MINISODE: Horror at the Oscars (2026)

In this minisode we talk about Tom using reverse psychology on the universe to see a ghost, and eventually horror at the 98th Academy Awards. Did Sinners sweep in the end? Did Frankenstein (2025) deserve every production design win? Why doesn't Emily care about the Oscars? Listen to find out, and stay tuned tomorrow for WORST HORROR BOYFRIEND(S)... OR ELSE!!

Logo designed by Kiah Ellis-Durity

Musical theme by Moira Christy

Special thanks to Gordon Durity

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Later I don't ever want to install new software for all that. I'm also midway through with a uh call of Cthulhu. That is good. That is a good story.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Okay, sorry. I love Cthulhu.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Yeah, he's pretty cool looking. And it's also uh the every descriptor that we have of him or every like representation is like completely true to how he's described in the story. No. I think that Okay, Emily, alright. Here's what I've been thinking about during the week. I need to defend myself a little with my whole skeptic persona, which I honestly feel like you foisted on me. Because I have never identified as a skeptic. I don't like being that it's not that kind of guy. But I will tell you why I choose to be like that. Because I think it's kind of like reverse psychology in the universe and assuring, or at least making it more likely that I will encounter fantastical and interesting things if I say I don't believe them. Because you going out into the woods looking for Bigfoot, Bigfoot's gonna avoid you, he's gonna run the other direction. Or if you're out in a field Yeah, but that's clingy. He's gonna be like, ew, get over yourself. And if you're in a field being like aliens, come down and get me, they're gonna be like, mm, thirsty, no thanks. And move right on.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

I can't help myself.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

But then there, if if I'm like, I'm never gonna see a ghost, I'm never gonna see a ghost, then I think the universe is gonna throw me a a bone and throw me a ghost.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I think you've just outed yourself to the universe.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

The universe isn't listening, it doesn't care. But I'm just saying so that you understand where I'm coming from.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

I get it, I get it. And I wish I could be like that. Honestly, I'll be honest with you, I wish I could be like that. I think I think you're right at the end of the day, but I'm just too excited. And that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

That's a good trait as well, too. You know, just like yeah, cool, it's Bigfoot and then you get to be happy about that, and it brings you joy, and that's good.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

I think life for me, life is too short to wait around and be like, no, no, no, no, no, and like not get in on the fun of like, yes, it is Bigfoot. For me personally, but I also get your reasoning.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Well, thank you. You know what? Life's too short to not win Oscars.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Is this recording?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah, it's recording.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yes, that was so nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Who knows how much we'll use, but anyway.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

That's great. That was nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

This is, believe it or not, our Oscars mini sew. Not our Bigfoot mini sewed.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

And I'm gonna eat chips through the whole thing. Right next to the microphone.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

So this is just for Tom. Thank you, Emily. But no, this is so that Emily can show that she doesn't care so much about the Oscars. Yeah. Uh, do you want to explain why? I want you to explain why.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

I just think it's a big Hollywood ruse.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Ruse. A ruse. In what way is it a ruse? You think it's rich?

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Distraction.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Oh, okay. Distracts us from what's really going on in the world.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

And it's just a bunch of old white people talking about mostly movies that we don't really care about.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Have you seen the Oscars in a while?

SPEAKER_02 3:22

I don't know. I I'm I'm saying the Academy.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

No, like the Academy for sure, but you know who else is in the Academy? Anne Marie Fleming. The Academy is uh made up of filmmakers across the world.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

I'm just talking out of my ass here, aren't you?

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Yeah, the Academy is actually composed of 11,000 filmmakers internationally.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Like, I also used to think that it was like a collection of like eight stuffy white dudes.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Yeah, but it's not. It's filmmakers, and uh most like a lot of filmmakers are in it, but you don't have to be in it. I think Ryan Kugler isn't in it because he doesn't. So like when they say best animation animated film, it's a bunch of animators who have work in animation, they're like, this is the best animated film.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

So it's slightly more qualified than that. Yeah. Also, when you're talking about super unqualified and I'm just talking more when you say it's a distraction as well, like especially this year, this was a very highly political year. They were very outspoken about like Palestine, uh, AI, Ted Sarandos, you know, trying to buy up Warner Bros. Like, yeah, wait, is it Ted Sarandos? Who owns Netflix? Do you guys remember?

SPEAKER_03 4:36

It was this man, he was in the audience. I don't remember his name.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I'm gonna look that this up if you have to start. I need to figure out who owns Netflix.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Yeah, so the reason why we're speaking about the Oscars on this Here Pod today is because horror movies actually did quite well. I was It is Ted Sarandos. Okay, there you go. So I was quite pleased, and the first win of the night went to Amy Madigan for weapons as Aunt Gladys, and it was really fun because the cold opened, Conan and Brian was getting dressed up. And it was like an homage to weapons as he ran through all of the. Have you seen this, Emily?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

No, I didn't watch the Oscars.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Oh, we'll show you the clip after. Yeah, Conan's very interested. Uh oh, also corrections. I think in the last week I said that Conan's his first year. Yeah, no, this isn't his, this is his second year.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

Yeah, last year there was the Dune World. He's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

He was really funny. In this cold open, he gets made up to look like Aunt Gladys, and then he's chased by all of the weapons children.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Well, that makes sense with his red hair. Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And then he gets chased through all of the Oscar-winning movies of the year. Like he runs into Marty Supreme and plays around and he runs onto the F1 track. It's a good, good cold open.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

It was really great. And yeah, so it was great because the first award went to Amy Madigan for Weapons and Best Supporting Actress. She gets up on stage and she shrieks.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

She literally goes, Her witch laughs.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

And then she starts talking about how she shaved her legs but didn't need to because she's wearing pants and then her love for Ed Harris. It was great.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

How did you guys feel about her winning? Like horror aside, and like being excited for that, and you know, loving weapons. Like, do you think her performance deserved the win, in all honesty?

SPEAKER_01 6:20

She was also up against like Wood Me Mosaku. She was up against Tiana Taylor. Like it's such a big bombastic performance, so I think that people might have just gone with like this looks like the biggest, flashiest, you know, performance of the year, so we'll give it to her. But if I was in the academy, I probably would have gone for Wood Me Mosaku. Because I think that that was a much more like nuanced performance. But I really do love Aunt Gladys. I mean, she's one of my happy she won. Exactly. It's good for the horror genre, you know?

SPEAKER_03 6:54

And I haven't seen Sentimental Value, so I can't actually properly cast my vote.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

You know, because Elfanning and Ingle Ibstotal is in it as well, so I haven't seen those two.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

They were in the running for Best Supporting Actors? For two from the same movie?

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Exactly. That's interesting. Yeah. So since I haven't seen I I can't properly cast my vote.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Also, um, Amy Madigan's performance in Weapons, this is the only part of Weapons that got an Oscar nomination.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

That's kind of another thing, which is cool. It's like Weapons is an Oscar-winning movie now for this one performance. You know, so I like that.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

Which is really, really cool. And then in the same vein of actors, the next, not necessarily next award that occurred, but then Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor in Sinners.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, best actor. That's a big one. Yes. For his dual role. His dual role. And stack.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

So that was very, very exciting. Uh horror movie winning best actor.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

How do you feel about this, Dev? Do you feel like this is like a good performance, like the best of the nominees?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Performance of the year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

The year between out of all of the films, I again haven't seen all of the films. I've only seen part of Marty Supreme. I've seen one battle after another.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Was Leo nominated?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Yes, he was. I haven't seen Blue Moon yet, and I haven't seen Wagner Mora in the Secret Age.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Can I go on my Blue Moon rant? My side tangent.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Well, I'll get this bit to be five or six minutes.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Do you not want me to talk about Blue Moon?

SPEAKER_03 8:32

No.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Final cut it out.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

So yeah, Michael B. Jordan winning for Sinners is cool. You know? It's a dual performance. That's just a feat of filmmaking in itself to have to coordinate with the body double to do all the actions and then to do everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

And he made them feel really distinct as well.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah, he wore different sized shoes, which I could personally not wear small shoes all day. That would be fun.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

He wanted to feel more like tight and uh constantly on edge, I guess, as either one of the twins. I can't remember. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

So congrats. One of my favorite categories, which I'm so excited for. I love costumes. And for best costume, it went to Frankenstein.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Here's my gripe though. The ugly stepsister didn't win any Oscars.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

It's true, but I'm just happy the ugly stepsister was there. I didn't necessarily need it to win, especially because Frankenstein on the whole had more.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

I guess so.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

And also, that's amazing for a debut feature film to even be nominated for an Oscar. Like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Stepsister was nominated for like uh Best Makeup. Makeup, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

And I think it should have won.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

I don't think it should have won. I think it is great. Like it's fantastic, but I think that there is more and more interesting, I would say, makeup in Frankenstein as well. Like in Ugly Stepsister, they have the gore effects on the nose.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

They have like her entire body, too, was okay. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah, we did look that up recently. That like uh appliances on her body.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I think it was absolutely insane, and I think that Frankenstein was not the best Frankenstein that I've seen.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Okay, so you weren't crazy about the design, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:17

No.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

And also, I'm not gonna lie, though, with Frankenstein, I did not know that was Mia Goth twice in that movie, and that caught me off guard. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Mm-hmm. So I would still just give it to Frankenstein just because they they do impressive stuff, but on a larger scale than Ugly Steps as well.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

And I love the costumes, that's a different category, but the costumes in that movie swoon worthy. I swooned in the theater.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

You're talking about Frankenstein, right? Yes. Yeah, Frankenstein's costume.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

I completely collapsed in my seat.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Every time Mia Goth shows up, she is looking incredible and like a new outfit every time.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

And Kristaf Waltz has the gold-plated shoes at the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah, and I love uh Victor's like kind of rock star Victorian outfit. He's always showing a lot of like there's a deep V going on there.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

So the costumes I absolutely love.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

Absolutely love, and I do love the practical makeup effects in Ugly Stepsister. That stuff was crazy. The shot through the toes with the blood. Oh. I just pictured it.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah, and the Oscar for me.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Yeah, the eyelash sewing, the I can't even think about the teamwork, guys.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

I'm not doing okay. I'm not doing okay. Okay, let's move on. Move on.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

So then another category that I absolutely love is best original score. And this one was really hard for me this year because I you don't know this about me, listeners, but the music I listen to the most frequently are movie scores. That's always what I listen to. Movie and TV soundtracks, not soundtracks, scores. So um, for the past couple years, Interview with the Vampire season one and two have been my most listened to. Um, and recently I've been listening to the Begonia soundtrack by Jerskin Fendricks. So good.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Begonia! Begonia didn't win anything, and I really like it.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Was it nominated for things?

SPEAKER_02 12:01

It was. It was cool.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Okay, I didn't know. Um, and like I've been listening to Max Richter my whole life and Alexander. I always want to say De Plat, but everybody keeps saying desplat, so whatever.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I feel like everybody's wrong.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

It has to be Deplat, right? Yeah, I don't know. But the winner was for Sinners for Ludwig Gorenson's score for sinners, and this is his third time winning. And the man's only 41. And he was Ryan Kugler's roommate in university.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

And he has amazing hair.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

And he has amazing hair. Tom, you were a bit biased.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Does he have the same hair as you?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Does he? I don't think so. I think it's very different style. But he does have long brown hair.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

With the middle part.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

And you currently have long brown hair with the middle part. Someone I'm looking at. That's very different.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

And Ludwig on.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Somebody. Ludwig Butters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

But yeah, so I was really happy because I love that score. I can hear the harmonica and the southern blues already. I'm getting emotional, so I'm very happy that one best original score. What other awards were there? Oh, thank you, Emily. Um Best Original Screenplay.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Ryan Kugler.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

For Sinners.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

For Sinners. Which is true. It's great. What were the other contenders?

SPEAKER_01 13:23

My main problem with Sinners is in the script. So I'm gonna say maybe not. Fair enough. For me personally, I think it drags in the last half, but that is that is it.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

I didn't I'll say it once and I'll say it again. I did not get through Sinners. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

That's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

That is true. And again, I haven't seen though, in all fairness, I haven't seen Blue Moon. I haven't seen it was an accident. It was just an accident, pardon. I haven't I've only seen part of Mighty Supreme, and I haven't seen Sentimental Value.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Did you guys see Begonia?

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Oh, I love Begonia, but that was adapted screenplay. Yeah. Um, which it didn't win, and I really wanted it to.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

I didn't even know it, but begonia is a remake. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Um, and then something historical occurred, Emily. You will love this. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Female cinematography.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yes, first one for sinners. Yeah. And her name is Autumn Durald. That movie is beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Isn't she like 20-something?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Is she? Don't say that.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

I'm sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

I need to move and do things now.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

But that is like an incredibly shot movie, and it looks, it doesn't look like any other movie I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Emily, she's 46.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Oh no!

SPEAKER_02 14:38

She looks so young. Doesn't she?

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah, I have seen her recently. She looks to be like in her 30s.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Yeah, she looks so young. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, I'm so happy for her. Like, that's incredible. She shot so many movies, so that is a historical moment. Yeah, good. That's just iconic.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Uh, anything else?

SPEAKER_03 15:00

I believe that is all of the awards.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

That's all like horror-centric awards, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah. So Frankenstein won the big three. Uh costume, makeup, production design.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Production design, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah. Uh it does make sense.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

And then Sinners won't three or four?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah. That would be Actor. Supporting actor. Or not supporting actor. Yeah. Actor. Actor. Just actor.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Screenplay.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Screenplay. Score. Cinematography. Score. Yeah. Also original song. They also won original songs.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

No, that was K-pop Demon Hunters. You're so right. Okay. Yeah, come on.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

My little sister would be very happy to hear that. She's obsessed with the song Golden. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, that's the one that won, right? Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

She has a little like microphone that my grandma bought her and she's going to be a little bit more. Oh, that's nice. Always running around singing that one.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Sweet.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Cute.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Well, does this, Emily, does this change your th thoughts on the Oscars at all?

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Now that you know it's 11,000 filmmakers across the world.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

For this year, maybe. Sure. Maybe a little bit. But I don't know. Something about it, like I turned it on for like one second, and it was just, it's just like a lot of rich posh people in a room telling lame jokes for a lot of it, going ha ha ha ha ha ha. And I just I don't know. Something about it feels like not.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

I won't I will say I do hate the sketches. I don't like sketch live comedy, though that does stress me out. Conan was great, but um not all the filmmakers are rich because they're for the best animated short, it was Canadian filmmakers from Montreal, and if be funded, it takes five years to make a short. There's documentarians, but like the ones that are getting the presents, yeah, because like documentarians, those ones are always hard and depressing.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

And I like my take on the Oscars, it has its good parts and its bad parts, but in the end it is really nice to see creatives getting a lot of people. Yeah, for their good work at what is arguably the biggest award show uh in the world.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, it's a celebration of art and the world's stories, and again, it's not America's like it's not just about American art, it's the world.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Which is cool. Okay, and it takes place in a mall, and that is always gonna be funny. Adolby Atlas Theater is attached to a mall. You can go to a lids just outside of the cinema.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Really? Yeah, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah, it's really funny. Okay, so at the end of the day, just remember, it's just a mallet.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

When you said that for some reason, I could just perfectly picture it. Yeah. I could see a little mall attached to my picture.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

It's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Right. Well, Timothy Chalamet sits in his chair being disappointed that he didn't win best actors.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Yes, but he gets out of his chair to clap for the ballet performance.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

By Misty Copeland, who I could go on a ballet tangent, but she was got that hip surgery in December, and then the ballet dance that she was doing was Firebird, which is the role that she first got her major injury in. So pretty crazy comeback. And she's the reason why we have brown ballet tights and brown ballet shoes now. Nice. So that's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

So that's the Oscars. That's the Oscars. We will be back next year. Maybe Emily will be more enthused. The chip crunch was beautiful. We'll see, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Arriva Derchi. Bye.