December 27, 2024 • 32 mins
What is elevated horror? And what does it have to do with the rise of horror movies tackling topics around women and #MeToo? In this classic, we unearth the drama behind the term and give some rapid fire examples.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Smitha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm welcome to stuff I Never told you production by
heart you, and today we are bringing back a classic
on elevated horror. And I have to say, since we
did this one, the conversation has continued.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Things are happening.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
People are still fighting about it, and I have seen
so many new movies I could add to this list
that I gave in this episode, so quick run down,
I would just say, blink twice the substance first, Omen, Immaculate,
Woman of the Hour, and Heretic.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And that's just a few. Like There's been a lot,
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Horror coming out and that I would think would fit
into this conversation. But it is interesting. Part of it
is because I researched this and I watch a lot
of horror. I get updates about this all of the time.
But since we also just did an episode on substance
(01:18):
or will do one, depending on when you listen to this,
I thought it was appropriate to bring it back, so
please enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
never told you a protection of iHeartRadio, and today we're
going to finally be addressing our if we kind of
hinted at it our episode on elevated.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Horror and what it has to do with women and
me Too, which we kind of did very briefly in
two Happy Hours that were just like these quick reviews
on recent horror movies. But also we have done entire
episodes on movies that would fall into this, So we've
done feminist movie Fridays on Screen five, Alien, the Witch.
(02:15):
I would say even Women in Revenge could kind of
be counted in here, some of the movies we talked
about in those episodes, because that was a two parter,
our Final Girl episode, our Scream Queen's episode, our episode
on women in Monsters, women who are monsters, and even
urban legends, women urban legend.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Monsters, all of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So this one's kind of interesting because I'm gonna I'm
going to break down what exactly is elevated horror, which
is kind of a big question and I have a
lot of thoughts about it, and then we're gonna run
through some movies that are examples of it very quickly
at the end, because otherwise this episode would be oh forever,
forever long. But yes, so Maantha has always feel free
(03:01):
to jump in at any time.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I have been watching quite a few horror movies lately,
and I have a lot more to go because we
are in October. I've got my list, but I'm also
trying to introduce some new things, try out some new things.
Brief discussions around violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, child endangerment,
child abuse, and murder in this that sounds really bad.
(03:25):
We're not going to get into indubt into any of that,
but I just wanted to put it out there because
we are talking about horror movies where that comes up
quite often. All right, So, elevated horror, what exactly is it?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That is hotly contested and very very divisive. The general
consensus seems to be that it's essentially a brand of
horror that leans more into being emotionally upsetting, as opposed
to things like gore jump scares. I might have set you,
but that doesn't mean at all that there are no
gore and jumps.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Our feminist movie for this month was it elevated horror?
Because I was upset Annie.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
It was?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
In a minute, we should break down our own definitions
of what it is. I would qualify it as elevated horror.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, well, look forward to that episode. I was upset,
she was quite upset, and it was fair. It was fair. Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So some people take issue with the quote elitism of
the term elevated horror and how it implies that horror
needed to be elevated. Basically, that the term is pretentious
and is you know, saying a fun slasher movie needs
to be elevated it's not very good, or that horror
itself it's a trashy.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Genre, so this is like good horror.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Many argue it's an unnecessary term or subgenre, that there's
still horror movies at the core, like why do we
need this term, and essentially that maybe it's a way
for people who are embarrassed or ashamed to admit they
like horror movies to say they like horror movies even
(05:08):
though elevated horror movies that they're talking about are still
horror movies, so like being like, I don't like horror,
I like elevated horror, but it's still horror essentially. Some
say it's basically just a more pretentious term for psychological horror,
art horror, or social horror. For instance, horror movies around
(05:29):
race like get Out, which was classified as Best Musical
or Comedy at the seventy fifth Golden Global Wards. To
illustrate a point that we're going to mat later, but
essentially like, Okay, I'm gonna break this down in a minute,
but it sounds like we're having a lot of discussion
around what these these movies actually are. Others argue that
while it's silly, this term is silly, it's useful for
(05:52):
uplifting a genre that for so long has been looked
down upon. All right, so this is kind of stream
of consciousness. But here is my thought about this whole thing. Okay,
all right, So I am somewhere in the middle because
I love a good bad horror movie, which I think
is a thing that exists, and I see nothing wrong
with that. Like, I don't think that's a guilty pleasure.
(06:14):
I don't think like that means it's not worthy of watching.
I think if you want a good bad horror movie,
you can find a good, good.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Bad horror movie. I like a slasher.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I think if I had to define elevated horror, which
I heard for the first time in Screen five, actually
I hadn't heard it before. Then they have a whole
discussion about it at the beginning of that movie. I
would agree that the term can sound pretty snobby. I
don't think psychological horror quite captures what I thought elevated
(06:47):
horror is. Social horror is closer, though that's still not
quite right. Horror, as I have said a million times,
reflects our societal fears, sometimes reinforce them, sometimes critiquing them,
sometimes doing all of those things. So when I think
of elevated horror, in my mind, it feels more like
an intentional critique. Because sometimes horror movies make they have
(07:14):
these messaging in them that I'm not sure they meant.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
To have, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But sometimes it's very intentional and that can work out,
and sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes it feels like
way too blunt or like in your face heavy handed.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
But so.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Going on that definition, something like the original Scream could
be in the mix, because I guess self aware is
also a term wild get thrown in there. But they
kind of knew like what these messages were and.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Were commenting on them.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
But yeah, I can see how that feels like, you know,
you're still passing judgment on other horror movies, and also
you know, interpretations and messaging often are unintentional and or
like you can't really predict always what the audience is
going to take away from something.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Intent is hard to judge sometimes, But.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You know a lot of people said, like, can we
not just say some movies are better than others, that
some movies pull it off better, but okay.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
For our purposes.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In this episode, it is a movie that is using
horror to comment pretty directly on a social issue. I
also have personally never felt elevated horror meant that other
horror movies suck or are not worthwhile. But I've also
grown up like one watching horror movies all the time.
(08:46):
I think the time I grew up, there was a
lot of good horror movies or horror movies that people
liked a lot. So I never got the impression that
a lot of people seem to get I'm gonna talk
about in a minute, that they had been judge for
like any horror movies. I never really got that. I
also grew up around a lot of sci fi movies
and fantasy movies that had similar terminology like you hear
(09:08):
you know HEADI or cerebral sci fi, high fantasy. You
can make all these same arguments we're making right now
about that. I just assumed those kinds of things meant
that you paid more attention to them, like you needed
to pay more attention to them because there was some
message going on, which, yes, isn't always good or isn't
always done well and can fail at its message. So
(09:30):
it doesn't mean it's better. I guess that's what I'm
trying to say. So this is a very complicated thing, obviously. Also,
entertainment sometimes gets a popular interpretation. Yes, that might not
have been intended. We've talked about a lot of those
movies before, and yeah, a lot of stuff I read
when I was researching this did feel like the people
who were writing it felt slighted for liking horror, and
(09:56):
this term elevated horror just annoyed them, especially people who
prefer slashers, Like they were like, are you saying slashers.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'm not good?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I prefer them, which I would say is slasher could
be an elevated horror. But you know, one of the
theories about how this term came to be is that
it was to counter an earlier rise and ultra gory
slasher slash horror movies.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So it was like a way of saying, it's not
that thing.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It's not this really gory slasher torture porn sometimes as
it's called. Another similar theory suggests that after a real
slump in the quality of horror movies in the early
two thousands, the genre needed a rebranding. So this was
their rebranding. And I get the feelings of hurt people
who've been here so long, watching horror for so long
(10:46):
and have loved this genre, and now they're hearing this
term and they are like.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What are you talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You're basically calling everything I like like a less man.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
It also dismissed the fact that whatever you call it,
elevated horror is not now A bit more on that later.
As someone who has acted in a lot of horror movies,
it was frequently pitched to me. Horror was frequently pitched
to me as a subpar genre that was easier to
get distribution for you. So I do think this has changed,
(11:22):
especially now, I feel like we're I think I said this,
We're living in a glut of horror movies, like so
many horror movies, and people are excited to see them.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But when when I was acting in them.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Everybody in almost everybody felt like I would rather be
doing any other genre. But this is the easiest genre
to get made and to get distributed. As I said,
The Witch is often credited with really launching the term
elevated horror, though movies much older than that, even more
(11:54):
recently older than that, if that makes sense, are included
in the subgenre.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It is mocked quite a bit in Screen five, which
funnily enough, I would.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Call an.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But if all this is confusing you, I think there's
a lot of it's just a lot of opinions about it.
Indie Wire has a really good thread of people debating
the term, and I really recommend it because I think
there was a lot of viewpoints that were showcased, so
it wasn't just one sided. There was a lot of
you know, it's a useful term. I don't like it.
(12:30):
Oh no, I hate it, and here's why. Or no,
I like it and here's why. So I recommend it
if you want to learn more. And yeah, horror movies
(12:52):
are popular. They are experiencing a surge of popularity right now.
They have recently swept up a bunch of awards. They
make big money movies like Paranormal Activity, started a whole franchise,
solidified a whole company and on a tiny budget, And
as we've discussed before, they've seen a steady and increasing
popularity amongst women in marginalized folks pretty much since they've
(13:16):
been around. Still, the critique that they have historically not
been respected is a fair one. To this day, I
think only six horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture,
though that does depend on what do you classify as
a horror movie. There are similar numbers around fantasy and
sci fi. People looking into the matter also argue that
(13:39):
what is successful influences what is made, meaning we are
living in a glut of horror right now because they
have been successful, so they are getting made. But on
top of that, many fine solace in horror when living
in horrific times. And in fact, I just saw an
article about this, which is probably because Google watches everything
you do, but it was like, oh, you would want
to read this article. According to the Horror Report, in
(14:03):
two thousand, around two hundred horror films were produced, but
by twenty sixteen this number had risen to more than
one thousand. They're getting more well known actors, writers, directors, etc.
COVID gave way to what some call lockdown horror. I
think the host, which I do love, as discussed in
previous episodes, during times of strife like a global pandemic,
(14:25):
more people turn to horror than might would normally.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
For the catharsis and emotional release that can offer. Popular
shows like Stranger Things have introduced people to the genre
while also playing homage to it. Here's the quote from
horror legend West Craven. Horror films don't create fear, they
release it, So I think it makes sense. Like right now,
there are so many getting made, and we're seeing a
(14:51):
wider variety of.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
What's getting made. I do think it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Sometimes I get.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
This when people say elevated horror, what they really mean
is stories we haven't seen before, and a lot of
it has to do with women in marginalized people, which
I think is pretty telling. But anyway, yes, we are
seeing a lot when it comes to elevated horror, whatever
you want to call it, of movies that grapple directly
(15:20):
with issues specific to women, something that took off kind
of after around the time of Me Too. But again,
this isn't new. This is kind of like a new
wave of something I feel like has been here forever.
But anyway, in this new wave, what we're seeing a
lot of things around in these movies and women is trauma,
(15:40):
so much trauma. We are seeing a lot of things
that you could relate to me to like sexual assault, gaslighting,
not being believed, which again is in all kinds of
horror movies, domestic violence, pregnancy and motherhood, a loss of child,
and mental health. And I would say, uh, based on
(16:03):
a lot of movies I've watched recently, some kind of
substance abuse and then also like men trying to control
women into being back in like old times.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like men trying to control women. I guess ultimately.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's just what I have seen, and it was something
that as someone who watches a lot of horror movies,
I've kind of been like, huh, A lot of these
movies are talking about this stuff right now, which I
find interesting, And we have covered it in full episodes.
We have covered, as we said, Scream five, which has
(16:44):
this whole conversation on elevated horror, and it's very clear
that the killer on the phone does.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Not like elevated horror.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
The term and or otherwise, But you can check that
out if you want to learn more.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Witch's it's a good example of this and that they
are they're talking about witches, but they're also talking about
sexuality and a young girl coming into her sexuality and
being called a witch and what that means and how
it turns you away, it turns you towards the devil
and butter or whatever it is, which I mean so
(17:25):
many witch movies are ultimately about that, about being outcast
from society and what does that make you and what
do you do when you're outcasts? And usually a lot
of sisterhood is involved.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
A lot of sisterhood and betrayal, and usually one.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Man yes uh yeah, but not you know, not always
as their sister. There wasn't in this one, that's for sure. Well,
I guess that at the end there was. There was
The Love Witch, which I really recommend, which has a
whole thing about sexuality.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's got to hold like period.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Vibe or she uses her tampons and spells and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
So I recommend that one.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We talked about fresh in the whole episode, which has
to do with modern day dating and consumption culture. When
it comes to dating We talked about She Will, which
is about using and abusing women, for which I would
say is also a huge one. This is a big
theme I've seen lately in my horror movies.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I think two I watched yesterday, Like.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That definitely follows real life.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It's true, it's true what.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Aronofsky and Polanski they do.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Th mm hmmm, yeah, I mean it's it's a big theme,
and a lot that I've seen lately is that and
kind of the trauma that falls out from it and
dealing with that trauma. We talked about men and my
quick happy hours and how that's all about like blaming women,
which I've also seen quite a bit of. And then
(19:03):
X and Pearl, which are you know, sequel, prequel original.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I don't know how you might to say it, but
some of the.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Things I didn't talk about in that I went to
go see it a second time. I went to go
see Pearl a second time recently because I just had
a like after you and I was like, you.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Know what, I want to go again.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Some of the things I didn't talk about in there
was that movie has kind of got a lot of
messaging around, like the nostalgia of remembering an older time
and how it was better, but this movie does not
do that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
It's like, no, women were never actually like that. You'd
know that, right, They actually weren't.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Super happy with this day I went taking care of
your family and not having opportunities.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
There's this whole idea of.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Having to give up being special, having to give up
your dreams and settle, which we've also talked about before.
But then something else is jealousy with other women. She
kind of touched on, but Pearl was real jealous of
other women who could get out in her mind, who
escaped this sort of settling that she did not want
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay, so those are movies we talked about.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
One we haven't talked about but we definitely could and
should is Midsommar.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Did we not do an episode on that?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
We have not done an episode on Midsummar? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, No, I think we've just talked about it a lot,
you and me personally.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Wow, my head thought we had already done this whole episode.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Okay, No, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I mean maybe we have, and listeners will write in
I'll be like, oh goodness, me, who knows. But one
of the things I find really interesting about midsommar is
how I have been in a group of friends who
have seen it, and the divide will.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Fall amongst the men and women in the.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Group of whether or not Florence Hugh's character was being
gas lit or whether or not the boyfriend was the
one that was being wronged.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And I always find it quite fascinating.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
That's not even a conversation on my mind, I know, right,
So if you haven't seen it, Like the most brief
explanation is, like Florence Who's character, Danny, has a huge tragedy.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
In the beginning, She's in this relationship with this guy
and his friend group who is not great, is telling
him he needs to break up with her. He doesn't
want to do it now she's got this tragedy, so
I guess he feels compelled to stay with her. But
she feels in her mind like she's always asking too
much of him, and so ultimately she finds out he
(21:55):
was going to Sweden with this group. She wants to go.
He never asked everybody. He's like, no, no, no, you can come.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
He definite. He never tells her she can't come or
he doesn't want her to go.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So they go together. Things happen, it's not good. She
kind of finds this sort of happiness though, but it
is very much he is. Like when I watch it,
I'm like, oh, this is a gaslighting one oh one.
This guy and his friends mostly are just making her
(22:23):
feel like she's being ridiculous or too much. She feels
like she has to hide her grief all the time.
There's like five scenes in the movie where she goes
to hide so she can like cry or can make
herself feel better, which I get, like, if it's a
thing where you don't want to cry on people, I understand,
But it's not that so much as she doesn't feel
like she can because she feels like he'll leave her.
(22:47):
And there's a pretty explosive deleted scene where he's like
I cannot you were too much to deal with and
all the stuff. And I felt like when I watched it,
like I said, gaslighting one on one, he was very
much doing the bare minimum as somebody in a relationship
and making her feel bad that he was.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Doing the bare minimum.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
But I have talked to so many of my dude
friends who were like, oh, I can't stand her, Like
she's always asking for stuff and she just would.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Not leave him alone. And just like, I don't know what.
I don't think you were reading. I don't think you're
picking up the right message.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Year because I need to talk to them.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Well, it was interesting because I just like you said,
it never occurred to me, like I was just like, yes,
this is not a good boyfriend, this is gaslighting.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
But it's got a lot going on when it comes
to that, and I think we should if we have
not done an episode on it, we should come back
and talk about it, because I have a lot of
things to say.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Okay. And then the other lamb is one have you
ever seen this one?
Speaker 4 (24:02):
No, that is a new one. I don't know if
I've ever heard of it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, So I feel like I'm just giving you a
bunch of recommendations.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, I no longer trust you, so that's fair. I
always look them up, listeners, look them up. Don't just
take my word.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
If you can't tell, we're.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Look it up. I don't want to send you stray.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The other lamb is often called, like you know, another
version of midsommar. It involves a cult of this guy.
It's run by this guy who looks like Jesus. Essentially,
he's got all these young women, young girls in this cult,
and when one of the women or young girls gets
(24:45):
the period, gets their period, it's like, oh, now you
have to have sex with this cult eater.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Here's a big preference for youth.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
It's got a lot of messaging around that, which is
also present in a lot of these and just this
idea of all these women being expendable to him and
something he can just control and use and throw away
and hurt and the women kind of coming together to
combat that. You're next, which I'm just gonna say, ain't
(25:15):
your normal final girl. There's a lot there's been a
lot of movies about kind of flipping the final girl storyline.
This is a big one, The bab A Duke, which
I when I saw it even I was like wow,
because I hadn't seen a portrayal of motherhood like that,
because it's basically kind of like, you know, depression and
(25:37):
grief and mental health are not easy, They don't really
go away.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Healing is not an easy.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Thing, and motherhood isn't always pretty and you don't always
really like your child, which is something you don't see
very often, especially not in that way where it wasn't
like she was out to I don't know. I feel
like when you see that the child is evil or something,
or either she's possessed, but in this case, it was
(26:04):
just it wasn't that, which was something that was.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Pretty new to me.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I know there's a lot we could talk about with
the Babaduk as well, but I'm trying to keep this
very brief. So there's this movie that came out I
(26:30):
think it won a bunch of words called You Won't
Be Alone, and in it, one of the main character
is abducted by a witch as a child and becomes
a shape shifter, and it has a really interesting storyline
about her kind of re entering the world and realizing
(26:53):
that it's easier to be a man. Because this is
set in like the eighteen hundreds or maybe earlier. It's
not modern day at.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
All, so kind of her.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Because she wasn't raised in the world, right, so she
injures it and is like, why is it better to
be a man? But she can shape shift into all
these people and it's kind of a body horror film,
so it's got some pretty gruesome shape shifting scenes. But
I thought that was interesting. Ready or not, which we
have talked about which I felt like the message was
(27:24):
don't get married or either. If there's money involved, they're
gonna choose the money. They're not gonna choose you. You'll
love Pells in comparison to his riches and security and
his family's riches and security. Resurrection, this was the movie
I was trying to remember when we did those happy hours.
(27:45):
This one just came out. It's pretty it's pretty dark.
It's a lot of trauma and that one a lot
of messaging around how no one believes you or are either.
You finally confide in somebody and they don't know what
to do with it and they're like, okay, can I
leave now? And jealous men who can't handle you having
(28:07):
anyone else in your life and doing terrible things because
of that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
The actually this was both Pearl and Resurrection have like
nine minute monologues from the main actors that are very,
very impressive. And then I just saw Barbarian, which is
also pretty disturbing. But it's got a whole thing about mothers,
oh my goodness, and monsters created by men and the
monstrous men that created them and then facing those monsters.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
It's got a real shit.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
It's just spoil me on Barbarians Mothers, I know anything
about mothers.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
In there, I honestly I do not think I did,
because the movie takes a real turn.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
It takes a real turn.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
And then, just briefly, as I said, this is not new,
and a lot of these movies, you can argue with
me what you would put them in this mysterious category
that may or may not exist of elevated horror, because
I do think for a lot of horror movies you
could find some societal messaging and them. I just think
there's kind of a difference in the intentionality of it.
But you can fight with me that with that as well.
(29:18):
But it is not new at all. I think this
is just kind of a current wave that we're seeing.
I just watched, for instance, Martyrs, which is a super
disturbing film about punishing women, torturing them until they become martyrs.
So that you can see what's on the other side,
if there's anything on the other side.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Rosemary's Baby, yes, oof, because that has.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Plan scheme involved, But it is like a whole thing
about like or like before around the time of Roe v.
Wade and being gas lit and having control over your
body marital rape. Alien, which we talked about, has the
(30:03):
whole messaging around abortion and body autonomy and uh yeah,
just pregnancy in general. And then you know, we're not
really going into this now, even though I'd love to
come back to it. But things like that Ring in
the Grudge I have a lot about because those were
coming out, you know, after the atomic bombs were dropped
(30:25):
in Japan, and it was this kind of fear of like,
oh did this change are we? Is this impacting our bodies?
And why is going to happen? Like when we have children,
what's going to happen? And I read a pretty interesting
exactly exactly. I did just watch Satoko versus Kayoko, and
(30:47):
you got some updates about that.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I had a good time.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I would not put an elevated orror, but I had
a good time.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
It's like, it can you can have fun with these movies.
It doesn't have to be like anyway. And also it's
just to say this is not unique to the horror genre.
I think when I was reading about this, I was like,
I've heard this argument play out in.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Pretty much every genre of not every genre, So I don't.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I don't think this conversation is new, but I do
think that there is something something happening that feels like
right now that we're really wanting to see these movies.
And we've we've had other periods of it before, but
right now, to me, it feels like there's just a
(31:36):
lot of them coming out and that they're pretty popular.
But yeah, that's just those are some of my thoughts.
I know I did like a rapid fire through those
movies at the end. But hopefully some of you are
listening you're like, oh, maybe I'll check that one out.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Maybe I'll check that one out.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
But yes, as Samantha said, look it up because I
don't want to beat you astray. Well you'll hear more
of that beef soon.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Our upcoming feminist movie Friday.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
But in the meantime, as always, listeners, if you had
any thoughts on this, if you have any suggestions, oh
my gosh, we are Samantha and I are in full swing,
so please yes, let us no. You can email us
at seven of them mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot carm.
You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Thanks is always to our superducer Christina.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
We are not beefing love you, Christina.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well, I'm not beefing with Christina, are you? But you're
just whatever?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
And thanks to you for listening stuff Nerve told you
the protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can check out the
heart
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Radio app, Apple podcast or regular listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Smitha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm welcome to stuff I Never told you production by
heart you, and today we are bringing back a classic
on elevated horror. And I have to say, since we
did this one, the conversation has continued.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Things are happening.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
People are still fighting about it, and I have seen
so many new movies I could add to this list
that I gave in this episode, so quick run down,
I would just say, blink twice the substance first, Omen, Immaculate,
Woman of the Hour, and Heretic.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And that's just a few. Like There's been a lot,
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Horror coming out and that I would think would fit
into this conversation. But it is interesting. Part of it
is because I researched this and I watch a lot
of horror. I get updates about this all of the time.
But since we also just did an episode on substance
(01:18):
or will do one, depending on when you listen to this,
I thought it was appropriate to bring it back, so
please enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
never told you a protection of iHeartRadio, and today we're
going to finally be addressing our if we kind of
hinted at it our episode on elevated.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Horror and what it has to do with women and
me Too, which we kind of did very briefly in
two Happy Hours that were just like these quick reviews
on recent horror movies. But also we have done entire
episodes on movies that would fall into this, So we've
done feminist movie Fridays on Screen five, Alien, the Witch.
(02:15):
I would say even Women in Revenge could kind of
be counted in here, some of the movies we talked
about in those episodes, because that was a two parter,
our Final Girl episode, our Scream Queen's episode, our episode
on women in Monsters, women who are monsters, and even
urban legends, women urban legend.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Monsters, all of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So this one's kind of interesting because I'm gonna I'm
going to break down what exactly is elevated horror, which
is kind of a big question and I have a
lot of thoughts about it, and then we're gonna run
through some movies that are examples of it very quickly
at the end, because otherwise this episode would be oh forever,
forever long. But yes, so Maantha has always feel free
(03:01):
to jump in at any time.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I have been watching quite a few horror movies lately,
and I have a lot more to go because we
are in October. I've got my list, but I'm also
trying to introduce some new things, try out some new things.
Brief discussions around violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, child endangerment,
child abuse, and murder in this that sounds really bad.
(03:25):
We're not going to get into indubt into any of that,
but I just wanted to put it out there because
we are talking about horror movies where that comes up
quite often. All right, So, elevated horror, what exactly is it?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That is hotly contested and very very divisive. The general
consensus seems to be that it's essentially a brand of
horror that leans more into being emotionally upsetting, as opposed
to things like gore jump scares. I might have set you,
but that doesn't mean at all that there are no
gore and jumps.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Our feminist movie for this month was it elevated horror?
Because I was upset Annie.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
It was?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
In a minute, we should break down our own definitions
of what it is. I would qualify it as elevated horror.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, well, look forward to that episode. I was upset,
she was quite upset, and it was fair. It was fair. Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So some people take issue with the quote elitism of
the term elevated horror and how it implies that horror
needed to be elevated. Basically, that the term is pretentious
and is you know, saying a fun slasher movie needs
to be elevated it's not very good, or that horror
itself it's a trashy.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Genre, so this is like good horror.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Many argue it's an unnecessary term or subgenre, that there's
still horror movies at the core, like why do we
need this term, and essentially that maybe it's a way
for people who are embarrassed or ashamed to admit they
like horror movies to say they like horror movies even
(05:08):
though elevated horror movies that they're talking about are still
horror movies, so like being like, I don't like horror,
I like elevated horror, but it's still horror essentially. Some
say it's basically just a more pretentious term for psychological horror,
art horror, or social horror. For instance, horror movies around
(05:29):
race like get Out, which was classified as Best Musical
or Comedy at the seventy fifth Golden Global Wards. To
illustrate a point that we're going to mat later, but
essentially like, Okay, I'm gonna break this down in a minute,
but it sounds like we're having a lot of discussion
around what these these movies actually are. Others argue that
while it's silly, this term is silly, it's useful for
(05:52):
uplifting a genre that for so long has been looked
down upon. All right, so this is kind of stream
of consciousness. But here is my thought about this whole thing. Okay,
all right, So I am somewhere in the middle because
I love a good bad horror movie, which I think
is a thing that exists, and I see nothing wrong
with that. Like, I don't think that's a guilty pleasure.
(06:14):
I don't think like that means it's not worthy of watching.
I think if you want a good bad horror movie,
you can find a good, good.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Bad horror movie. I like a slasher.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I think if I had to define elevated horror, which
I heard for the first time in Screen five, actually
I hadn't heard it before. Then they have a whole
discussion about it at the beginning of that movie. I
would agree that the term can sound pretty snobby. I
don't think psychological horror quite captures what I thought elevated
(06:47):
horror is. Social horror is closer, though that's still not
quite right. Horror, as I have said a million times,
reflects our societal fears, sometimes reinforce them, sometimes critiquing them,
sometimes doing all of those things. So when I think
of elevated horror, in my mind, it feels more like
an intentional critique. Because sometimes horror movies make they have
(07:14):
these messaging in them that I'm not sure they meant.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
To have, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But sometimes it's very intentional and that can work out,
and sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes it feels like
way too blunt or like in your face heavy handed.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
But so.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Going on that definition, something like the original Scream could
be in the mix, because I guess self aware is
also a term wild get thrown in there. But they
kind of knew like what these messages were and.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Were commenting on them.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
But yeah, I can see how that feels like, you know,
you're still passing judgment on other horror movies, and also
you know, interpretations and messaging often are unintentional and or
like you can't really predict always what the audience is
going to take away from something.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Intent is hard to judge sometimes, But.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You know a lot of people said, like, can we
not just say some movies are better than others, that
some movies pull it off better, but okay.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
For our purposes.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In this episode, it is a movie that is using
horror to comment pretty directly on a social issue. I
also have personally never felt elevated horror meant that other
horror movies suck or are not worthwhile. But I've also
grown up like one watching horror movies all the time.
(08:46):
I think the time I grew up, there was a
lot of good horror movies or horror movies that people
liked a lot. So I never got the impression that
a lot of people seem to get I'm gonna talk
about in a minute, that they had been judge for
like any horror movies. I never really got that. I
also grew up around a lot of sci fi movies
and fantasy movies that had similar terminology like you hear
(09:08):
you know HEADI or cerebral sci fi, high fantasy. You
can make all these same arguments we're making right now
about that. I just assumed those kinds of things meant
that you paid more attention to them, like you needed
to pay more attention to them because there was some
message going on, which, yes, isn't always good or isn't
always done well and can fail at its message. So
(09:30):
it doesn't mean it's better. I guess that's what I'm
trying to say. So this is a very complicated thing, obviously. Also,
entertainment sometimes gets a popular interpretation. Yes, that might not
have been intended. We've talked about a lot of those
movies before, and yeah, a lot of stuff I read
when I was researching this did feel like the people
who were writing it felt slighted for liking horror, and
(09:56):
this term elevated horror just annoyed them, especially people who
prefer slashers, Like they were like, are you saying slashers.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'm not good?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I prefer them, which I would say is slasher could
be an elevated horror. But you know, one of the
theories about how this term came to be is that
it was to counter an earlier rise and ultra gory
slasher slash horror movies.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So it was like a way of saying, it's not
that thing.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It's not this really gory slasher torture porn sometimes as
it's called. Another similar theory suggests that after a real
slump in the quality of horror movies in the early
two thousands, the genre needed a rebranding. So this was
their rebranding. And I get the feelings of hurt people
who've been here so long, watching horror for so long
(10:46):
and have loved this genre, and now they're hearing this
term and they are like.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What are you talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You're basically calling everything I like like a less man.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
It also dismissed the fact that whatever you call it,
elevated horror is not now A bit more on that later.
As someone who has acted in a lot of horror movies,
it was frequently pitched to me. Horror was frequently pitched
to me as a subpar genre that was easier to
get distribution for you. So I do think this has changed,
(11:22):
especially now, I feel like we're I think I said this,
We're living in a glut of horror movies, like so
many horror movies, and people are excited to see them.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But when when I was acting in them.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Everybody in almost everybody felt like I would rather be
doing any other genre. But this is the easiest genre
to get made and to get distributed. As I said,
The Witch is often credited with really launching the term
elevated horror, though movies much older than that, even more
(11:54):
recently older than that, if that makes sense, are included
in the subgenre.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It is mocked quite a bit in Screen five, which
funnily enough, I would.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Call an.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But if all this is confusing you, I think there's
a lot of it's just a lot of opinions about it.
Indie Wire has a really good thread of people debating
the term, and I really recommend it because I think
there was a lot of viewpoints that were showcased, so
it wasn't just one sided. There was a lot of
you know, it's a useful term. I don't like it.
(12:30):
Oh no, I hate it, and here's why. Or no,
I like it and here's why. So I recommend it
if you want to learn more. And yeah, horror movies
(12:52):
are popular. They are experiencing a surge of popularity right now.
They have recently swept up a bunch of awards. They
make big money movies like Paranormal Activity, started a whole franchise,
solidified a whole company and on a tiny budget, And
as we've discussed before, they've seen a steady and increasing
popularity amongst women in marginalized folks pretty much since they've
(13:16):
been around. Still, the critique that they have historically not
been respected is a fair one. To this day, I
think only six horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture,
though that does depend on what do you classify as
a horror movie. There are similar numbers around fantasy and
sci fi. People looking into the matter also argue that
(13:39):
what is successful influences what is made, meaning we are
living in a glut of horror right now because they
have been successful, so they are getting made. But on
top of that, many fine solace in horror when living
in horrific times. And in fact, I just saw an
article about this, which is probably because Google watches everything
you do, but it was like, oh, you would want
to read this article. According to the Horror Report, in
(14:03):
two thousand, around two hundred horror films were produced, but
by twenty sixteen this number had risen to more than
one thousand. They're getting more well known actors, writers, directors, etc.
COVID gave way to what some call lockdown horror. I
think the host, which I do love, as discussed in
previous episodes, during times of strife like a global pandemic,
(14:25):
more people turn to horror than might would normally.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
For the catharsis and emotional release that can offer. Popular
shows like Stranger Things have introduced people to the genre
while also playing homage to it. Here's the quote from
horror legend West Craven. Horror films don't create fear, they
release it, So I think it makes sense. Like right now,
there are so many getting made, and we're seeing a
(14:51):
wider variety of.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
What's getting made. I do think it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Sometimes I get.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
This when people say elevated horror, what they really mean
is stories we haven't seen before, and a lot of
it has to do with women in marginalized people, which
I think is pretty telling. But anyway, yes, we are
seeing a lot when it comes to elevated horror, whatever
you want to call it, of movies that grapple directly
(15:20):
with issues specific to women, something that took off kind
of after around the time of Me Too. But again,
this isn't new. This is kind of like a new
wave of something I feel like has been here forever.
But anyway, in this new wave, what we're seeing a
lot of things around in these movies and women is trauma,
(15:40):
so much trauma. We are seeing a lot of things
that you could relate to me to like sexual assault, gaslighting,
not being believed, which again is in all kinds of
horror movies, domestic violence, pregnancy and motherhood, a loss of child,
and mental health. And I would say, uh, based on
(16:03):
a lot of movies I've watched recently, some kind of
substance abuse and then also like men trying to control
women into being back in like old times.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like men trying to control women. I guess ultimately.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's just what I have seen, and it was something
that as someone who watches a lot of horror movies,
I've kind of been like, huh, A lot of these
movies are talking about this stuff right now, which I
find interesting, And we have covered it in full episodes.
We have covered, as we said, Scream five, which has
(16:44):
this whole conversation on elevated horror, and it's very clear
that the killer on the phone does.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Not like elevated horror.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
The term and or otherwise, But you can check that
out if you want to learn more.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Witch's it's a good example of this and that they
are they're talking about witches, but they're also talking about
sexuality and a young girl coming into her sexuality and
being called a witch and what that means and how
it turns you away, it turns you towards the devil
and butter or whatever it is, which I mean so
(17:25):
many witch movies are ultimately about that, about being outcast
from society and what does that make you and what
do you do when you're outcasts? And usually a lot
of sisterhood is involved.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
A lot of sisterhood and betrayal, and usually one.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Man yes uh yeah, but not you know, not always
as their sister. There wasn't in this one, that's for sure. Well,
I guess that at the end there was. There was
The Love Witch, which I really recommend, which has a
whole thing about sexuality.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's got to hold like period.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Vibe or she uses her tampons and spells and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
So I recommend that one.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We talked about fresh in the whole episode, which has
to do with modern day dating and consumption culture. When
it comes to dating We talked about She Will, which
is about using and abusing women, for which I would
say is also a huge one. This is a big
theme I've seen lately in my horror movies.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I think two I watched yesterday, Like.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That definitely follows real life.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It's true, it's true what.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Aronofsky and Polanski they do.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Th mm hmmm, yeah, I mean it's it's a big theme,
and a lot that I've seen lately is that and
kind of the trauma that falls out from it and
dealing with that trauma. We talked about men and my
quick happy hours and how that's all about like blaming women,
which I've also seen quite a bit of. And then
(19:03):
X and Pearl, which are you know, sequel, prequel original.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I don't know how you might to say it, but
some of the.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Things I didn't talk about in that I went to
go see it a second time. I went to go
see Pearl a second time recently because I just had
a like after you and I was like, you.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Know what, I want to go again.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Some of the things I didn't talk about in there
was that movie has kind of got a lot of
messaging around, like the nostalgia of remembering an older time
and how it was better, but this movie does not
do that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
It's like, no, women were never actually like that. You'd
know that, right, They actually weren't.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Super happy with this day I went taking care of
your family and not having opportunities.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
There's this whole idea of.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Having to give up being special, having to give up
your dreams and settle, which we've also talked about before.
But then something else is jealousy with other women. She
kind of touched on, but Pearl was real jealous of
other women who could get out in her mind, who
escaped this sort of settling that she did not want
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay, so those are movies we talked about.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
One we haven't talked about but we definitely could and
should is Midsommar.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Did we not do an episode on that?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
We have not done an episode on Midsummar? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, No, I think we've just talked about it a lot,
you and me personally.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Wow, my head thought we had already done this whole episode.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Okay, No, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I mean maybe we have, and listeners will write in
I'll be like, oh goodness, me, who knows. But one
of the things I find really interesting about midsommar is
how I have been in a group of friends who
have seen it, and the divide will.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Fall amongst the men and women in the.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Group of whether or not Florence Hugh's character was being
gas lit or whether or not the boyfriend was the
one that was being wronged.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And I always find it quite fascinating.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
That's not even a conversation on my mind, I know, right,
So if you haven't seen it, Like the most brief
explanation is, like Florence Who's character, Danny, has a huge tragedy.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
In the beginning, She's in this relationship with this guy
and his friend group who is not great, is telling
him he needs to break up with her. He doesn't
want to do it now she's got this tragedy, so
I guess he feels compelled to stay with her. But
she feels in her mind like she's always asking too
much of him, and so ultimately she finds out he
(21:55):
was going to Sweden with this group. She wants to go.
He never asked everybody. He's like, no, no, no, you can come.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
He definite. He never tells her she can't come or
he doesn't want her to go.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So they go together. Things happen, it's not good. She
kind of finds this sort of happiness though, but it
is very much he is. Like when I watch it,
I'm like, oh, this is a gaslighting one oh one.
This guy and his friends mostly are just making her
(22:23):
feel like she's being ridiculous or too much. She feels
like she has to hide her grief all the time.
There's like five scenes in the movie where she goes
to hide so she can like cry or can make
herself feel better, which I get, like, if it's a
thing where you don't want to cry on people, I understand,
But it's not that so much as she doesn't feel
like she can because she feels like he'll leave her.
(22:47):
And there's a pretty explosive deleted scene where he's like
I cannot you were too much to deal with and
all the stuff. And I felt like when I watched it,
like I said, gaslighting one on one, he was very
much doing the bare minimum as somebody in a relationship
and making her feel bad that he was.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Doing the bare minimum.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
But I have talked to so many of my dude
friends who were like, oh, I can't stand her, Like
she's always asking for stuff and she just would.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Not leave him alone. And just like, I don't know what.
I don't think you were reading. I don't think you're
picking up the right message.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Year because I need to talk to them.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Well, it was interesting because I just like you said,
it never occurred to me, like I was just like, yes,
this is not a good boyfriend, this is gaslighting.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
But it's got a lot going on when it comes
to that, and I think we should if we have
not done an episode on it, we should come back
and talk about it, because I have a lot of
things to say.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Okay. And then the other lamb is one have you
ever seen this one?
Speaker 4 (24:02):
No, that is a new one. I don't know if
I've ever heard of it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, So I feel like I'm just giving you a
bunch of recommendations.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, I no longer trust you, so that's fair. I
always look them up, listeners, look them up. Don't just
take my word.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
If you can't tell, we're.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Look it up. I don't want to send you stray.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The other lamb is often called, like you know, another
version of midsommar. It involves a cult of this guy.
It's run by this guy who looks like Jesus. Essentially,
he's got all these young women, young girls in this cult,
and when one of the women or young girls gets
(24:45):
the period, gets their period, it's like, oh, now you
have to have sex with this cult eater.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Here's a big preference for youth.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
It's got a lot of messaging around that, which is
also present in a lot of these and just this
idea of all these women being expendable to him and
something he can just control and use and throw away
and hurt and the women kind of coming together to
combat that. You're next, which I'm just gonna say, ain't
(25:15):
your normal final girl. There's a lot there's been a
lot of movies about kind of flipping the final girl storyline.
This is a big one, The bab A Duke, which
I when I saw it even I was like wow,
because I hadn't seen a portrayal of motherhood like that,
because it's basically kind of like, you know, depression and
(25:37):
grief and mental health are not easy, They don't really
go away.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Healing is not an easy.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Thing, and motherhood isn't always pretty and you don't always
really like your child, which is something you don't see
very often, especially not in that way where it wasn't
like she was out to I don't know. I feel
like when you see that the child is evil or something,
or either she's possessed, but in this case, it was
(26:04):
just it wasn't that, which was something that was.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Pretty new to me.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I know there's a lot we could talk about with
the Babaduk as well, but I'm trying to keep this
very brief. So there's this movie that came out I
(26:30):
think it won a bunch of words called You Won't
Be Alone, and in it, one of the main character
is abducted by a witch as a child and becomes
a shape shifter, and it has a really interesting storyline
about her kind of re entering the world and realizing
(26:53):
that it's easier to be a man. Because this is
set in like the eighteen hundreds or maybe earlier. It's
not modern day at.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
All, so kind of her.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Because she wasn't raised in the world, right, so she
injures it and is like, why is it better to
be a man? But she can shape shift into all
these people and it's kind of a body horror film,
so it's got some pretty gruesome shape shifting scenes. But
I thought that was interesting. Ready or not, which we
have talked about which I felt like the message was
(27:24):
don't get married or either. If there's money involved, they're
gonna choose the money. They're not gonna choose you. You'll
love Pells in comparison to his riches and security and
his family's riches and security. Resurrection, this was the movie
I was trying to remember when we did those happy hours.
(27:45):
This one just came out. It's pretty it's pretty dark.
It's a lot of trauma and that one a lot
of messaging around how no one believes you or are either.
You finally confide in somebody and they don't know what
to do with it and they're like, okay, can I
leave now? And jealous men who can't handle you having
(28:07):
anyone else in your life and doing terrible things because
of that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
The actually this was both Pearl and Resurrection have like
nine minute monologues from the main actors that are very,
very impressive. And then I just saw Barbarian, which is
also pretty disturbing. But it's got a whole thing about mothers,
oh my goodness, and monsters created by men and the
monstrous men that created them and then facing those monsters.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
It's got a real shit.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
It's just spoil me on Barbarians Mothers, I know anything
about mothers.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
In there, I honestly I do not think I did,
because the movie takes a real turn.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
It takes a real turn.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
And then, just briefly, as I said, this is not new,
and a lot of these movies, you can argue with
me what you would put them in this mysterious category
that may or may not exist of elevated horror, because
I do think for a lot of horror movies you
could find some societal messaging and them. I just think
there's kind of a difference in the intentionality of it.
But you can fight with me that with that as well.
(29:18):
But it is not new at all. I think this
is just kind of a current wave that we're seeing.
I just watched, for instance, Martyrs, which is a super
disturbing film about punishing women, torturing them until they become martyrs.
So that you can see what's on the other side,
if there's anything on the other side.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Rosemary's Baby, yes, oof, because that has.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Plan scheme involved, But it is like a whole thing
about like or like before around the time of Roe v.
Wade and being gas lit and having control over your
body marital rape. Alien, which we talked about, has the
(30:03):
whole messaging around abortion and body autonomy and uh yeah,
just pregnancy in general. And then you know, we're not
really going into this now, even though I'd love to
come back to it. But things like that Ring in
the Grudge I have a lot about because those were
coming out, you know, after the atomic bombs were dropped
(30:25):
in Japan, and it was this kind of fear of like,
oh did this change are we? Is this impacting our bodies?
And why is going to happen? Like when we have children,
what's going to happen? And I read a pretty interesting
exactly exactly. I did just watch Satoko versus Kayoko, and
(30:47):
you got some updates about that.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I had a good time.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I would not put an elevated orror, but I had
a good time.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
It's like, it can you can have fun with these movies.
It doesn't have to be like anyway. And also it's
just to say this is not unique to the horror genre.
I think when I was reading about this, I was like,
I've heard this argument play out in.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Pretty much every genre of not every genre, So I don't.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I don't think this conversation is new, but I do
think that there is something something happening that feels like
right now that we're really wanting to see these movies.
And we've we've had other periods of it before, but
right now, to me, it feels like there's just a
(31:36):
lot of them coming out and that they're pretty popular.
But yeah, that's just those are some of my thoughts.
I know I did like a rapid fire through those
movies at the end. But hopefully some of you are
listening you're like, oh, maybe I'll check that one out.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Maybe I'll check that one out.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
But yes, as Samantha said, look it up because I
don't want to beat you astray. Well you'll hear more
of that beef soon.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Our upcoming feminist movie Friday.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
But in the meantime, as always, listeners, if you had
any thoughts on this, if you have any suggestions, oh
my gosh, we are Samantha and I are in full swing,
so please yes, let us no. You can email us
at seven of them mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot carm.
You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Thanks is always to our superducer Christina.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
We are not beefing love you, Christina.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well, I'm not beefing with Christina, are you? But you're
just whatever?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
And thanks to you for listening stuff Nerve told you
the protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can check out the
heart
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Radio app, Apple podcast or regular listen to your favorite shows.
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