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
After.Life
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It's been 10 YEARS! Join Captain and Wilson on the anniversary of their first episode a decade ago as they break down the 2009 psychological thriller, "After.Life"! Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, it stars Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, and Justin Long.
The film discussion begins around 18:48.
Standout Episodes And Ten Years
CaptainHey. You know, this does always I feel like I I bring this up every season, so it's like not really that interesting to bring up, but um I do like to always say like every season, I'm like, what's your like standout or something like an episode you really loved or whatever.
WilsonBut like, is there an episode that you think about a lot that like of all the 200 that like doesn't necessarily have to be your favorite, but something that you know, I don't know, that you I well uh I feel like it's probably an episode where we're actually recording together, and I think I don't know what episode it was, or it was probably multiple episodes, but it was in that like all the way upstairs room at your one house in Baltimore. Really? And we had I think that's where we maybe had the pennies drink for the first time.
CaptainI think that's where pennies started, yes.
WilsonOkay, yeah.
CaptainSo like I don't Okay, but you're so you're reaching like way back, like Yeah.
WilsonWell, it's like any episode in the last season, I'm like, ah somehow I just I don't Out Out the windows. I just don't remember.
CaptainEpisodes that stick out to me are very interesting movies. So like um something that I think about a lot is Christine. Because like I'd never seen that movie, and something about it, like I don't hate it, um, and I don't I don't know. I I kind of like it, but it's like weird, and it's like I don't know, a killer car.
WilsonUm and then oh, I don't know.
CaptainAnd then another episode that or another movie that I think about that was more recent was um the the one where they're like um the guy is like creating a comic, or he like is reading a comic book, and the things that are happening in the comic book are like from his brain and they're in the plane and the plane remember the the plane Oh oh I did not like that movie. Um It was so different and interesting.
WilsonWell, it was different, yeah. Um it was something simple, like like atmosphere or something. Something like that. Yeah.
CaptainYeah. Or they get like lost in the fog in the clouds.
WilsonYes.
CaptainDo you have you have a list of the ratings? What episode did we rate the movie the highest out of all two Honda?
WilsonSo I never got through doing all of them. I'm missing like a chunk in the middle. So I have I have it you know, I had to go into every episode and be like dig through. But um, so I have like the first third and the last third.
unknownOkay.
WilsonEven though I guess I haven't been recording it since there's something in the barn.
CaptainUm there's something in the barn.
WilsonShouldn't know William Shatner was joining us this evening.
CaptainI'm like the worst impressionist in the world, so that was close enough. That was the best I could do.
WilsonUm, ones that jump out that we both really liked. Um the The Village.
CaptainUm The early ones, like I feel like Baba Duke and It Follows.
WilsonWe got Yeah, that's another one. The Conjuring, um, Sixth Sense.
CaptainAvi.
WilsonAnd we haven't really super agreed in a while. Oh, and our scale changed halfway through, so this like chart I'm looking at is all cheesed up.
CaptainThat's fine. Um, well, I don't know. Those are like episodes that stick out to me. And then sometimes I'll watch a movie and I'm like, have I seen this? And then I'm like, no, I've just seen a very similar scene in another movie that's like no one's ever heard of because we watch all these like E-list movies. Um well, congrats.
WilsonWell who we did it. Uh I don't think it was ever the necessarily the goal.
CaptainBut that's the goal now.
WilsonI don't know. Yeah. Still exciting. Ten years later.
CaptainIt's still exciting. We're still doing it. Yeah.
WilsonI think if you would have asked me ten years ago if we'd still be doing this in ten years, I'd be like, uh no. I'd be like, maybe we'll get to five.
CaptainIt was very um yeah, very cash in the beginning. I am excited that we'll redo episode one. Like with like fresh, well, I I get not fresh, but like um very um mature, like critic eyes.
WilsonYeah, and also we won't we won't drink nearly as much as we used to. So um well, I'm excited, but um I I am curious to see when that episode comes, uh like if one of us has a really strong opinion when we watch the movie again, and then if I can slide in maybe something we said that's contradictory in the first episode, just like how funny that would be to I have not listened to the episode.
CaptainI have no idea what we said, what we sound like. I I have not been bad.
WilsonBut I'll be going in with an open mind this time. Like, why does everyone love this movie?
CaptainI do weirdly remember some scenes from the movie, so like it is weird because that was ten years ago. But I mean, vague, like very vague. But yeah. Anyway, well, sorry, congrats on ten years, not too hard.
WilsonBut we're close.
CaptainYeah, we're just like we can't wait. We're so excited. Um okay, alright. Um, oh, yes. For horror
Horror Month Theater Picks Ranked
Captainmovies, it's been a big horror movie month.
WilsonIt has.
CaptainLots of them. Backrooms, hoke um, obsession.
WilsonDid you so you saw all those?
CaptainI did. I saw Obsession and Backrooms in theater. Um Obsession, I really liked that one. Um, Backrooms made me feel icky after, so like and then I feel like Hokum. Uh maybe I so I talked to somebody that like really thought the movie was super scary, but they also don't watch a lot of horror movies. And then I was like a little let down because I was like, I don't like this as much as I was it was like raved to me.
WilsonOh yeah.
CaptainI mean the movie was fine. I just I for me I feel like there wasn't a lot of there's a lot of unanswered questions with Hokum. But I I think the whole point was just like make it creepy.
WilsonSo yeah, I guess I thought it was gonna be more complex, but it was just like it was so good, it was just more straightforward than I expected.
CaptainYeah. So But no background answers.
WilsonYes. So are you saying like if you were to rate them, it'd be like Obsession was one, backgrounds two, and Hokum three?
CaptainI think so, yeah. I did really like Obsession.
WilsonShocking. It was really good. Yes, a lot of jarring scenes.
CaptainYeah. But it was actually, yeah, like like uh you luckily had a a lot of cat warning because I did not. So that was um I was not prepared for that. But I I'm assuming your yours went a little bit better with like I tried to give you a lot of cat warning.
WilsonDid I yeah, you did tell me something about cats. I just like I wasn't expecting like how much cat.
CaptainI tried to tell you it's like a lot of cat.
WilsonGratuitous?
CaptainYes, but I didn't want to like give anything away.
WilsonSo No, I I yeah, I mean I don't think you did anything wrong without like spoiling anything. I just like how do you prepare for that?
CaptainYeah. But the rest of the movie was very good. Like very i uh un Yeah, a fresh idea. Like I haven't seen that specific type of movie done. Um I mean backrooms are super weird too, and like I haven't seen that before, but it just makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like I'm just so the this this I have a rag actually for backrooms specifically. So I don't know this shouldn't be a spoiler by the time this comes out, but um the scene where the therapist is in the backrooms and she's is like trying to find um what's his name? Michael or something? What's her call? I don't remember his name. Um and she's like looking at like some painting on the wall and she turns around and like there's this like sliver of arm that you see like slide back behind the wall, like hiding from her when she turns around. Terrifying. Like terrifying. Um and then obviously like the monster reveal at the end was also like pretty yeah.
WilsonUm did you um so I didn't know it was based on a youth series?
CaptainI knew it was based on that because I heard so many people talking about it, but I I never watched a series.
WilsonOh. I watched a couple episodes, but I'm not that that far in. They're pretty short though.
CaptainHow how much how much YouTube content about this is there?
WilsonThere's like 22 episodes or something like that, but like so several of them are like two minutes long, you know, like a couple or nine minutes.
CaptainSo is there a monster in there or is it just like creepy stuff in creepy rooms?
WilsonUm if there is a monster, I don't think I've seen an episode with it yet. It's more so like so far how they um how the backrooms came to be or how they first opened a door.
CaptainOh.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainUm is it like the movie?
WilsonUh it's like found f well No, I mean the door opening.
CaptainIs that like the way they do it in the movie?
WilsonOh, well, no, it's like even before that, because like in the movie they stumble upon the door. Oh, this is before that. In this thing, it's like how they created the door.
CaptainOkay, gotcha. Yeah. And then Holcomb was just like a sad writer that I guess killed his mom as a kid accidentally, and then like it basically ends up in a the a hotel that has like a witch that lives in the basement, right?
WilsonI mean, yeah. You know, Adam Scott's so good at playing a dick.
CaptainOh my god, I know. I'm like, he plays I feel like I've seen him play a dick more than not, but his role in Parks and Rec, he is so sweet and like kind.
WilsonSo yeah, like he can play a really nice guy really well, but he can also be a dick so easily.
CaptainYeah. Yeah. Yeah, it makes you really not like him. I I was how come not only is there like not a lot of explanation as to like why and like for what, but um I was also confused by Adam Scott's character's reaction to like um creepy supernatural stuff. Like even at the beginning when he's writing in the dark in a I think his house, he sees like the shadow of a human standing on his stairs, and instead of being like scared or like shocked or he just kind of like stares at it and then just casually turns light on and it's not there, and he has like no further reaction. And I was like, what is that? And then like another scene happens where again he doesn't seem like that scared or surprised by something creepy, and I was like, okay, but like what I would be my heart would be racing, and be like, I'm like Yeah, I'm like, what is the point of this character not reacting? Like, don't you want him to react so that the audience can get that emotion? I I I don't know.
unknownNo.
CaptainIt's fine. I don't understand the guy with the eyes and the bunny ears. Either.
WilsonThe guy with the eyes and the bunny. I'm forgetting. It's been a we saw in theaters and I don't what is the guy with the I don't know.
CaptainThere's like a guy that is like um seems to be like from a childhood TV show, but he's got like these bold shot eyes, and then he has like these weird they look like rabbit ears. It's like one of the stills from the movie is that that guy's face.
WilsonOh, actually that doesn't sound familiar. Um I have no idea. Oh, yes. Okay, I just go. Oh, you're looking, yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't know what that was about.
CaptainRight. Like that's what I'm confused. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that this yeah.
WilsonYeah, no thank you.
CaptainAnd I'm just like, yeah, it's creepy, but like for what what is it? Like, I understand there's a witch behind it all, but like what is and like why Adam Scott and like I I I I I don't know. They're plot holes.
WilsonBut overall I liked it.
CaptainUh between Backroom and Obsession, which one I know they both have been like blowing the box office out. Do you know which one's like made more?
WilsonUm, that's a good question. I know obsession seems like it's more profitable in a way, because it like the budget was so small and it's made so much money.
CaptainOkay. Yeah, backrooms I feel like you logistically would have to be more money because like they've made they built all those rooms.
WilsonYeah. I mean, I think it's still doing really well, but um let me see if there's any information about that out yet.
CaptainIt says obsession has collected Jesus! Is that for real? 240 million dollars?
WilsonWow. Yeah, that well, if Wikipedia is correct, that's more than backrooms, because they're 221 million.
CaptainThat's crazy that they both have made so much. That's insane.
WilsonYeah, and they're both young directors. Like the backrooms director is 20.
CaptainYeah. I saw uh Marc DuPlas, you know how he was in the in the end of that movie, and he was like standing up for that guy because a lot of people were like, there's no way this 20-year-old directed this, writ wrote this and stuff, and Marc DuPlas was like coming online defending him, being like, Oh yeah. They had like he was like, they brought me on thinking that I could like help guide him, and he was like, that man did not need any help. Like so. I saw the guy that wrote obsession um is are you there? Oh sorry, you looked like you were paused. Um you just didn't move. Um I saw the guy that wrote Obsession has another movie idea that he's already working on trying to see uh apparently Aaron Paul's gonna star in it.
WilsonOkay. I'd see Aaron Paul again.
CaptainI know, right? Um so that'll be fun. Um and then I want I haven't seen it yet, but I want to see Disclosure Day.
WilsonYeah, I I really thought that was just gonna be an average like mass market, like um, I don't know, just like silly action alien movie, but apparently it's like it's getting really good reviews.
CaptainI know, I know. So I'm like, I'm like, I'll see it.
Fire Alarms And Finals Flashbacks
WilsonWe tried to see um uh I Love Boosters, and some fucking kid pulled a fire alarm, I guess, after you did say that. Oh, yeah, yeah.
CaptainYeah, I I um I really do want to see that movie, but yeah, you have terrible luck when it comes to movie theater situations.
WilsonThat's like the fourth time I've for some reason had to leave a theater, and it's just so annoying when that happens because it's like I don't want to go and watch the movie the first half again. So we might we might go next week, but I don't know.
CaptainYeah you gotta like bring bring noise cancelling headphones in a book for like the first 40 minutes. Um I'm so sorry. Between that and weren't you in the group of kids that kept getting the fire alarm pulled for for bio final finals? Weren't you in that case?
WilsonYes, yeah, that was it happened once. Yeah, for me.
CaptainSome people it happened like four, three or four times. It was like somebody in their class was the one doing it.
WilsonI think it only happened once, but who knows? Maybe I just lumped them all together.
CaptainI swear it happened for you guys like multiple times. And I was not in that class, and I remember hearing about it and being like, that fucking sucks because it's during finals.
WilsonYeah, and then you like you go home for break and you're like, Well, I'm gonna have this final looming over my head.
CaptainYes, I think so I think at one point you guys said that like uh maybe it maybe it wasn't your group, but somebody it was probably the other I don't know, you don't have to think of, but um, but I remember her saying that I think it happened at least twice, maybe three times, but at one point the professor, like I guess the senior professor, whatever, like knew that that was an issue and was like if anyone wants to just like give the final and I'll grade it how it is, you can do that. And I I think she was like basically going to make it so like 100 was like what however many questions you got through, and she would grade so like if you only got through like 60 questions, it was like what your score is between like the number that you answered that and 60 or something, like okay. Because like I think what do you do?
WilsonLike I think they or at least for mine, I think they gave us an option. They're like, we can grade it how far you've gotten, or after break, you can come and take it again. And I think at that point I was like, I'm not gonna worry about this all for break.
CaptainLike, who wants to do that? Yeah, like who wants to do that? Nobody wants to do that, so I'll have a snack.
WilsonGarbage. Oh, QSI.
CaptainIt was delivered to me.
WilsonOh.
CaptainUm, okay. That's what I have to say about the movies. I don't know if you have any other thoughts.
WilsonNope.
CaptainAlright.
WilsonWe can pop in. Do you want to bring us in?
After.Life Setup And Title Gripes
Captain10 years in. Okay, yes. Welcome. Welcome to the 1984th episode of the Red Run Podcast, where we view horror movies while enjoying an adult bridge or two. And I'm Captain.
WilsonAnd I'm Wilson.
CaptainAnd this week we're reviewing the 2009 American psychological horror thriller film Afterlife. I think there's a period between the two words. I'm not 100% positive, to be honest.
WilsonYou think there's what?
CaptainLike a period between after life.
WilsonYeah, I don't like it. It's annoying.
CaptainWhen I googled it, it didn't seem like that was in the movie title, so then I was like confused. Or like when I was like searching to watch it.
WilsonThere's like 30 movies called Afterlife.
CaptainSorry. Sorry. Um, okay, the director is from I can't remember, like Sweden or something. Um, but her n I did find out her pronunciation of her name.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainSo it's directed by Agnishka Vu Tuj Vuslu.
WilsonOkay.
CaptainUm that was from her own mouth. She did an interview about this movie.
WilsonUm that middle word
Director Backstory And Cast Notes
Wilsonis pronounced Vu Tudge.
CaptainThat's what it sounds like she said.
WilsonThat is wild.
CaptainThat's what it sounded like she said. I I kind of fuck with the name Agnishka. I don't know. Oh yeah. I'm like, I don't know, it's very boss. Okay. So she wrote the original screenplay. She also graduated cum lade from with a cum lade degree from Tisch School of Arts, which is a pretty famous school in New York. Um, but she's literally only done this speech or film. This is the only one.
WilsonWas this like her like senior project type thing?
CaptainLike a thesis or she has like a short film that I think was her senior project, but this is her only feature-length film that she's ever done, and then she just like fucked off. So I'm like, you graduated from Tish, like hot top of your class, one of the top people of your class, and like and then you just said, nah.
WilsonI feel like I mean, I am entirely speculating, but they're like, oh, you graduated with high honors from that school. Here is a budget, like you can do a movie. Wow. And then the movie tanked, and they're like, Wow.
CaptainWell, I didn't have your rating for the movie, but now I kind of do. Um, yes, so that's Agnishka. And then there are um famous people in this movie. Luckily, it's not too many people, but we have Christina Ritchie who plays Anna, the main character. Obviously, she's Wednesday Adams, and she was in like Casper and Yellow Jackets, and the New Wednesday movie. Or TV show, sorry, and then she was in Curse. Which we just did like ten episodes ago.
WilsonOkay, when I when I first read that, I was like. What show cursed has been on for 184 episodes?
CaptainOurs! What? Our episode. Jesus. Okay.
WilsonYeah, my bad.
CaptainUm, and then uh we have Liam Meeston who plays Elliot Deacon. He's probably most known for Schindler's List, which was in '93. He did some Star Wars episode one, Batman Begins, The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy, and then Taken, obviously, what he's probably most also known for, because I'm stupid. Um he just did the Naked Gun, which I think was 2025, right? And then he was just in the commuter, which hopefully you would understand now, Wilson, is our episode.
WilsonI do understand that now.
Captain177. Um I looked those up because I was like, I'm not squelching those. We just did them.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainOkay, and then Justin Long. Oh, I did not squelch this one. Um, Justin Long plays Paul Coleman, and he is a Scream King, supposedly. Um, known for Jupiter's creepers. What was that, like episode eight or something?
WilsonIt's a while. I don't know.
CaptainUm and he was in Dodgeball, Idiocracy, Drag Me to Hell. Oh, we did that one too, didn't we?
WilsonWe did.
CaptainI have no, I kind of want to guess. Um man, I don't know if that was in the 100s or not.
WilsonWell, make a guess and I will tell you. Okay.
CaptainShoot. Man, I usually my like cutoff is around the D Wallace episode, which is around episode 100, and I'm like, is it pre-de-Wallace or post-D Wallace? And I don't know. Dang. I'm gonna say, I don't know. I oh, this is tough.
WilsonI'll give you a point if you pick the correct before-after dwells.
CaptainIt's a real toss-up, it's a real 50-50. I'm gonna say 108 or something.
WilsonNo.
CaptainShoot! Before?
WilsonYeah.
CaptainOh, where what was it?
WilsonYou want me to tell you or you don't want to guess again?
CaptainNo, just tell me.
Wilson64.
CaptainDang! Okay. Um and the Jeepers creepers, was that like episode 10 or something?
WilsonWe we did do Jeepers Creepers.
CaptainI thought, yeah.
WilsonUm, okay. Uh you're close to 18.
CaptainOkay. Alright. Um sorry, just in long. And then he also did um, yeah, he's just not that into you, Barbarian Weapons. Um he's the voice of Alvin and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Um, and then he did um the Goosebup show recently.
WilsonOkay, and then You know, I have some things to say about him when we get another discussion, but I can save it.
CaptainHis role in this movie or him as the No, just Justin Long in general. Dang. I mean, he did get in some hot water for that thing. For like that punked scene, whatever.
WilsonYeah. Well, uh okay, I'll just say it now. I feel like he uh it's not a spoiler for the movie, but um I feel like he's like loosely avoided these like um Me Too-ish claims or adjacent claims.
CaptainMm-hmm.
WilsonAnd I just get the impression like he might actually be like a bad person. And then he always plays these like kind of ske well, I feel like often he'll somehow play a skeevy character. I'm just like, this feels a little too close to what could be the truth. I don't know. I'm just speculating. But I feel like I wouldn't be surprised if news came out eventually that like he's terrible.
CaptainI don't know. He's avoided them for so long, it's I'd be like surprised if they came out now, like hard evident proof of something. But yeah. I don't know. Um and then I don't know who the fuck that is. Josh Charles as Tom Peterson.
WilsonHe looks familiar, but I never would have known his name.
CaptainYeah, but who's Tom Peterson? Oh, is that a dead guy in the movie?
WilsonOr a cop? Or the cop? He might have been a cop.
CaptainOkay, well, I don't know. He plays somebody in The Good Wife. Um I don't know who that is. Who's Beatrice in the movie? Who the fuck are these people?
WilsonThat might be one of the dead people.
CaptainOh. She was nominated for an award in Dead Man Walking from 1995. Okay, I think Tom and Jack must be the dead body and the cop, but I don't know which is which. Those are literally like the only other humans basically.
WilsonWell, Jack's the little boy. Or Chandler Canterbury.
CaptainSorry. Can't yeah, Chandler can't canterplay. Yes, you are right. Man, I watched this like 24 hours ago. Why did I not remember that? Chandler at Canterbury plays Jack, who's a kid in this movie, and he is Benjamin Button. The youngest version of Benjamin Button.
WilsonThat tracks.
CaptainAnd then he's not acting anymore. That's all I have.
WilsonOh, you're right. He, with no explanation.
CaptainI mean, he's not dead.
WilsonI mean, you don't know that.
CaptainI mean, it does say he is probably a Wikipedia usually will say that. So. Um. Alright. So, popping in, we got Anna.
Funeral, Fight, And The Crash
CaptainShe's like depressy. She doesn't seem happy in her relationship. She's really terrible at communicating. Um, and then her uh I guess boyfriend at the time is also bad at communicating. Um, they basically like she so she says she's she's getting ready, she's like going to a funeral. She's on her way to her funeral from school because she's a school teacher, and she's like, there's like these scenes that are like um premonitions of her about to die, so she gets like this weird flashing in her face um from like a camera, but there's no camera there, and it seems like it's we see the the funeral director kind of at the same time, and he's like taking pictures of dead bodies, and it's the same flash that goes off, and then like in a separate scene, in a separate um, you know. We're like going back and forth between them, and then she also gets her hair dyed red right before the funeral. Weird. Um and like red liquid is pouring out of her hair in the sink because it's the dye washing out. So you're like getting those things. Um all before she goes to a funeral, which seems very weird to me. Um, but she's going to her middle school piano teacher's funeral, and there she like as she's attending, I don't think they really talk, but Elliot sees her, and that's the funeral director. Um, and he clearly is staring at her. Um, even when she like leaves out of the window, she he's like staring at her. Um, I think when she looks at the dead body, it like um exhales, right? Or like she imagines it exhaling or something, yeah. Um and then she goes to dinner um later that day. This is a very busy day for her. School teaching, hair dyed, funeral, and then I'm going to like a dinner with my boyfriend who's about to propose, but she doesn't know that. Um but they're terrible at communicating. Like he's like, I'm about to go move to Chicago because I got this great job opportunity. And he was about to say, and I want you to come with me, and I'm proposing, but she took that as you're about to dump me.
WilsonOh yeah, she didn't leave any room for him to say anything else. She just She's like, You're dumping me, and just like yeah.
CaptainYeah, and what uh frustrates me is I don't know why he would propose to her. They she literally says we can't go through a single dinner without arguing, or he says that, and I'm like, Why would you get married then? It's not really how it's supposed to be.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainBut this is 2009, huh? That's all you get.
WilsonThat's yeah, and I so I re I do really like Christina Ricci, but this movie did make me wonder, I was like, can she like not act that well?
CaptainShe's good in the Wednesday show, like, and Yellow Jackets.
WilsonSo I don't I think I I didn't watch Wednesday season two.
CaptainOkay, but even in season one, she was like, W I would say she's a good actor in that.
WilsonI guess I was just thinking of like we watched Cursed in this one, and maybe it's because the movies aren't that good. But yeah, I'll blame the movie and the script.
CaptainYeah. It is a little tough though, because I feel like Leah Meeson does a pretty decent job with this, and it's not a good movie.
WilsonTrue.
CaptainMaybe she just needed more experience back in the street. There we go. Um I never watched no, I think I have seen like clips of the Addams Family, like when she was a baby doing Wednesday, but I don't really I don't I wasn't really paying attention to her acting.
WilsonPeople love that movie.
CaptainYeah. Um anyway, she storms out um and she basically gets in a car accident. Um she's like driving reckless, she's like texting while she's driving. So it cuts to black technically, but the idea is here is like a car, I don't know, ran her off the road or whatever, she hits somebody. Um and she wakes up on the table, on Elliot's table, and he's like initiating preparing, prepping, prepping her. So he's like cutting her clothes off, and he um yeah. And she wakes up and she's like, What's going on? Where am I? And he goes, You're at a funeral home, you're dead. And she said, I'm not dead, and then he's like, You people, you all say the same thing. Um, and he basically says, like, you know, your funeral's in three days, um, and you know, y you have to like prepare for for death.
WilsonUm I got really tired of Liam Neeson saying that line to like the dead people in this movie. I'm like, can you you are too cynical for this job?
CaptainWait, which line that you have to report?
WilsonWell, just the like sounds like he's like surprised and so tired of people not like understanding that they're dead, and they're like, you're oh like this.
CaptainYeah. I mean, I feel like that is the same line of questioning everybody would go through that wakes up on his table, but yeah.
WilsonWell yeah, but he just sounds like so pissy about it, and I think that's what bothers me.
CaptainI mean he definitely is pissy. Um anyway, he so he basically like tells her to prepare, make the transition, and then he injects her with uh something that he says is going to relax your muscles, so rigor doesn't set in or something. Um and he you see a scene of him being weird, so like he definitely has like a drug drugs that he's injecting um that seem to be like hidden and locked in a cabinet, and then he also sees that Anna's cell phone keeps ringing, and it's Paul trying to call her, um, and he like tucks that away. Um so Paul, you there's like a scene of Paul looking for her, and then he comes to find that his Anna's mom's there, and she's she's the one that tells him that she's dead. Um, and he's does seem devastated. Um I think you get the scene of the mom visiting Anna's body, so Elliot injected her with this like drug that she won't, I don't know, be conscious. Um the mom's such a bitch. When she goes to see Anna, what she says to the body is who's going to take care of me now? Ever think about that? I'm like, lady, that's that's what you have to say.
WilsonAnd she clearly hated Elliot.
CaptainWait, Elliot or Pa?
WilsonUh sorry,
Funeral Home Captivity And Doubt
Wilsonyeah, Paul. Yeah.
CaptainYeah. Um and she doesn't she won't let Paul see him. Neither will Elliot see the body because um he's not family, even though he was like, I was about to propose, doesn't count. Um so yeah, and Paul tries to like break his way in basically, but he doesn't um he doesn't make his way in. Anna actually can hear Paul trying to break his way in. This is like after the mom left, and was like trying to scream back to him, but she like is locked in this room and she can't get out, and she also is like maybe she's a ghost, so like he wouldn't hear her anyway. Um but Elliot, you know, gets him out of there. Um and then Paul goes to the cops to see Anna's car in the Impound lot, and that thing is fucking totaled. Like, I don't know how you could survive anything with that car. You know what I mean? Like glass shattered. Um yeah, and I think Paul is still like going through these scenes with him like try almost seeing Anna's ghost, and like one of them happens in the impound lot. Um But yeah, he's just it just seems like he's grieving, so he I don't think he thinks a lot more than that. Um but also around this time is when we were seeing these scenes of Jack, and I didn't really think Jack was gonna be important, um, the boy from the school, but you're seeing him like have these scenes where he's talking to his mom and his mom's not not responding. Is his mom dead?
WilsonI mean maybe. I hadn't really thought about it.
CaptainBut overall, I've been like, I don't see a point of this character, but for a while I thought Jack was dead, but then later on in the movie where like a bunch of people come to h save him uh or protect him, I'm like, okay, well he's not dead, but then I was like, maybe it's his mom that's dead, because like no one's no one attracted to the mom. The idea here is that Elliot says that he has this ability where he can like talk to dead people while they're during the transition period, and later on you find out that Jack seems to have the same ability ability, and I was like I was like, okay, so then maybe his mom's dead because no one talks. I don't know. Because she doesn't really interact with him, I don't know.
WilsonIt's kind of and she looks kind of dead whenever like we do see her.
CaptainYeah. Um the movie's kind of like left it gives you these ambiguous like back and forth to like is she dead or is she alive and Paul's and Elliot's tricking her? Um like that's the idea here is that it kind of goes back and forth, so you don't know what the ending's gonna be. Um but anyway, you see Jack, um, he wants to this is when him and Elliot meet for the first time, and he you know wants to see Anna's body, um, but he, you know, Paul says, or Elliot says you can't, um, but he can come to the funeral. Anyway, he I think around this time um he sees Anna standing. Jack's like outside and sees Anna standing in the window of the facility. Because her she tries to get out a couple of times and Elliot keeps wrangling her in, but he's like, it doesn't seem like she's dead until he realizes that he has this ability to see dead people. Um so he tells Paul that he's seen her, and I think Paul believes him. Like Paul doesn't believe that Anna is really dead, um, and he kind of sticks to that the rest of the movie. Um while this is happening, I think Anna eventually does succumb to the idea that she's dead, like she uh accepts that and right around that time is where you really get to see the walls come down for Elliot because she exhales on a mirror and her breath creates a fog on the glass, and she doesn't see it before Elliot wipes it away. So um uh she like doesn't she she's like accepting it basically. Um, but that's the first time that Elliot cracks, and you can see that he's like a little scared in case she notices it, but she doesn't. Um so I think around that, that's like halfway through the movie, and I feel like around that point is when uh they kind of hint more towards, oh, he's just a killer that is not actually she's not actually dead. I don't know if you like that was that's where you got what you got at that point too.
WilsonUm I don't know, like so Yeah, I guess I started to think like, oh, this movie's about to be super predictable, like I know how this is going to end, but it did trick me a little bit.
CaptainBut like I feel like at that scene, like that scene I was I was shocked. That like because I feel like that's like such obvious, oh, she's alive. But is that oh you're saying that like you weren't sure because it still goes back and forth?
WilsonOr I so like for most of the movie I just saw what is like the movie, like they're purposely playing games to the viewer doing whatever they want just to like keep like keep tricking you, but I'm like I feel like I know like the twist at the end, but I don't think that really ended up being the case.
CaptainOkay. Um yeah, so yeah, that's the mirror scene. Um and then I think Paul There's a scene where Paul meets Jack where he's like collecting Anna's stuff at school or whatever, and then the boy is like, she's still alive, and tells him that um he doesn't want to listen to him, but I think Jack says something like, Oh, so I guess you don't love her anymore, which makes which makes Paul so um what's his name? Justin Long's character literally like smack the shit out of this kid.
WilsonMy job dropped when he did that. Yeah, school and he just slapped in a school hallway there are dozens of people around.
CaptainYeah. Is Jack 12? I thought he was younger, yeah.
WilsonOr younger, yeah, I don't know, but yeah, like nowadays that would put you in jail. I don't know what was.
CaptainUm yeah, and then like he immediately apologized, but it's like, you slapped a fucking kid. Um, he believes he believes Jack when when he says that Anna's still alive. Um so he goes to the police station and he's like, you have to investigate, you have to get a search warrant, you have to uh figure out like is she she's not dead, like he's keeping her there, he's drugging her or something. Um they hand him the coroners, the coroner oh my gosh, coroners? Why does that sound so weird? Coroners report. Um and then uh it says that like a doctor signed it without ever seeing the body. Whatever. Um there is one cop in the station that's like, well, he could be drugging her. There is a drug that works that way where it basically like slows your heart rate down to almost nothing, and you get really cold, so you like look like a corpse. Um but you know, no one else wants to hear that really. Um and then Anna. So I I'm I'm confused about um like so the towards the end, Anna's coming to terms with the fact that she's dying, and but she basically like Elliot makes her like reflect on her life and if she's like spent enough time like loving people or like living to her fullest potential, and he was like, What would you do if you had a second chance? And I was like, Is he playing like God or he's gonna like let her get a second chance? But then he's gonna be like, Yeah, I was confused by that.
WilsonLike, why are we like if this ends up there's no fixing, like she's she's dead, why are we having these like deep philosophical discussions making it like is it just to make it seem like, oh, audience, she could still be alive.
CaptainI think it I think it is just to like I think it is just to m go back and forth for us, because it doesn't change how he interacts really.
WilsonYeah, because like I feel like there are a couple scenes where you s it's a close-up on Liam Neeson's face, and when he like sees how much Paul loves her, you can see like it looks like he's reconsidering something. But I'm like, why? It didn't end up meaning anything.
CaptainYeah, it didn't really end up meaning anything. I I don't know if he was looking for a different answer from Anna, um, or he just understood that she was like coming to full terms and accepting her death. Um but anyway. So right before her funeral, there's another scene of Elliot, and I think he's digging her. Burial grave, and he Jack comes by and asks for help for this, like to you know they they have a conversation about how Jack can also see dead people and or talk to dead people, and Elliot's like, yeah, I have the same power. Um, and Elliot says, Um, I think Jack says something like Anna's dead, something along those lines, and she goes, He's not dead, she's not dead. Or she says, he says she has no life left in her, is what he said. She has no life left in her. And Jack says, like, why are you saying it that way? Like, what does that mean? And Elliot's like, she stopped living a long time ago. And he seems to have a lot of hatred for their people that are just like, uh living but not or or they're just alive but not living. Um he says he's he says this line a couple times in the movie where it's like you people just take up space and you you think that you're living just because you piss and shit or something. Yeah. Like he says it a couple of times. Um, but he's like, these people just take up space. Um like, sir. Um but yeah, then right before Anna's funeral, um, she
Mirror Reveal And The Stakes Shift
Captainasks to see herself one more time, and uh he holds a mirror, Elliot holds a mirror up to her face, and mirror fogs up again, and she realizes that she is alive, but it's too late. Um, and he's been injecting her with this like sleeping uh sedative, like all movie. So he just gives her another injection, and then they basically have a funeral with her, like mostly, I mean on the verge of death, like she's very deeply unconscious. Um I did skip that nasty scene of the cop trying to your eye, your eye roll. There's a scene of the cop like trying to fondle her dead body. Um, I don't know what the fuck that was.
WilsonI feel like that came out of like so left field.
CaptainYeah.
WilsonI was not expecting him to do that. It didn't lead to anything.
CaptainNope.
WilsonIt added nothing to the movie, and I'm like, what I wish it wasn't in there.
CaptainI don't know what that was. Um but yes, there's a scene of the a cop doing that. Um but anyway, so that's why that's why there's like this that other character. He he goes there to talk to his or just say goodbye to his dead brother, who's another corpse in the room with Anna, like this whole time. Um, who does seem to actually be a corpse. Um but yeah, while he's in there, he tries to touch her. I don't know, it's weird. Um anyway, Anna's funeral. Um Paul puts Anna uh his engagement on Anna's hand and like kisses her. He seems very sad about it. Um and then after the funeral, I don't know if that's called awake or just like a post-funeral celebration, but he's like heavily drinking, and Elliot is trolling the fucking shit out of Paul. Where he's like, haven't you had enough? And Paul says, I know she's still alive, and he's like, Oh, really? Well, you should go find out for yourself. Um like you don't have much time left. I'm like, troll. Biggest troll. Um, and you're kind of right, because Justin Long also punches him. Like, there's a lot of anger in this character. So it's like kind of weird. Um But he runs, Paul runs off and tries to see if she's still alive. So he like has been drinking a lot and he gets in his car, and then uh of course he has his own accent on the way to the graveyard. Um, you don't it like blacks out for a second, but it comes back to him driving again, and you see him get to Anna's grave and like hug her, but uh like time is distorted, and like spatial aspects are distorted where he's like hugging her at one point, and then one point she's like not there. Um, but they're basically you know saying, like, I you know, I love you and whatever. Um, but he's not the idea here is Paul got also went in a car, got in a car wreck. Um, and Paul wakes up on Elliot's table. Um, but there's he wakes up and he goes, Where am I? And it goes to the whole thing where I'm not dead. He's like, You dead, you're dead, and he's like, I'm not dead, and then Elliot's like, you people all say the same thing. But what's interesting about this final scene is that Paul starts, or sorry, Elliot starts to like put a tool through Paul's chest, and Paul screams, and then you see him like actually die. Like his eyes close and he like his head goes limp. So I'm pretty sure he was also really alive, and then Elliot's like clearly a serial killer.
WilsonYeah, I guess I wasn't sure how to interpret it, because I was like, I don't know, like, are a lot of these things like they're actually dead people and they're just imagining some things that are happening to them, or is it true that they are alive?
CaptainThe movie was left like very ambiguous for funsies, but I actually, like I said, Agniska did a like 10-minute YouTube video of maybe not 10 minutes, but a little shorter, but of her directing this movie and like why, and like and she is very clear that Anna's been alive that the whole movie. Like she said that. Um I think they left it like kind of ambiguous where you so she said that she wanted to make this movie because she's always been fascinated by the idea of death, and she more specifically that people everybody dies, and even if you like go to a funeral, you think about it momentarily, but otherwise most people try to ignore it forever, like for the rest of their life, where it's like, I'm never gonna be the one on the funeral in the coffin. Um, so she like wanted to make a movie where you have to really think about uh like your funeral or like what it means to die like the entire movie. Um I didn't really think about my own funeral, but that was her that was her idea here is like you really had to think about if you've you know what your death would mean and like how I don't know. Yeah. So um but she said that yes, she's alive the whole time. Um and you can know that from one, she the mirror fogging halfway through the movie. Um, and then I didn't pick up on this, but um the drug that the cop says um that works this way, um, there's even like a close-up shot for a second of Elliot pulling liquid out of that vial and it has that specific name on the vial. Um I didn't really realize that. Um but and then he makes these comments about how he hates these people that just like take up space and aren't really living. So like he he chooses basically chooses Christina Richie, Ritchie's character at her piano teacher's funeral when he sees how miserable she looks. Like while she was there at a funeral. I know, right? And he just chose her, chose her, and he has this like vendetta against people who seem to be wasting their lives. Um and when he's digging that grave and tells the boy, like I said, that she's um she's just like it's not that she's dead, but she's like not living, quote unquote. Um and then I didn't pick up on this, but Agnistia says that um is it did I put it in this paragraph or a separate paragraph? Oh, yeah, she said it too, but if you pay close attention, Christina Richie's character gets killed in a car wreck, and the car that runs her off the road is the same van that uh Liam Neeson's character has. Oh. Yeah, and I didn't pick up on that because you don't see him actually in that white van until like, you know, more than an hour later in the film. Um I don't know if I can just go through some of the other hot guys. You want some other hot guys? Sure. Um so originally Naomi Watts was envisioned to play the role, the the main female role, but um she wasn't cast due to unknown reasons.
WilsonThis would have been a really like this is a Naomi Watts role, like time period, like type of Yeah, she's been in a lot of bars, right?
CaptainYeah Okay, yeah. Um Head to Head, Naomi versus Christina. Um and then this movie did premiere at a film festival in LA. Um and then somebody acquired theatrical rights. Um the film had an R rating. I love the way this is for multiple nude scenes. Bitch is nude the whole time. Christina Ritchie is nude uh 90% of that mythy.
WilsonI yeah, that's like I if you would have like said, asked me beforehand if this movie is made by a man or a woman, I would have said a man. Because like I don't know, it's just like a lot of unlikable characters and then like the groping and then the nude the whole time.
CaptainYeah, apparently in 2022, Christina Richie did an interview where she talks about this movie, and she said that she had no problem being totally nude that whole time. She felt very comfortable, no one made her feel uncomfortable. The only people that made her feel uncomfortable is when the people that were talking to her or like responding, you know, interacting with her were uncomfortable that they were clothed and she wasn't. That was the only time that made her feel uncomfortable, and I was like, I don't know, girl, it just seems like a very cold. You're just I mean, nothing on, and then you're just on like on a metal table the whole time. It just seems very cold.
WilsonYeah, and maybe there's more context that interview and to what she said, but it almost comes off as like just because somebody else was uncomfortable, like you're blaming somebody for being uncomfortable that you're naked.
CaptainI'm like Yeah, if a man said that, I I feel like we there would be a different conversation.
WilsonYeah.
CaptainI don't know, but that's what she said. Um, I mean, typically uh in movies like this where there's a nude scene, like as soon as they y'all cut, like someone runs up with a robe to like you so you can cover yourself, but I mean uh who knows, whatever. Uh who knows how that worked. Um and then
Ending Meaning And Director Clues
Captainum this isn't that interesting. Bill Perkins. Who the fuck is Bill Perkins? Oh, the film's financier and producer appears as security guard. Oh, arresting Justin Long.
WilsonGood for Bill.
CaptainOkay, there's one other scene that um one other thing that Agniska mentioned that I wanted to talk about because I didn't pick up on this, but then the final scene where Elliot is looking at his trophies, so all those photographs that he's taken of all the dead bodies as like his serial killer trophies, like Dexter's blood slides, shout out. Um there are Agnishka says purposefully, there are uh photos of people with opened eyes and closed eyes, like multiple different photos of both of those. Um, and she said the people with open eyes were murdered by Elliot, and that includes the old piano teacher. His photo in that scene, his eyes are open. There are some people where their eyes are closed, and those are just normal corpses that his funeral home took care of. Um, but I would have literally never oh, so so she did say that these are things that you would pick up on a second watch. And um on Reddit, I saw people discussing this movie, and I I saw somebody else write, you pick up on so much more when you watch it a second time. I don't think I like this movie enough to watch it a second time.
WilsonI'm not watching it a second time.
CaptainBut but like the fact that now both a director and somebody that was just a fan on Reddit has said that. I'm like, oh, okay. Um but it's nice to know that there are more things in there that you wouldn't, you know, that I just didn't get. But but that's that was just something interesting I found on there. Um there's really not a lot of info on their budget. I do have box office was two mil. Um was Liam Neeson popular at this point in time? 2009, yeah.
unknownRight?
WilsonOh, yeah, he should have been pretty popular. But I mean, like what Batman Begins would have been out, for example, by that point, I think. I feel like that was like 2008.
CaptainThe first the first take-in was 2008, so Okay, yeah. Well, I don't know how much they paid him, but it's gotta be a chunk of that too much.
WilsonPretty sure they lost some money, yeah.
CaptainUnless this was a passion project for him, um you're so rude. Um, and then the rot the Rotten Tomatoes critic score was a 24, audience was a 33. So no one seemed to like it that much, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't hate this movie.
WilsonI I You rated it better than I did.
CaptainYou put your rating on here finally?
WilsonYeah.
CaptainLet's see. Um I never look at letterbox. What's the letterbox? Or never look at the average for the movie. What's the average for the movie?
Wilson2.7 for this.
Captain2.7. Okay, and I gave it a three.
WilsonI gave it a one.
CaptainOh one? Damn.
WilsonYeah, okay, so I think I This is my opinion, but what I think the movie's biggest problem is, and you can disagree with me, is that none of the characters are like likable or relatable, because like Justin Long's character slaps a kid, he uh drinks and drives, basically. Um, and then Anna's character, we don't know anything about her, she just like flew off the handle at dinner and then basically died. She was also texting and driving, so yeah, and then like none of the there's just like we don't get a backstory to sympathize with any of these characters, they just look like flawed, bad people, and I'm like, okay, well I don't I don't I don't care about them. And I think that's why I think that's part of the reason why the movie is like I didn't like it at all.
CaptainYeah, I agree with you that there's no likable character. Um even the little boy is like kind of creepy.
WilsonYeah, and we don't have a story about his mom. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I don't know if she was like abusive, or maybe if we did confirm she was dead and he was like suffering. Um but no, it's just like a weird kid that also was maybe murdering like little ducklings or something.
CaptainYeah, what uh there was that weird thing with the with the baby chick. I I didn't really understand what was going on there. Yeah. I just skipped over all of that because I was like, I don't know what the fuck. Um yeah. Huh. You are correct. Um, I don't know, for some reason that didn't bother me so much. I I liked I I liked that for the the reason, the cause of this was explained. Liam Neeson has a personal vendetta against people that waste space that aren't living to their fullest potential. Now you could argue, is he living to his fullest potential by doing what he's doing? I don't know. Um I mean I guess if you're a pseudo killer, it's gotta be something that you're driven to do. So I guess you're living your life, but I don't know. Um but at least that was explained, I feel like fairly thoroughly. So I don't know. I didn't mind that. Um yeah, I feel like a three stars, yeah. I'd give this like a out of a hundred, like a
Ratings, Biggest Problems, Final Advice
Captainlike a fifty-four.
WilsonThat's pretty generous. Um it's not a great movie.
CaptainIt's fine.
WilsonI'm gonna say like a 20? 20%. I don't know.
CaptainI just I guess that matches your stars. Um do you have a do you have a razor glass? Oh, sorry.
WilsonYeah, no.
CaptainUm Mine's the first mirror scene, I feel like. I mean, that's just for me, that was like I actually was like when she like breathed on the mirror, she she closes her eyes and exit and exhales like she's uh coming to terms with it, and you actually see Elliot like have a face crack when she fogs up the mirror, but he wipes away before she can see it, and I was like actually kind of like you know, it was like you know, or like like a big reveal, like uh, you know, like in child's play where it says battery's not included, or like there's a reason that always pops in my head as like the big reveal.
WilsonUm that is a good one. Um feels weird calling us a race of glass. I will say what I will remember most about this movie is just like when Justin Long slapped the kid, because I was like, oh the shock value. Yeah.
CaptainYeah. I mean, I was not expecting it.
WilsonThat's yeah.
CaptainBy this point, by this point, all these people are famous. Like, all three of these people are famous, right? Like, yeah.
WilsonChristina Richie's already famous, Liam Meeson and Justin Long, when was Well she's I feel like Christina's getting like a comeback in the last couple years, because I it seems like she just fell off the face of the earth for a while.
CaptainShe did actually, that's true. Justin Long, yeah, Jeepers Croopers was 2001 and Dodge Wall was 2004. So I feel like those were his big breaks. And yeah, those would have all been Yeah, so all three of these main characters are pretty famous. So they probably didn't make a lot of money. Nine. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I I don't like this movie enough to rewatch it. I wasn't mad about it though. I was expecting I think I was expecting a lot worse based on the 24 and the 33.
WilsonIt could have been a lot worse.
CaptainI was expecting like a lot worse, and I was like, okay. I get what we're doing. We're doing it. I I don't know. Agnishka really wanted to explore this concept.
WilsonGood for her.
CaptainGood for her. Uh okay, um, next time, do you have anything else? No. Next time on the Redom Podcast, we're doing the stuff. So it's a new tasty treat that's like fatal goop is what I have.
WilsonPerfect.
CaptainUm so one of those like um actually I don't think it's an 80s movie, but it's like one of those like very body con horror.
WilsonOh, it's 80s. 1985.
CaptainOh, really? I thought I Oh, I'm thinking of I I prepared the next episode. I was thinking of one of those. Okay. 80s goopy. An 80s goop episode.
WilsonI love a good 80s goop.
CaptainYou do fuck with an 80s goop. I have to be in the mood for it. But I I was prepared, so we're we're good. Um and then I feel like advice just to be like they literally say it in the movie, and I feel like this is good advice always, so I'm just gonna like pop it out here.
WilsonGo for it.
CaptainUm, yeah, there's a lot of reckless driving in this movie. So, like both two of the main characters died with reckless driving, so I just feel like, you know, it's a good way to just remind people um put your seatbelt on, don't drink and drive, don't text and drive. All the above, you know what I'm saying?
WilsonLove it.
CaptainOkay.