it's freezing cold and it's it comes out a week before Christmas, like I'm still I'm gonna enjoy the movie, but I'm I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I'd you'd almost rather wait six months. I would. You know, I I get that they want to get it to the theater, they want to start cashing those checks. I get it from a business standpoint, but from a from a fan standpoint, I will gladly wait the six extra months and go see it in the summertime when it's meant to be seen.

SPEAKER_00

That's one movie. I hope it gets pushed back for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I I just do.

SPEAKER_01

No, I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that.

SPEAKER_00

What do you got next?

SPEAKER_01

Um Nightmare on Elm Street tried to go the summer out. And it just they did it for the the dream, you know. You kind of talked about this on one of our most recent episodes, kind of the dream trilogy, dream warriors, dream master, dream child. They pushed those three into the summertime. Now, all the other Nightmare on Elm Streets came out in the fall.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, I know the remake came out in April. It came out a day before my birthday in 2010. You're not counting on the that doesn't count at all.

SPEAKER_01

No, but they did try to do the uh the summertime thing in the 80s. I think everybody in the 80s tried the summertime thing. I mean all the horror big players, and Nightmare did it with Dream Warriors, Dream Master, Dream Child. Um, but Friday the 13th is the undisputed champion.

SPEAKER_00

I wonder if they 100% in agreement with the smart people in the studios are thinking it's summertime, kids are out of school, they're flocking to the theater, and these movies are made for teenagers. Let's face it, back then in the they were made for teenagers.

SPEAKER_01

100%. And I think that's that was the the you know special ingredient for Jaws, you know, is is they knew um our audience is gonna be young people, right? And young people have a little more free time in the summer and a little more disposable income in the summer, and that's that's exactly what happened, you know. First movie to ever make a hundred million, and that's in large part because little Johnny went and saw it four times, you know, on his summer break.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And um then, yeah, once they kind of got hit to that, they're like, oh, let's we can keep doing this all day long and keep making more of big time, yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Uh what do you anticipate this summer's big horror blockbuster to be?

SPEAKER_00

Well, we've got some, like I I don't think uh in a violent nature is anywhere where I would like it to be. It's pretty unknown, and it's a different how the it falls to killer. So in Terrifier, I found that might be coming out instead of October, uh, the new year now. So uh this this summer.

SPEAKER_01

Well, if you had to put your money on one of them, what do we have? We don't have a lot. We don't have a lot. I'm gonna say that the big horror movie earner this summer is gonna be a scary movie six.

SPEAKER_00

You're probably right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that what what else is contending though?

SPEAKER_01

Like not much, yeah. That's the thing. There's not there's not a whole lot. Uh Evil Dead Burn. When's Resident Evil come out?

SPEAKER_00

Uh Resident Evil is later in the because I anticipate that'll do really good.

SPEAKER_01

I think I think that's like uh September uh release. And I I agree, I think that one's gonna be a big one.

SPEAKER_00

I'm still gonna challenge you. We're gonna talk to the judges when we go off air and see if uh September is a summertime movie still.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mean, technically, I think it still is summertime, but you're already back to school.

SPEAKER_00

So you're just saying that feels done with it's not a summer blockbuster anymore.

SPEAKER_01

You're in my mind, growing up the way I grew up, you had to be out of school.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, I get I totally get where you're coming from.

SPEAKER_01

You go see a movie in September, you're back in school, buddy.

SPEAKER_00

And it's not a summertime blockbuster.

SPEAKER_01

And even if it's summer outside, it doesn't feel the same.

SPEAKER_00

You're back in school, you're in prison.

SPEAKER_01

And it just doesn't feel the same as like sleeping in on a Tuesday, yeah, and then getting up and going to the theater and seeing Jason hack somebody up, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Man, what great times.

SPEAKER_01

Good times.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, one I'm surprised you haven't brought up it's two films because I don't know when Nope came up, but Get Out and Us are summertime, huge blockbuster films, and everyone was. I remember when Get Out, you gotta go watch this movie, dude. It's awesome. And I I like Get Out, but Us is my favorite by him.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. It is such a good movie, dude. I agree with you. Us is fantastic. Good summertime war. Um takes place in the summertime, takes place on the beach, has that has all the ingredients. I I did come across it in my uh research. And I am in a hundred percent agreement with you. I love that movie. I think by all measurements, it was a successful film, and it checks all the boxes for me personally to to do to be a summertime. Blockbuster. It didn't make that much money at the theater. It didn't make that much money at the theater.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe like the DVD and the word of mouth after, or when I when I looked I thought that was a big hitter.

SPEAKER_01

When I looked up the box office numbers, it it was on the list, but it was it was way down the list. Get out and um us both. And Nope wasn't on the list at all.

SPEAKER_00

I okay, that's why I didn't bring that up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um, but yeah, Jordan's movies come out in the summer for sure. 100%. Uh and I will I will gladly include us as a personal favorite for summertime. Yeah, definitely. 100%.

SPEAKER_00

Oh well, I'm gonna mention another one of your favorites. Okay, and I think it's a great summertime folk horror in midsummer. Yeah, that just fits everything for uh you want to talk about a good creepy day horror movie, you put that on, dude.

SPEAKER_01

Every scene is in the bright daylight, and it yeah, exactly. And it still scares the pants off of you, yeah. There's no hiding anything in the darkness, it's all right there on the screen for you to see. And uh again, came out in the summer, takes place in the summer. By all measurements that you know matter to us, it it fits the summertime blockbuster thing. It just didn't make a whole lot of money, right? You know, but I agree, I agree that that is up there, and I applaud you for bringing it up because I know it's not one of your favorites.

SPEAKER_00

No, but it like it's as it it is a good summertime warm movie, dude.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, I love that movie. That was one that j genuinely scared me, that really surprised me. Yeah, and to me is really re-watchable. And I love showing it to people who have never seen it or better yet, don't even know anything about it.

SPEAKER_00

I bet you the reaction to that out.

SPEAKER_01

People who have people who don't know what they're getting themselves into when they watch Midsummer, they either love it or hate it.

SPEAKER_00

Freaked out after it.

SPEAKER_01

Even if they hate it, they're freaked out.

SPEAKER_00

They might not like you after.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. They might like you might be their least favorite friend after showing them mid summer.

SPEAKER_00

Do you know that movie's growing on me? I'll tell you that. I watched it a couple of months ago, and it uh I need to watch it more like in a really summertime setting the blinds up in the sun out, maybe put some incense in the air and really get into that kind of cultish mood, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Man, it is I can't say enough good things about it. No, you love it. It's I love it. I just think it's a masterpiece. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's no wicker man, but it's good. It's it's the uh spiritual successor, yeah, the wicker man, big time. Okay, what do you got next? Uh that's all I got for my takes on summer. I just I wanted to end it by talking about this summer. And it is kind of slim pickings, but yeah, I I think scary movie's gonna take the crown this summer.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sure it will. Uh I don't know. Maybe we'll get a sleeper that just comes out of nowhere, and we're like, this is uh you just watched Obsession. Obsession and one that just came out that I want to check out. I don't know if it's playing though, around here, and that is Pitfall.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And it's uh a woodsy camping movie, and it's like a think above Rambo who goes real nuts and kills everybody. Yeah. I I really want to see that, but maybe we'll get a good sleeper that more like this, it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01

And we got backrooms coming out this weekend, and that's supposed to be incredible. And that can be one of those ones where you know they're only anticipating it does twenty to thirty million, and maybe it does a hundred million. Skyrockets who knows word of mouth. Um obsession is approaching a hundred million.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

On a budget of less than one million.

SPEAKER_00

He'll definitely be making some like you said, he's already got one being. He's already got one done. Done.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, he's already got one done, and he I looked at his uh his uh Wikipedia and his IMDB earlier today, and the Texas Chainsaw is officially on his pages.

SPEAKER_00

I hope he does us proud.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because you know we that's a special movie to me and you, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and he's that franchise.

SPEAKER_00

I shouldn't say movie, yeah, a franchise.

SPEAKER_01

He I saw him say something about it this week on like a little interview, like a red carpet interview kind of a thing. He said the right thing that Eddie Texas Chainsaw the same thing.

SPEAKER_00

He said, I'm gonna explore the family. That's exactly what I heard, yeah, and take it down a whole different road that people aren't expecting. And that gets me very excited.

SPEAKER_01

Me too. Me too.

SPEAKER_00

Uh guys, I want to say if if you're like me, you're a slasher head and you're into those summertime slashers, The Burning, Madman Mars, definitely Friday the 13th, but there's so many sleepaway camp, fun summertime horror movies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They didn't these ones didn't necessarily come out in the summertime, and they didn't necessarily you know uh blockbust the box office. But yeah, I mean, something about a movie that takes place, a scary movie that takes place in the summertime or in the daylight or at the summer camp, those are just always gonna be winners.

SPEAKER_00

Well, dude, I don't know if you went to camp. I went to church camp. I went, and even at church camp, we were telling ghost stories and horror stories about these films that oh, we can't be talking about this.

SPEAKER_01

I went to uh I went to summer camp in sixth grade and I took with me my book, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I took it with me to summer camp. That thing got passed all around camp and everybody ate it up. And when I left camp, when I went when I left to go home, I couldn't find the my copy of it. Someone took off with it. And like at the end of junior high, some random kid came up to me and he's like, I think this is yours. And he gave me back my my copy of Scary Stories.

SPEAKER_00

That guy turned out to be Stephen King. He changed the world by giving him the book. No, I mean time traveling. There's nothing better than talking about Jason and the you know, I mean, every kid does that when you go to camp. I heard there was a kid that drowned in this lake and came back. Yeah, you know, absolutely. There's an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? I don't know if you remember that. It's about camp and it's the plumber guy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Remember?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely remember that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So now good stuff. Summertime's a great time for horror. Every time is a great time for horror, but especially summertime. Yeah. That's when I really get excited about horror. Last year we had weapons, and like you said, sinners, and those were yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Sinners at the beginning of summer and weapons at the end of summer. That's crazy. And those were those were my one and two last year, uh for sure. Uh we did it again. We didn't talk about what we're gonna talk about next week. What are we gonna talk about next week? I don't know. Let's make it a surprise. I guess we're on the surprise train lately. Yeah, we have not been.

SPEAKER_00

You guys can tell us what you want to hear.

SPEAKER_01

We're crossing this team. Leave us stuff, and um so, but yeah, I mean, I think we always come up with something cool, pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00

We're cool guys, so we're cool in the horror community, not in outside of the horror community. They spit on us and make us eat Play-Doh. All right, y'all. Thanks for listening. Thanks, guys. Talk to you next week. Bye.