The RedRum Podcast
Join Captain and Wilson as they enjoy an adult beverage or two and review the good, the bad, and the ugly of horror films!
The RedRum Podcast
Pay the Ghost
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Happy Halloween! For this year's Halloween special, Captain and Wilson dive into the 2015 horror/mystery "Pay the Ghost" starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies.
The film discussion begins around 22:22.
Food Chat And Tofu Opinions
CaptainHow's it going?
WilsonPretty good. Got some Thai food for dinner.
CaptainThai.
WilsonThai?
CaptainI had a burrito.
WilsonOh, from like a Chipotle burrito?
CaptainNo, from a local um like they make the best burritos in the city, not gonna lie.
WilsonDo they have shrimp burritos?
CaptainHmm. I don't think so. But they do like other okay, there is a different place that does shrimp burritos that I love.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainUm, but they're like you're gonna make me sound I'm gonna sound like an idiot. I don't know. But like I don't know. It's like Mexican food, but I think it was like originally a shop they had in California, but they like wanted to m be back home in Baltimore or something. I I don't know. I can't remember that. Anyway, it's like it has a twist sometimes.
WilsonOh, like you mean if they have like, oh, this week we have cod? Or like, or what do you mean?
CaptainWhat do you I don't know? Like what I whatever sysic is, like, that's the type of burrito I get.
WilsonI don't know what that means.
CaptainYeah, I don't know what it means either, but I know it's tasty.
WilsonIt sounds like you tried to like say Sissy SpaceX name like really, really fast.
CaptainUm it's a Filipino type.
WilsonSisic? How do you spell that?
CaptainS-I-Wait, no, I'm confused. Because I thought it was S-I-S-I-Q, but maybe it's it's G, and I'm just stupid. Yeah, I think it's yeah, I just didn't read carefully.
WilsonS Sisig?
CaptainYeah, but when I hear them say it, it's it sounds like more like a Q or like a K.
WilsonI tried to Google it and it came up with did you mean sizing?
CaptainClose up. I see it. I see it. Okay. I didn't I don't know. It's just it's good, but that's not the point. Um your face.
WilsonI looked at I I just I looked at the description of what type of meat it is, and I was like But that's not that's not how I get it. But Oh, okay.
CaptainYou get like maybe how it's how it would normally be prepared, but it's just like a different Yeah, they offer they offer this preparation and then you can choose whatever meat you want in there.
WilsonOkay, because like pork jowls doesn't sound like something that you're eating, so I've had it with tofu before.
CaptainTofu is also good.
WilsonOkay. Yeah. Um I'm kind of mixed about well, okay, I don't really like tofu, but it has to be like really thin and crispy, and then I'll be like, okay. Sure.
CaptainIt does, if you do it right, it'll soak up like any flavor you put it in, but you really gotta like get it in there.
WilsonYeah, but it feels like it always has that like very mushy like consistency.
CaptainThat's fair. I I do like it crispy too. Um, okay. That's so not the point, Wilson. Okay.
New iPhones And Face ID Tangents
CaptainUm we are we I know we just talked about it off air. Um, but we're we're both members of the uh uh 17 club. And it's exciting.
WilsonIt is exciting.
CaptainUm I do uh I know I say probably say this every time I get a new phone, but um iPhone makes it so fucking easy to transfer your shit where they're like, yeah, just move your phones like close-ish and and and we'll do it.
WilsonAnd I'm oh my god, I could not and then it just like finishes downloading stuff in the background.
CaptainDude, I could not be more like talk about stress like free process. I I could not be more of a fan for that. Like I would die if I had to like manually figure out how to transfer everything.
WilsonCould you imagine if you had to go in and like manually download every app and like remember which ones you had? Okay, but uh I do think that the only annoying thing is I have to sign back into every single app. And it's really annoying.
CaptainI had to sign back into every app, but it still kept like my face. Or like I redid my face real fast, and then it was like, okay, we'll just face ID you into everything. I mean, I still had to do that, but yeah. It was fine. I'm like, where's my face going? Nowhere. So I'll just so we'll just put it here. Um you know, weird, I didn't think about it, but I just because I thought about it right now and I watched a TikTok about um the celebrity like uncanny valley with all the plastic surgery that's happening, but they would have to like literally change their face ID on their phone.
WilsonYeah, they probably have to update it.
CaptainOh my god.
WilsonI don't know. I would yeah, I wonder how sensitive it is.
CaptainWilson, some of those people look nothing like how they like I saw someone posted Demi Lovato today, and I was like, what? She looks so different.
WilsonI haven't seen her in a while.
CaptainOh my god.
WilsonI say that like I like run into her on the street, but um Demi. Demi.
CaptainUm I just was like sh I just was not prepared. And like you look at pre-surgery, post-surgery, and I was like, oh my god. Um but yeah, like a lot of them do that, do stuff, but like there are some that look so different that yeah, it would just be annoying. Um anyway, I did you oh yeah, you put something in
Plastic Surgery, Celebrity Faces, And Hot Ones
Captainhere. Did you see the things I put in here? Or do you didn't know?
WilsonI did see the things. I don't know what the second one is. I have no idea
Spaceballs 2 News And Cast Hopes
Wilsonwhat that is.
CaptainOkay, okay, so I wanna the first thing I want to talk about was Space Balls 2. Have you heard that this is coming?
WilsonIt sounds familiar. When when's it supposed to come out? And it's it's official.
CaptainYeah, 2027, yeah. So I saw this from a clip uh of Josh Gadd was in an interview, and he said that he was showing his daughter um some like old movies that he loved when he was younger, and Space Balls came up, and apparent and I you know I haven't seen Space Balls in uh God knows, I don't even know, 15 years or something.
WilsonSure.
CaptainBut um he said that in the movie there's a scene where they make a joke about Space Balls 2 coming, or like, you know, we'll resolve this in Space Balls 2. Or and the daughter asked, like, okay, can we watch Space Balls 2 next? There is no Space Balls 2. Um, and so like I think Josh Gad like got involved in like trying to make it happen because of that. So he's like one of the main cast members, but um yeah, it's like really happening.
WilsonI was just looking at the cast and like they got everyone that they could back, it seems like.
CaptainI don't I I don't remember much of the movie um besides like the Job of the Hutt scene.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainAnd I mean that it's just kind of like a ridiculous satire, but um I would definitely have to rewatch it.
WilsonI saw um so um Bill Pullman's who was played like the Han Solo type character, his son's gonna be in this movie, it looks like.
CaptainOh my gosh! No. I mean, I see Lewis I Lewis, I don't know who that like I don't know.
WilsonI uh like I said I think you've seen him in I mean he he's been in Did you watch um I think that was him. Did you watch uh Thun Thunderbolts?
CaptainYeah. He looks familiar.
WilsonAnd he was in Top Gun or the new one, yeah.
CaptainYeah, yeah, the new one. Yeah, something about his face does look yeah.
WilsonUm and then I we haven't finished Barry, but like the the bald guy from that looks like he'll be in it too.
CaptainOh yeah. I used to watch Barry. I forgot about that show.
WilsonI think looking at this cast, who I'm most excited for, um, Rick Moranis, he hasn't he like quit acting like I don't know, decades ago because his wife got sick. Yeah, so I feel like this is this might be like his first return to acting.
CaptainWow.
WilsonI'm not sure. I'd have to I mean actually it looks like he was maybe in something else, but yeah, I don't know, that's impressive. I'm excited.
CaptainYeah, and I love my girl Kiki, dude. Uh anything that she's in, I'd watch.
WilsonSo she is good.
CaptainI love Kiki Palmer. I I know you you don't really watch Hot Ones, do you?
WilsonDo you I watch some sometimes.
CaptainYou know like the gosp between like her and Sean Evans that they like uh Good Chemistry or something? Yeah, but they like openly, like he openly said like he had a crush on her, and then like they've been like making comments back and forth, but she was on for like a third time and in the you know how they do like these after credit scene, like as the credits roll? But they she says to him, like, you know, should we just go for it? And they kiss at the very end, and people were like freaking. I mean, that it has like a gazillion views that so um I don't know. It's just I I also like live for that too, but is she really is she not like do you think that was completely a bit? Do you think like I don't know, they're both like I think they're both actually finally like single at the same time, so I don't know. But um yeah, no, I I always support her. Um okay, and then
“100 Years” Movie In A Vault
Captainthe other thing I wanted to mention, I think this is gonna piss you off. Okay, but there's another movie coming soon. No, um, it's a movie called 100 years, basically, which is an upcoming experimental sci-fi film that's starring John Malkovic, and the whole like gimmick of the show is that it's supposed to premiere in 2015. That was like it was made in 20 2015, and it's like a hundred years is when it will be released, like a century from when it was made, and it's literally locked in a safe. Um, and the promo or like the little subtitle is the movie you'll never see.
WilsonI feel like I heard about this recently and I was like, okay. I don't really want to know then.
CaptainThey don't have any again, the Wikipedia doesn't have like a plot really. Like, I I don't know who knows what the movie's about, but um I just think I don't know. Something about that was just was like I have to talk to Wilson about this.
WilsonIt's a it's a cool concept, but it's like unless they made a movie a hundred years ago and put it in a vault and I can see it now or like in a couple years, I don't want to know about it.
CaptainOr like Oh, I guess. I mean I mean, we're not gonna see it. They are correct.
WilsonI mean Yeah, like yeah, please keep advertising this movie that I'm never gonna see.
CaptainYeah, I mean, I'm trying to think if someone was born right now there's some a mild possibility.
WilsonYeah, I mean, they could live to 90.
CaptainYeah.
WilsonYeah. So like somebody alive now will see this.
CaptainUh could see this.
WilsonCould yeah, I guess could. It's I think it's it was a good possibility somebody alive now could see it.
CaptainYeah, but I I yeah, I don't know. Why even like sometimes artsy people are like too artsy? I'm like, let's let's let's take a beat, you know?
WilsonYeah. Wait, so they filmed it ten years ago.
CaptainYeah.
WilsonBut we're hearing about it now.
CaptainWell, I mean, I just I saw something about it. Um but yeah, I don't know. It it I'm confused because it says like it could take it says it takes a hundred years to create and locked in the safe, but I think it's already locked in the safe. I'm not really sure I mean that's the Wikipedia.
WilsonSo Do they think it's gonna age like like fine wine? Like let's just it needs to age in the safe. I mean, I'm all for keeping it in there for a hundred years, but like what? It's not gonna take a hundred years to finish.
CaptainYeah, I don't know. And it's also like film's probably gonna look so different in a hundred years. Like it's just gonna be like lasered into our eyeballs, like it's not gonna be something that you'd like to do.
WilsonI have to watch this analog.
CaptainYeah, exactly. It's gonna be like faxing something, basically. Um but anyway, I just thought that
Halloween Costumes And Plans
Captainwas fun. Okay, Halloween discussion.
WilsonHalloween.
CaptainOh, I did have one other thing, but you can you do use- Yeah, no, go for it. Well, do you have a Halloween costume picked out?
WilsonUm, I think I'm gonna reuse my one from last year because it's like Yeah, I don't What was the one last year again? Um I dressed up as um uh sorry, Alec Baldwin's character in Beetlejuice.
CaptainOh, okay, okay.
WilsonAnd then I had like um a sling bag, but the bag was the book of the dead or whatever they called that book.
CaptainYeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about. I was thinking about getting Beetlejuice snails because I've seen that advertised to me a bunch. Oh, that'd be cool. I know. I'm kind of like, I want to get it. And they like I'm hoping the shop that I go to has it, but like sometimes it's glow in the dark green. Um, but yeah, I haven't like finalized the idea in my head. Um but okay, I came up with this yesterday. So stupid. Um, but it's cute. Okay, but I as a as a family unit, we're gonna be a campfire because our dog is so log-shaped. Like we call her, we call her a log all the time, and she's the perfect color of like a wooden log for the campfire. And then I bought like this Heridius, uh Heridius, horrendous um, Guy Fieri like fire shirt.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainAnd then I've I bought this like gray twirly dress that I was gonna be like the smoke or something.
WilsonOoh, okay. So that'll be cool.
CaptainYeah, as a unit, we're gonna be like a campfire.
WilsonThat'll be really cool. I'm gonna see a picture whenever it's like. I'm excited.
CaptainYeah, and I Are you wearing it to like a party or yeah, well, some friends wanted to like go out, so we might just like bar hop in the in the tang, as you know.
WilsonNice, okay.
CaptainUm but yeah, I don't know. I mean, I will see if someone's doing something more than that. But um, yeah, that's I'm like kind of proud of my idea. Okay. In my head, it's like perfect picks. Yeah. Um, but we'll see.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainBut yeah. I do have a work Halloween party to go to, but it's not like you know, significant others are invited. It's just like some small thing in the break area.
WilsonYeah. But so I guess if you went by yourself and you're part of the costume, you'd just be like, I'm a cloud of smoke.
CaptainI don't think that would I don't think you'd be able to get that from me by myself. I did buy some props that I hope will work. You'll see it. But I'm excited.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainYou haven't done like a couples you've done a couple couples costume, right?
WilsonUm, well, I guess last okay, so we had two costumes last year. Um we did I think it's the only time we did like a joint costume. So I was SpongeBob from the Bubble Bowl, and uh uh Finn was um I guess sexy Patrick, like the one the Spongebob movie where he has the fishnets. I think yeah.
CaptainI I know exactly what you're talking about, yeah. That's fun.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainWas he actually in like stiletto like boots?
WilsonNo, no. He has had uh sneakers and then like um pink tights and then fishnets on top of it. Oh, okay.
CaptainYeah, okay, because I was about to say that's a work.
WilsonThat's commitment.
CaptainYeah, that is a work. I mean, I've seen some people in drag do it, but oh, that would be fun. Um anyway, okay. Hit me with your last little spooky Oh yeah, yeah.
WilsonSo um, you know, for spooky season,
Spooky Rewatches: Flanagan’s Universe
WilsonI like to each year there's like a couple shows or movies. It's like I want to make sure I'm doing spooky things to honor the season. So this year I made like a list of movies that I needed to like rewatch or like TV shows that I needed to rewatch, and the first one was Midnight Mass, so Mike Flanagan's one of his you know limited series. Um this is the first time I watched it since it came out. It is so good.
CaptainI'm I know it is. I have to give it a rewatch too.
WilsonIt's like Yeah, it's it's fantastic. I the only thing, and I don't really hold it against it, but some of the monologues, which I know Mike Flanton again is famous for in his TV shows, they just they go on and on. Really?
CaptainAnd on to the point where you're like, get it over with.
WilsonWell, yeah, there's the very last episode, the very last scene, there is a the second long monologue of this that season. And that one I'm just like, this feels a little self-indulgent, but um Yeah, I won't hold it against the show.
CaptainAnd I I basically love anything Mike Flanagan touches, so yeah, I'm looking, and actually the haunting one has 1% higher than Midnight Mass, which I feel like is shocking.
WilsonYeah, I guess it's I don't know. I I do love the haunting of Hill House, and it's I guess it's technically my favorite, but I kind of think Midnight Mass is done better. I don't know.
CaptainI didn't know that's what Mike Flanagan looked like. He was like, who is this random dude? Okay. Midnight Mass. You know, I really liked um House of Usher. That one's a little too I mean that is really into like um some body goop.
WilsonGoopy, like, yeah.
CaptainSee, that has even higher. That has a 91 on Rotten Tomatoes.
WilsonI'm kind of surprised, but I mean I'm really excited to I just started re-watching it yesterday, so I'm only one episode in. That's so fun.
CaptainBut you didn't do all of them, right? You didn't do Haunting of Hill House or Bly Manor.
WilsonNo, if I have time, I think I'll do Bly Manor because I watched Hill House last year, I think. Oh my gosh.
CaptainSorry, Hill House is even higher. But that was the first one.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainLike that one.
WilsonI mean, it's so good.
CaptainI think Bly Manor's the worst.
WilsonI think I well, Bly Manor, in my opinion, is not scary at all. It's just a sad love story.
CaptainYeah, same.
WilsonMidnight Club, I did not like till towards the end of the season, and then I was just mad that I didn't know it was gonna like he didn't plan it to be one season, which that was not clear from the beginning. Yeah, and all of his shows up to that point had been one season. So when there was no resolution, I was like, uh and then it got cancelled.
CaptainYeah, that actually does have the worst reviews, Midnight Club.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainYeah. I think for me, I think you're right though. Blind Manor, uh it's just yeah, I'm like, where's the scare? It's like, yeah, it's just a little too um tired concept. Sorry.
WilsonWell, so I still really like it. I just don't think it's like a spooky yeah.
CaptainIt doesn't fit the vibe. That's all. Um, okay. Well, you know, you're getting me into this like I need to watch it.
WilsonDo it.
CaptainI think I'm all caught up on everything else. I finished Wednesday. Um we watched Peacemaker. There's one episode of that we haven't seen the last one.
WilsonI haven't started that show, but that does remind me there's this other show I want to tell you about. I don't think you're gonna like it. Maybe maybe Jay would like it. Um I don't know. It's anime. I found it because I was watching a movie in theaters and it was advertising like a movie coming out.
CaptainOh.
WilsonSo I started this TV show. It's like one season. It's called Chainsaw Man. Um, it's this kid that has a pet demon dog that has a chainsaw in its face. Um, the dog gives up its life to save the guy's life.
CaptainUm I don't want to watch that.
WilsonWell, uh no, it becomes like part of him. So the guy has like a ripcord on his chest, and when he pulls it, a chainsaw rips straight out of his face and then out of his hands. Um and he defeats demons.
Anime Detour: Chainsaw Man
WilsonBut his main motivation in the show, whatever he's doing, is to ultimately touch boobs.
CaptainThat is so random. I mean, on on track for anime though, but um watch me mention this to him and he's like, Oh yeah, I've seen it.
WilsonI thought about texting him and asking if he had seen it.
CaptainHe might have. I don't know. It has good reviews.
WilsonYeah, it's pretty entertaining so far.
CaptainSo random.
WilsonI just figured you'd think it's like completely ridiculous.
CaptainIt it is. I I don't uh so like I do like horror animes, but sometimes they get real weird where I'm like, I I don't even know what story I'm watching anymore. So yeah. But yeah. Okay. Well let me know. I guess I'll let you know.
WilsonIt's on Hulu, so okay. It's one season, it's not that long.
CaptainOkay. I gotta figure out I I gotta like figure out I mean I have to like host a movie next week. I gotta like figure that out before I do anything.
WilsonThat's that's true.
CaptainUm, okay.
Show Intro And Drinks Of The Week
CaptainUm, you ready to jump in here? Oh my gosh. Yeah, let's pop in. Yeah, we gotta get in here.
WilsonOh, to our Halloween episode. Halloween.
CaptainOkay. Um, welcome to the 179th episode of the Red Room Podcast, where we review horror movies while enjoying adult beverage or two. And I'm Captain.
WilsonAnd I'm Wilson.
CaptainAnd this week we're reviewing the 2015 American Supernatural Horror film Pay the Ghost. Oh my god. Oh my god. Um oh, and I'm I am drinking my last savored Nantucket blueberry drink.
WilsonOoh. I'm so sorry.
CaptainBut in December, when I come there, I'm getting I'm stacking up on blueberry boyfriends. Because I haven't seen those anywhere else. So man, okay. We need to make sure to get where I got those.
WilsonUm I think so. Okay. I think there was only one place that we went for drinks. And I went there today to stock up on Kona, which is what I'm drinking.
CaptainOh. Okay, well, let me know if you see blueberry boyfriends. Not that you have to buy any, but just keep it keep an eye on them. That they're wrong.
WilsonWho makes it again?
CaptainOh, sir. I don't know. But I'm sure I could find I'm sure I could do a quick goog.
WilsonGoogs.
CaptainUm, it says I love the art. Prairie artisan ales. Like prairie dog.
WilsonI'll probably forget, but I will try to record.
CaptainWell, it's recorded forever. Oh, you mean just when you're there? I thought you meant the name of the Oh yeah, just yeah. Okay.
WilsonYep, yep.
CaptainI don't know where Prairie, like I was trying to figure out where that is, though. Like, is that in your area? I don't know.
WilsonWait, was it Prairie Who?
CaptainPrairie Artisan Ales. I love their website. When you click on it, it says are you at least 21 years old? And it's either not yet or hell yeah, brother.
WilsonUh it looks like it might be oh, they're Oklahoma.
CaptainOh, Oklahoma, yeah. Well, I'm never going to Oklahoma. The fuck?
WilsonNo, no.
CaptainWell, it's really good. So anyway, um, okay, let's see what we got here.
Pay The Ghost: Director And Writer Background
CaptainUm, okay, so Pay the Ghost, directed by Yuli Edel, um, who's German. And he's best known for his works on films such as Oh My Gosh. Oh no, that's wrong. I thought it was Christy in the car.
WilsonOh.
CaptainIt's Christian F. I don't know what that is. Last Exit to Brooklyn. Don't know what that is. These are things he's known for, but I don't know any of them. They might be a good one.
WilsonI wonder if they were like yeah, I was just about to say that. Yeah.
CaptainUm his Rasputin won a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries. Alan Rickman in the title role won an Emmy and Golden Globe for that movie that he did. Rasputin. That was a real person, right? Like in history.
WilsonYes.
CaptainPretty sure. I know. Education has, I mean, that's just out my fucking out the out the brain. Like, I don't keep any of that in there. Um, and then Ian McKellen won or playing Tsar Nicholas II also won a Golden Globe for that movie. So I guess that was his biggest um uh title. I'm like uh Ras Buten. That was a person that was bad. Right? Good.
WilsonUm I don't know.
CaptainOh, it says he was a faith healer. And he was like famous in the Russian Empire. Maybe we have to watch this Rasputin movie. Um, okay. Um Pay the Ghost is based on a book by Tim Liebun. His novelization of the film Thirty Days of Night became a New York Times bestseller. Yes. And he won a Scribe Award in 2018 in 2008. So I I looked up his stuff and he turns a lot of movies into books. Like that's what he mostly does. So he's done Hellboy and he did like Alien Predator, um, and and obviously Thirty Days of Night.
WilsonWell, shoot, I'm gonna add that to my Goodreads because I like I liked Thirty Days of Night.
CaptainDo you like Buck with Thirty Days of Night?
WilsonI mean, I don't think I've watched it since we did it on the podcast, but I do really like it.
CaptainIt's not as much as your Link V for Vandetta obsession.
WilsonYeah, I think I've grown out of that, but I do really like that movie. Okay. You said that it's Steve Niles, is that right?
CaptainWhat? Tim T-Bone? Tim Libone?
WilsonOh sorry. There's um I guess they also made a comic book series.
CaptainOh yeah.
WilsonThat's what I I looked at the wrong thing.
CaptainI mean, this is like from his website. I don't know.
WilsonThis uh this has some pretty good the book has like good ratings. Oh it's a 4.12 on Goodreads.
CaptainTimmy.
WilsonTimmy.
CaptainUm I I I yeah. I mean, I guess good for him that he found like a niche that works, but I I don't I I feel weird about turning movies into books. I feel like it makes more sense to turn a book into a movie, but I guess whatever works. Um anyway, um, okay, yes, and he did a bunch of those. Um so for the cast of this movie, um, obviously we have our main dude, Nicolas
Cast Notes: Nicolas Cage And Co.
CaptainCage, who plays um a guy named Mike. Um we love Nicolas Cage's frantic energy that he always brings. Um obviously he did National Treasure, he did the Wicker Man, Ghost Rider. Um he was Noir Spider-Man in the Spider-Verse movie. Um Renfield, which I loved, Long Legs, which was really good. Um I never watched that pig movie, but I know that that was also like somewhat pig, where he's like he has a I think he's saving his pig that got stolen, or he's that kind of sounds like um John Wick, but uh it's something about a pig, like a like a truffle pig that's like really um truffle pig. Yeah, like you know how they use pigs to smell out truffles that are like worth like a lot of money? You don't know what I'm talking about at all.
WilsonDo I not understand what truffles are outside of like You know what I mean?
CaptainLike they use like pigs, like truffle pigs.
WilsonI didn't know they did that.
CaptainOh. Yeah, that someone abducts his precious pig and he has to fight them. But I think it's a truffle pig that's like worth a lot of money because it finds truffles that are worth a lot of money.
WilsonOkay. I had no idea. I feel like this movie must have been in that time frame where supposedly Nick Nicholas Cage had a lot of um uh financial woes. He did a lot of really good movies, a lot of terrible ones for a long time, and now he's back in like the good movies. So like I don't know.
CaptainYeah, Renfield and Long Legs, which for me are the most recent ones I know him from, and I liked his role in both of those.
WilsonOh yeah.
CaptainHe plays like kind of a weird, like creepy, slash not fully human, but yeah.
WilsonOh, he did that very well.
CaptainYeah, he does he does it great. So you can't blame him. Um yes, okay. So we got Nick Cage, and then his wife in this movie um is played by Sarah Wayne Cass. Callie? Yeah, Calys. Um, who um is I've mostly known for um playing starring in Prison Break, but I know her as Lori Grimes in The Walking Dead. Um and more recently, she's known as some character in the ABC show The Company That You Keep. Um, but I couldn't tell you what that is, but No. She definitely um I don't know. In my head, she'll always be at Lori Grimes. Um and it's so funny because in the Walking Dead she has a son named Carl that she's like saying his name a lot, and then in this movie she has a son named Charlie. So like I was I was like I don't know, I was hearing the parallels.
WilsonUm This would have been like kind of shortly. Like this was probably filmed kind of shortly after she left. It's gotta be dead, right?
CaptainYeah, it's it's gotta be right around that time because The Walking Dead, I think, was what, 2008? I wanna say.
WilsonI thought it came out in like 2011.
CaptainOh, okay. Maybe you're right.
WilsonI could be wrong. I could be wrong.
Captain2010, okay.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainSo yeah, and she was on.
WilsonYeah, like three, four seasons, maybe.
CaptainI want to say four. Uh yeah, I want to yeah, I want to say like three or four. Um so yeah, this would have been right after. Um, and then
Plot Setup: Disappearance On Halloween
Captainthey so the main characters are these two, and then they have a son, Charlie, who I didn't write down because I guess he's not known for anything else. Um and then I wrote down these other people, but I don't know who they are. Veronica? Who's Hannah?
WilsonShe's a German woman known for German things.
CaptainYeah. Oh, she must be the um co-worker. I'm assuming.
WilsonOh, yeah. I think she was the blonde woman with the glasses.
CaptainYeah. Um, and then the detective guy, Jordan. Um, he his name is Lyric Bent, and he's known for his role in the Saw films as Daniel Rigg. I guess.
WilsonI thought he looked kind of familiar.
CaptainWho's Daniel in the Saw films?
WilsonIs that like a It's probably just like one of the detectives in one of the movies?
CaptainNo, I think he's he was in multiple Saw films.
WilsonThat's why that's why. Yeah, he was in two, three, and four. Am I gonna have to Google it? Oh damn it.
CaptainI know, but I don't watch the Saw movie, so I couldn't like look at it myself. Like it's not gonna mean anything to me. Um, he's SWAT officer, apparently.
WilsonYeah, it looks like he's some sort of officer. Yeah, okay, I see now.
CaptainUm, yeah, so that's basically what we got. Um anything to add?
WilsonThere's like some other characters, but I mean somebody else accidentally came up whenever I was searching for him. And I was trying to see where I recognized her from.
CaptainFrom this movie?
WilsonUm, no, sorry. This is such a small tangent, but um his character name in Saul is Daniel Rigg, and when I searched it, it came up with Diana Rigg.
CaptainAnd I'm like You know that face, okay.
WilsonI know the name, but I couldn't tell. Oh, oh. Uh she played Olena Tyrell in Game of Thrones, the um Marjorie's grandmother.
CaptainOh, that later.
WilsonTell Cersei it was me. Yeah.
CaptainYeah. Bad bitch. Okay. Bad bitch. Um, so oh, let's see here. Okay, so this movie starts out with a scene from 1679 of some lady getting like beaten up, and her kids also are like um listening to it, and then seems like they also get attacked. Um, but that's really kind of all we see.
WilsonUm did we so we actually saw her in the very beginning?
CaptainNo, we hear her yelling.
WilsonOkay, I remember that opening cut scene being confusing because it said the year. There we there were kids clearly hiding in a basement, and then like a scream and then a cut, and I was like, uh I don't know how much that added, but it doesn't really add much, but I mean it sets up for what they're going for.
CaptainUm, but yeah, you don't actually see her. So yeah, and then yeah, and then a scream, and then there was like an axe that goes through the floor, and that's all we get. Um, and then it cuts to modern day, and we have um Mike, a professor, um, is like um kind of like doesn't spend a lot of time with his family because he's trying to get tenure. Um, so he's like late to a lot of stuff. Um Halloween is approaching and he promises his son Charlie that he'll be there for that. Um, but um he's still late for that as well.
WilsonUm yeah, I don't think they ever carved that pumpkin.
CaptainNo, pumpkin rotted. Um, but yeah, he promises that he'll be there and he'll chuck retreat and he'll do all the stuff. Um, but he's late to that as well. Um, the only interactions we get with him and Charlie prior to this is that Charlie apparently is seeing some creepy figure outside his window
Evidence, Graffiti, And The Scooter Scene
Captainthat he asks his dad to like keep an eye out for. Um and he drew that creepy image in his artwork that his mom sees. Um, and he's like um seeing like birds, a lot of like vultures following him on Halloween night with his mom. Um but uh Mike takes him out late, like they were supposed to already be home, and he was like, Let me take him to the carnival, which uh Lori, or what's her name? Kristin Kristen already said uh no to.
WilsonLori.
CaptainI know I want to call her Lori. Um already said no to, but he he was like, Come on, I didn't get to spend any time with him. I'm like, that was kind of your fault. Um, but takes him to the carnival. Um, and of course it's like crowded and um I wouldn't say that Nicolas Cage was like not paying attention, like he was trying to keep his son safe. And like he lets go his hand, but it's to like grab the ice cream, so it's not that he did anything like super wrong, right?
WilsonYeah, like I mean it was clear he was holding his hand, and as far as we know, he didn't let go. The son just vanished.
CaptainYeah, just like disappeared.
WilsonI don't think Nicolas Cage's character did anything wrong, but it certainly seems like it.
CaptainYeah, I mean, my first thought was like, your wife's gonna fucking kill you because she's already said no to this. You said yes, and then you lost your son. Um, but yeah, Charlie also sees like a dark figure pointing at him um in the shadows, like prior to this, too. Um oh, and right before Charlie vanishes, he sees another bird up hovering above him and he asks his dad, can we pay the ghost? And then he vanishes, which is like kind of an eye roll that you're gonna throw the title like that blatantly in our face. Um so obviously, like freak out ensues, you know, him and his wife like report it to the police. Um, you know, they're seeing like images of Charlie like in their dreams or like, you know, on the street, whatever. Um but it cuts to a year later.
WilsonSo And they're clearly separated.
CaptainYeah, they're not doing well. That marriage fell the fuck apart, which I mean, prior to this, he like I said, he wasn't really home. Now he did say things will get better now that I have tenure because like I can do whatever and they can't fire me.
WilsonUm but yeah, but that same day he lost his kids.
CaptainSo Yeah, so not great. Um, but yes, Mike's um not doing well. Like he's still hanging out flyers every day, still like bothering the police about it, um, calling them lazy. Um and he eventually finds graffiti in this like random abandoned building um in their city that has Pay the Ghost painted in it. Um so he like follows it down into this I what is this like an underground subway system? Like that's what it looks like.
WilsonYeah, or just like where like water runoff in a city would go and just like I don't know.
CaptainI don't know, but there's like a obviously like a homeless community that lives down there. Um and he asks them about the graffiti and one man that's like blind, uh, which is like I don't know what that adds to the story, but I it's just like I don't know, he's like has a walking stick and everything, but um he kind of tells him like there's something that like there there's something that's happening with this. Um they hear like a creepy woman crying noise, um, and then he takes him to this other wall that has Paint the Ghost or Pay the Ghost, like
The Medium, The Coroner, And Creepy Signs
Captainpainted on the entire wall, top to bottom, side to side, um, from like who knows other people. Um, but he doesn't really get answers. Um and then I think he uh tells Kristen this and she's like, You're fucking crazy. Because he thinks like Charlie is reaching out to him. Um and she says you're fucking crazy, except later that night um in her house, she gets like that really creepy scene of the razor scooter is scooting around downstairs by itself. Um, and it scoots like through the kitchen, and then like she comes down the steps and she's seeing this freaking this is like the middle of the night. Um, and then it like scoots around the corner, um, all the way, rolls all the way up to her, and then like stands up for a few moments and then falls to its side. Which I was like, absolutely not, absolutely not.
WilsonNow she like finally kind of she's open to listening to um uh Mike because before this she just thought he was crazy and she didn't want like he lost my son, I don't really want to talk to you. Now she's like, Okay, I'm seeing shit.
CaptainYeah, they kind of both um like believe each other. Um and then uh Mike tells her, like, okay, look at this. All these kids that disappear like throughout the year, like most of them are found, but on Halloween night, if a kid disappears, most of them aren't ever recovered. Um, so like he thinks these are all connected because like why is that one day different than the rest of the year? Um, and they tell the police this. Um, what's that guy's what's the uh Detective Jordan Reynolds this so he starts looking into it too. Um we hear a story about some guy that lost his daughter the same way that also said pay the ghost. Um and that lady um that owns the restaurant also said the same thing. Like um her daughter disappeared on Halloween, and um she recently saw like the ghost of her um that said like can you save me from the ghost or something? Um and of course when she delivers that line in the movie, the the fire in the girl behind her like goes ablaze, like erupts in the restaurant, um, which is kind of fun.
WilsonUm was this um I forget, was this before or after they get um like a psychic to come to their house?
CaptainI think the psychic psychic was um yeah, right after that. Yeah, right after that. So because Kristen was like, I something's happening in this house with the scooter. We're not doing that again. So she wants to bring a medium into the house. Um and this medium comes in, and I I've I mean, what a fucking work day. Um she goes into Charlie's room and um she basically feels something. She walks over to the window and there's this storm rolling in, and she says, Um, what does she say? It's here. She's like almost on the verge of tears. And then she opens the window. The storm, the wind of the storm is like so gusty that it rips her across the room. She slams into the back wall, then she flies to the ceiling. And then, like, clearly there's something supernatural happening because she gets like choked out, and then I think what her her eyes and her nose are bleeding, and yeah, and she like burns from the inside. Yeah, yeah.
WilsonI don't know if they find that out right there, but uh like when they do an autopsy, she's crispy.
CaptainShe's yeah, the other um I always forget the name of that person, not Mortician.
WilsonUm Coroner. Oh, okay, yeah.
CaptainYeah, oh yeah, or a pat yeah, whatever. But uh the coroner says um I mean, literally, he's like spontaneous combustion from the inside. Um, like she looks like a I mean, it's not the greatest um practical effects, but I mean, I mean, it's just like a black nothing hole of a body.
WilsonOh yeah, the um speaking of effects, the birds that remind me of turkeys in this movie, they uh they
Celtic Lore, The Crone, And Annie’s Curse
Wilsonlook pretty bad in some scenes.
CaptainYeah, the vultures are pretty bad in some scenes. That's that is true. Um yeah, I don't know. I yeah, I'm not really sure why that's the direction that they went. Well, I guess it's based on a book, so maybe that's why. Because maybe that's in the book. This is one of the books that this guy wrote that's not based on a movie. So maybe, yeah. Um but it got turned into a movie, which is fun. Um so um, yes, she yes, this um medium, like we see burns on her hands, so we know something happened. Um but again, like the cops, like Mike is so suspicious. Like, he even in the beginning of the movie, it's like he's home late, he says his phone died, so he's like not contactable, so like sus with your wife, and then like you're the last one to see your child alive, and now you have a woman that died in your house through like a way that you're explaining this to the cops sounds insane. I mean, luckily Kristen also saw it.
WilsonUm yeah, but it just looks suspicious, like the psychic dies there too. Yes, you were the last one with your kid.
CaptainYeah, and they yeah, and they they cops even tell him that, but whatever. Um, so again, like I think creepy stuff's happening. Um, Kristen gets like taken over, her body gets taken over by Charlie briefly to like ask Mike to save him. Like there's that creepy scene of her like crying at night, but she's like sleep crying. Um, and then she like sleep cuts herself um with like that creepy symbol in her arm that she cut out.
WilsonUm yeah, but it looked like she was like digging in there, like she just like jammed a stick and just like it looked like she had a dagger.
CaptainI was like, where did she get this 1800s dagger from? Like I briefly looked at the screen and I was like, what is going on? Um yeah, but it really did. It looked it looked when she was doing it, it was way deeper than what she got at the end. Um But yeah, she gets this weird symbol that looks like um like DNA. That's what I mean.
WilsonI think it's like it's like a moon, a full moon, and then two half moons facing outward.
CaptainLike a tarot card looking thing.
WilsonSure.
CaptainUm yes. So she gets that on her arm, and then I think they ask Mike's friend professor, what did I tell you her name was? Hannah. Yes. Uh sure. Um Hannah. Um sorry. I'm thinking of the Hannah that we both know in my um impersonation. Um, okay, so Hannah says um helps them discover that like this is some Celtic back history with like some Halloween ceremony that happens that's like Celtic based. Um, and that her whatever history with that, and then like they actually go to a Celtic ceremony that's happening. But through those two things they realize that like I I'm confused because that we get two stories of what's happening. One is there's this Celtic god Crone that Cronus, I don't know, a goddess Crone that um like uh needs an like she takes three kids on Halloween every Halloween. Um I don't remember why, but uh you can like burn some dolls during this Celtic holiday and offer those to her in replacement. I don't really remember what the backstory is of why she takes those kids, because then we get the other backstory of Annie Saway or whatever that does the same thing where it takes where she takes three kids.
WilsonI feel like whenever um this person witch or whatever that was burned in 1679, I feel like she like invoked that spirit with that spell she was saying, or like something like that. Or maybe she uh I I don't know. Okay. That's my guess.
CaptainSo in folklore, Crone is a real thing. It's an old woman who may be characterized by like a malicious or sinister in manner, um, and she has some type of supernatural association. Um also she's known as like a wise woman figure, it says. Um usually characteristically a hag. Um but let's see. This word was popularized. Um became especially okay, the third goddess, popularized by Robert Graves. Um yeah, so it seems like this is a real folklore thing. Um I just don't see anything that's specific about like her stealing three children. That's all.
WilsonThe crone.
CaptainThe crone.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainYeah, like there's nothing on here that's like she specifically takes kids. Um it's just that she's like supernatural.
WilsonWell, maybe uh she just like used her witchy whatever, the the 1690s. Maybe she just invoked the crone and because Oh, she like started curse. She yeah.
CaptainYeah, see they they could explain that in the movie that I would let them pass, but they don't do that.
WilsonBut they have to find a good balance of like, please do not spell this out for me, but also provide a little bit more information.
CaptainYeah, because I was like, why are you giving me two options of what this could be? Like, you should just give me the one. I would though that's like I was confused up until right now. But that makes sense if she was like invoking this goddess that could help uh avenge her forever, basically. But like you should, yeah, that should
Into The Portal: Rescue And Ghost Tornado
Captainjust be a little bit more clear. Um because like Mike and Chris, Kristen are getting this information, like I said, from his coworker friend that knows a bunch of Celtic history, and then from this like random school teacher that was helping putting on this Celtic event that I feel bad because like they were trauma dumping on her. They were like, our kid died last year. She was like, I they were like, they were like, tell us everything. She was like, I I'm just a school teacher. I well, yeah.
WilsonThey walk up, they're like, Oh, can you tell us about this event? And she answers, and they're like, Her child disappeared a year ago. And it's like, whoa.
CaptainI'm like, can you let her like this is a random Wednesday? Like, you gotta let this lady like not get involved in your shit. Um, yes. So uh they figure out that they have to go to where the weeping woman is, and like that was something that was told to them. That's where you can get your kid back. Um and you have to be you have to go through the portal between like life and death. Um the only time it's open is during Halloween and it closes at midnight.
WilsonSo Mike knows where that portal is because he's Oh, and only if the kid disappeared since last year. Oh, yeah. And they leave.
CaptainYes. Only the ones that disappeared within the yeah, that was yeah, within the last Celtic uh sounds like complete garbage, but they still got a juice of life left.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainUm yeah, so they pip on over there. Um, of course, they get unless like big car act crash because the birds are attacking, trying to stop Mike. Um, but Mike does make its way down to that like water sub I don't know, subways, underground tunnels. Um so weird, but he finds the blind guy again, pays him with his watch to show him where to go. Um and then which sounds like so fake, like whatever, but that takes him to this tunnel that's like uh it's like a walkway that like goes into like a smoky area, so like you don't see where the walkway is leading.
WilsonYeah, I think this this part reminded me a lot of Insidious of like going into this like spooky, smoky, dark realm to get your kid back. And then you had to go through a doorway that would like close at some point, probably, or whatever.
CaptainIt's been a while since I've seen Insidious. I don't did we do that for the podcast?
WilsonUh I don't know. I kind of feel like we didn't.
CaptainOkay. You know, uh the speaking of this is such a random the quick sidetrack. Um, but I was putting together our schedule for next season, and um The Grudge came up as an option, and I originally had that on the list, but um, I remember the first time I saw The Grudge, like this was back when it was like you could rent a physical D like movie copy somewhere. Um this might have been like early Netflix when they were like a disc renting.
WilsonOkay, yeah.
CaptainUm, but I remember I hated them. I was like, this movie is so boring, and I was gonna be like, I really don't want to re-watch this movie, but I'll do it for the podcast because it's like pretty famous, like people know about the grudge. Um but fun fact, it got taken off the list because I couldn't find it streamable anywhere.
WilsonOh. I know I think I've seen it. I mean, I know I saw the spoof in Scary Movie 4.
CaptainYeah. Um I remember I remember it being so boring. I was like, this isn't scary at all.
WilsonBut uh I did hear the the original Japanese version is very, very good.
CaptainYeah, I yeah, obviously I didn't watch that one.
WilsonUm but um and by the way, we did do Insidious and it was episode 25.
CaptainI would never remember. Do you still have the list up? Because we did Wickerman and that was a Nick Cage movie. So if we want to squelch it real quick, I have no idea.
WilsonWe did Wickerman?
CaptainYeah, we did. I think that was gonna be I think that's gonna be like in the 70s. I'm gonna say like 72.
WilsonDo you have I'm gonna say like 35.
CaptainReally? Okay. I know we did it. Because I remember talking about it.
WilsonIt was 36.
CaptainOh my god! Did you cheat?
WilsonI did not cheat, I swear I did.
CaptainWhoa, I was a way off. Okay. I feel like I I don't remember any movies like 30 and under except the first one. So, like, I I if I remember the movie, I always assume it's gonna be like way later.
WilsonSee, that was I used that logic because I did not remember Wickerman at all. So I was like, it has to be a really low number.
CaptainWell, whatever. Um okay, back to this movie. Oh, yeah, I should say, okay, so um we get the full backstory about this Annie girl. So Annie saw way, whatever. Um, she was a the woman in the very first scene of the movie, she I still don't know she was blamed for like the town suffering, I guess, but like I don't know Yeah, the town got a bad case, the flu.
WilsonOkay. And they blamed these Celtic peop immigrants. Yes. So they came to kill her and her three small children.
CaptainYeah, I would say they like suspected that she was a witch. Now, to be fair to them, seems like she was a witch. Cause she was not really burning at the stake.
WilsonYeah, I'm not saying she deserved it, but they were right.
CaptainYeah,
Ending, Post‑Credits Stinger, And Scores
CaptainI feel like this is real bad because she's like putting a bad name out there for all the women that they did burn that weren't witches.
WilsonYeah, because she was actively chanting before she got burned.
CaptainI mean, she literally like cursed the day and that land of New York like forever, um with her witchiness because they burned her three kids in front of her. Um so like I mean, I can't blame them, but I also not great.
WilsonYeah, it's not great. And now I do wonder if they did they actually know she was a witch before then? Because before then it just sounds like xenophobia, and then it just find out that she just so happened to be a witch.
CaptainWhoever suspected her would have been like the town detective forever. Anyway, um oh yes, and then we watch Blondie, we watch Hannah get um pushed out a window by nothing, right?
WilsonBy like some Yeah, just because she was like researching and she like told Mike and uh Kristen some facts.
CaptainCan't be spreading facts out here. Um okay, so Mike goes down into this uh tunnel that you can't see the end of, seems to be out outside on the other side of a portal, and then he sees um this like random house, which he did see an image of that house earlier on his son's camcorder from that night. Like it popped onto the camcorder screen randomly. Um, so it seemed like he was in the right spot. That I mean, just a random house is is weird, and then he walks in the house and then he like figures out he's gotta like move this boulder off this door that leads to the basement. Couldn't tell you what the fuck that was. Like at a certain point, he's like wiggling around in the house trying to get to the basement, and I'm like, the fuck's going on in here? Like who t I I don't know, it just seems random, like where he was going. No?
WilsonYeah, I mean, because I don't know. It was the like only thing, it was like straight ahead when he walked out of there. It was like the only thing in the area.
CaptainYeah, it's just I don't know, you but you were like kids are in the basement, that's where they always are.
WilsonSo Well, it's like I think when we saw the earlier flashback, the kids went into the basement to hide. I mean, he wouldn't have known that, but like I didn't think about that.
CaptainOkay, okay. Anyway, yeah, he goes down there and then I shoot you not, there are like a thousand dead kids down there. Like, literally, as far as the eye could see, like, insane.
WilsonYeah, that was like more so what?
CaptainIt's been um it's been like 300 years.
WilsonIt's been like 300 and like so there'd be like nine nine hundred kids down there.
CaptainOh yeah.
WilsonThat looked like way more than 900 kids.
CaptainI would say it looked like a thousand a thousand kids down there.
WilsonOh okay.
CaptainI mean, that was a lot of kids.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainI I think I think it checks out loosely and it checks out enough. Because if the if you saw like like 20 kids down there, you'd be like, what the fuck? This is not it it was uh the number is good enough for me. Um fine. Um and then Nick, you know, not Nick, Mike, is um, you know, calling out for Charlie. Um and as he's like making his way through the kids, um, like he's like wisping through them, so they're like all ghosty because they all got killed or disappeared more than a year ago. But he eventually finds a hand that feels like a hand and it's Charlie. Um so he's like saving Charlie and then Charlie's like, can we bring my friends? And originally it I mean it looked like Nick, it looked like Nick was gonna say no.
WilsonHe was like totally ready to say no.
CaptainYeah, but he was like, I think he said something like, Okay, we like we have to hurry or whatever. And then so we basically see them save the two kids from the other parents that that were talked to earlier in the movie. Um so you know, they run out of there. Um a fight ensues with I guess I don't know if that was Crone or Annie, but the ghost, the phantom that was stealing them. Um Mike gets like almost choked out to death um to try to like keep the kids protected. And then Charlie calls out to all his 1,000 ghost kid friends to like help him. And I guess they like, I don't know what you call it, they like tornado around her.
WilsonYeah, I thought this part was actually pretty cool. Like they were headed back on the bridge, you know, like you said, she confronted them and the little boy yells to the kids to help, and they like yeah, they
Trivia, Numbers, And What-Ifs
Wilsonget all wispy. I thought I just thought it was cool. They're like, they're gonna actually help out. They swirled around her.
CaptainYeah, with like a yeah, like a big cloud tornado-looking thing, and that that got her moved enough away that they could escape. Um, I the ghost wispies, I don't mean that this to sound mean, but it looks it looked very like um Casper the ghost. Like the actual um effects it's themselves. Or like um a ghost and like the Ghostbusters. Like very uh I don't know, almost campy. Like, I don't know, something.
WilsonI could see that. Um, I think the reason I liked that scene so much is because it like the movie was like kind of fine, but I think it added like a little bit of an emotional bit to it of like a kid's asking the all these other kids for like help after death for them to succeed. I just thought it was like okay. You added a little a little baby emotional layer that wasn't just like parents screaming about a kid they lost. I was like, alright.
CaptainOkay, that's fine. Yeah. So they save they save Mike from dying, or that he's so he doesn't die, and then um they get out of there, right? Um we don't see the other kids getting reunited with their family, but we see Mike bring Charlie home and um him and Kristen get reunited. Now, weirdly, Charlie doesn't remember anything. Like, literally, he thinks it's Halloween night, the same night that he went missing. Like it his memory is wiped, which I feel like as an adult, like when Charlie becomes older, that would be so scary that like just a year is blipped out. Like you went from being six to seven and you have no memory of going from six to seven. Like that would be creepy. Um but yeah, he has to be a little bit more.
WilsonWell, unless he is unless he is the same age. Well because like we don't know if he aged in this like Okay, but that would fuck me up.
CaptainThat would really fuck me up.
WilsonI mean he didn't remember anything, and let's say he didn't age. It's like To him, his parents might just look a smidge older.
CaptainYeah, I guess he didn't age, because like when they're so young, I feel like you would see that. I mean, we don't see it, but I mean it's just a movie.
WilsonBut yeah, but still, yeah, I don't know.
CaptainWait, so like he would be Oh, how does 21 work? Like when he's legal enough to drink.
WilsonI mean, uh probably on like on paper he would he would have aged a year earlier, yeah.
CaptainYeah, so Well, no, if he didn't age at all, then it's I mean like it Oh yeah, yeah.
WilsonLet's say he didn't age, but like the govern the the government, the state's not gonna believe like, oh, you were in a ghost world, so we're gonna just like change your date of birth or whatever.
CaptainBut like you haven't seen that amendment, the that law. Okay, yeah, but anyway, um oh my gosh. And then so the credits are all, and I don't understand why they put added a aftercredit scene, but there's an aftercredit scene of Hannah dead on the ground outside the window. She was pushed out of, and vultures are going after her body, and then her eyes uh like shoot open. Um they're not like regular eyes, they're like what like um they're just like dark. Yeah, like covered in.
WilsonLike her irises are just like blackish.
CaptainYeah, and that's it. Which I like don't I'm like, is that are they saying that like this is now the new possessed corpse that's gonna be the like the witch all over again?
WilsonYeah, like I don't know I guess because they just
Verdict, Next Week’s Pick, And Sign-Off
Wilsonwanted to give given it's a scary movie, they wanted to end it on a like a like a ooh note, even though since the kids survived, but like I don't I don't understand the logic of I I don't know.
CaptainI I I could have lived much better without this scene at the end, honestly. Like I we did not need to have Hannah involved. Did you rate this on Letterboxd already?
WilsonI just did.
CaptainOh, you just did. Okay, so this movie has a 10% and then a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, so that's uh critics and then audience. Now, I think that's harsh. Uh it's not a good movie, but it's not like a 10%.
WilsonNo, like when we started off, I was like, okay, this is gonna be a shit movie.
CaptainAnd it takes a long time to get going.
WilsonIt wasn't, yeah, I like I probably won't watch it again, but it wasn't complete trash.
CaptainRight, right, right. Okay, I just rated it too. How do I see yours?
WilsonActually, if you like reload the page or something, it should just pop up.
CaptainI know, it should. Oh, is it this one? Oh, is it this one? Oh my god, I don't fucking know. Okay. Um anyway, um I gave it a two stars.
WilsonThat's what I gave it.
CaptainOh, okay.
WilsonI think percentage-wise, I um I I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter, but I said 21%.
CaptainReally? Two stars is like closer to 40.
WilsonUh yeah, I guess it is.
CaptainI would give this to me like a like a 37.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainYeah.
WilsonI'd probably should bump up the percentage because it doesn't really make sense, but to me, like percentages, there's like so much more wiggle room than stars. The stars mean different to me somehow. I don't know.
CaptainYeah, I I just feel like this movie had a story and it had okay enough like effects. Um I I I think they really could have hammered out the enemy more. Like that should have been like we discussed it and now it makes a lot more sense. But like that was not clear in the movie. Um and they could have just not had that after credit scene, and that would have been much better. That would have been like, oh, we have like a movie movie. Um not like I mean, not like a movie, but like we have like something that would might be more on the positive. We might be 50 plus per short. Um yeah.
WilsonUm did this get a theatrical release?
CaptainI I I think it I think it did because I have a box office number. I couldn't find the budget for this movie, but I did get a box office, it was around three million. So maybe a small theatrical release. I I don't know.
WilsonThat's uh I okay. It looks like it got a a limited theater release, but it was okay, but mostly video on demand.
CaptainOkay, yeah, because three million is like definitely a limited theater. Um yeah. Uh I did get some hot goss from for this. Now I did really have to kind of like dig because the IMBD didn't really have a lot on there. Uh but um let's see. I have when Nicolas Cage's character is hanging missing children posters, which he's doing um probably for like five minutes in this movie. You can clearly see another poster, partially hidden, that shows only the word witch. Clearly a hint to the antagonist of the movie. Did not see that.
WilsonOh, I did see that.
CaptainOh, you did? Was it to the right of the posters or to the left?
WilsonI I don't know.
CaptainI I was like looking around, but I mostly just saw the old poster of uh Charlie underneath the new ones he was posting. Um and then just um oh look, someone did the math for us. Um on IMBD of Annie kidnapped three children per year from from Halloween, which 1680, because that would have been the first year after her children were were killed, um, to 2015. This would have been 335 years. So she'd captured a hundred and one thousand and five children.
WilsonThat's a lot of New York kids.
CaptainYeah, that's a lot of um vengeance for three children. Like I get it that they're your three children, but I mean, when did the ta when did the scales balance out, you know?
WilsonYeah, I feel like she should have maybe just gone after the kids of the people who killed her.
CaptainYeah, that would make more sense.
WilsonJust stop it there.
CaptainEven if they threw that in there, like if they threw in a quick little, you know, when Hannah was doing a history lesson, like Nick Cage's character came from that family, like that would have made the movie better, like if they just like pipped that in there. Um but the scene of Annie herself is so short, the two scenes we get, the one at the very beginning and the one at the end, that like they there's not enough for us to pull from. This movie's only 90 minutes. They could have could have clicked that on there at the end, would have would've bumped it.
WilsonYou know, they could have made it like a psychological horror where he was a distant relative and you know his son goes missing, but then the twist at the end is he's actually the witch and he took the kid.
CaptainSo what?
WilsonOr like he's like turned into possessed. She likes possessed him through lineage.
CaptainThrough lineage. I don't think I don't think I would have liked it, but I mean I'm always down for a twist, you know. We always love what the twist, like, but yeah, they'd have to rule, they'd have to really crank that in for me to enjoy that. Because I don't know what I mean Mike was this prime person of interest the whole case because the police were like, what the fuck? Um okay, and then I did there was a small interview with the screenwriter for this movie um that asked that was asked some questions, and I wrote down his answer. So he was asked um within the New York Bureau, you juxtapose a dreamlight carnival um against like a sinister realm of evil. And he said originally the idea was that there was an abandoned warehouse and Nick Cage's character comes to and he goes into the back room and then he sees Pay Pay the Ghost um and all these different hand drawings scrawled on this little wall. Um oh, like as the place that I guess um Charlie would have gone abandoned, like the the place that we see him see the weeping woman, but I guess they decided that that had to be a different place than and I I'm glad they did a carnival because that's way creepier to bring a child to a carnival than I mean why would he the child even be down in this weird underground tunnel? Um and then he said, How did you do research for this story or for the antagonist Annie Sak Soquin? Um and he said, I read um Tim's story, so the book itself, and then he said he did some research into Celtic um mythology and the mythology behind Halloween, um, and that there really is a Celtic festival called the Harvest Festival that has the idea that um Celts were basically celebrating a rebirth. Um, so that's the Harvest Festival. Um, and it came at the end of every fall. Um, and they believed that as you got closer and closer to the end of the festival, the doors of the spirit world open. Um, which I feel like we hear that a lot about Halloween. Like that's that's in a lot of Halloween movies about that spirit doors open.
WilsonYes, yeah.
CaptainBut I mean if it comes from true mythology, then that makes sense.
WilsonUm Yeah, it doesn't make it any less tiresome after you see it so many times, but I mean I agree with you.
CaptainIt's a little yeah. I mean, I I want to do a Halloween movie during Halloween, so it's either gonna be this or I mean, yeah.
WilsonNo, we I mean we needed to watch a Halloween movie.
CaptainUm let's see, did you have a raise of glass for this movie?
WilsonUm It might be yours. I I was kind of thinking there was another scene, but I think definitely at least the trauma dumping on that just like unsuspecting teacher at the festival. Um I feel like there was another moment.
CaptainThere was a moment that made me laugh where the cop um basically comes at Mike after the medium died in his house, and Mike's like, You gotta look into this phantom, and he's like, the phantom that steals kids, Mike? Like, you're telling me this lady was flying around your ceiling, and I don't know what's going on, but I know a lot of bad shit happens around you, dude.
WilsonYeah, that was a good point. And that yeah, so is that your razor glass?
CaptainHonestly, I I really like that moment, but I actually wrote one earlier in the movie um where it's like a very clear reference to the shining. So, because we see Charlie riding around on his scooter when he's alive and well, um, and it's the camera's positioned on the back of the scooter like it is in the shining where the kid's on the tricycle. Um, and he's um he's rolling down the hallway the exact same way the kids rolling down the hallway in the shining, where you get the view from the bike itself. Um and it's a very short moment, but I mean it definitely seems like a reference to the shining, which I love I love to see those. Um, so I mean it's a razor scooter, so like not the same, but but I I I it did seem like a very clear reference, which I liked. Um so I think that was my raise of glass, and I raised my glass to that.
WilsonHey, my glass is empty, so I can't okay.
CaptainWell, um yes. So long story short, um very mid, um probably wouldn't recommend.
WilsonUm, unless you're like a Nick Cage fan. I like Nick Cage movies, like no matter if they're good or bad.
CaptainYeah, this is um Nick Cage's you know regular energy, national treasure type energies in this movie.
WilsonSo Or uh if somebody's like a serial Wayne Callys super fan.
CaptainI guess. I mean, I suppose she doesn't do too much in this movie, but sure. Um but yeah, I think if you were Nick Cage fan, which actually side real quick side note, but watching this movie made me want to watch the movie where that famous meme came from.
WilsonOh, right. You put it on the list.
CaptainYeah, I don't know if it's any good, but vampire, I think it's called vampire kiss or vampire's kiss, maybe. Um, but I think Nick Cage turns into a vampire in that movie, so that's why he gets like crazy eyes.
WilsonMm-hmm. Okay.
CaptainUm yeah, I've never watched it, and I just I just know the meme, obviously. Um so anyway, yes, Vampire's Kiss, 1988. Um, anyway, um, yeah, wouldn't recommend. Um so sorry. Uh next week we're doing a movie called Below from 2002, um, which is a submarine movie. Um, and spooky stuff's happening on the sub.
WilsonWhich I wanted to talk about that one.
CaptainYeah, that that was, I think, a pick after we put the abyss on the list because I was like, oh, I like these underwater movies. I want to do more. Um, so yes. Um, oh lordy. Hmm. I know you have a question for me, and I'm thinking about how to answer it, and I'm not sure.
WilsonI'll ask it really slowly.
CaptainOh no.
WilsonUm, so Captain.
CaptainOh no, yeah.
WilsonUm I could how about this? If. Hmm.
CaptainBecause like the thing is, like, Nick Cage didn't really do anything wrong. Like, I don't think he really like let the kids we don't see him like be careless with his son. So it's like, you know what I mean?
WilsonLike you can't even say What about like uh let's say you're in a village and everyone thinks you're the cause for like them all getting COVID or something and they're coming after you. What are you gonna do? What's like how do you do you chant things? Oh do you invoke a crone?
CaptainInvoke a crone. Um see, I don't see that's a tough one because in the 1600s everything smelled bad. Like that's my first thought, and I wouldn't want to be alive when everything smelled bad. So I feel like I would just let them kill me because everything would be so smelly.
WilsonUm let's say it's current day.
CaptainLike everyone think I'm a witch.
WilsonLet's say like everyone in your office is like, you are the reason why we all have the common cold or COVID.
CaptainI think in that type of situation, I'd say get a lawyer.
WilsonIs that what is that what Sarah or Anna, whatever is Sockwin?
CaptainI keep I keep wanting to say Pacquin.
WilsonI know. Um she should have been up there like I want a lawyer.
CaptainI want a lawyer. I want the town lawyer. Um no, I feel like she, I feel like I kind of agree with her that like she was gonna get burned at a stake. You might as well go out, like blaze and voke the crone. Yeah, invoke it. You know, serve it, give it, venge it, vote it mama work. Exactly, exactly work.