October 8, 2025 • 21 mins
Coming in at number 24, 2007’s “30 Days of Night.” Each day in the month of October we will count you down to Halloween with our favorite, not-so-obvious guaranteed horror hits! We’ll tell you why each one made the list, what the critics say, who should watch it and who should NOT and what food/drink/atmosphere to pair it with each night…. And of course, where you can watch it.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome everyone. It is Wednesday, October eighth, and this is
the latest installment of Deep Cuts Amy and TJ's Halloween
horror hit list. And today on Wednesday, we are up
to number twenty four. And I love a recent headline.
This is an older movie from two thousand and seven,
(00:28):
so almost twenty years ago, but this was a recent headline,
just from a couple days ago from the website movie
Web to describe our next movie, the most underrated vampire
movie of the century, sings its teeth into a new
streaming home so it is available to everyone now. But yes,
we are talking about two thousand and seven's Thirty Days
(00:48):
of Night, number twenty four on our list.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This is the best, one of the best concepts for
a vampire movement ever seen, maybe the best.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yes, because it's actually fun. This is a vampire movie
that feels apocalyptic, that feels almost like a zombie movie
except for its vampires. And we're used to seeing vampires
be a little bit more romantic, and the genre of
vampires has always been I feel like, oftentimes coupled with
some sort of romance, some sort of fascination with humans,
(01:24):
and bringing humans into the vampire world. This is very different.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh, it's Dracula was sexy exactly. Jackiela could buy you
a drink and you'd be raided or you know, you
have to attack me, sir, bite me, baby, take me.
Uh it is what we're all e been used to.
And even yes, you go back to I think a
lot of people remember interview with a vampire. Those are
I mean Tom Prus and a pretty sexy vampires. This
(01:48):
ain't that at all. Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, this movie runs a little bit longer than we're
used to, but honestly, it goes by so quickly because
it's so good. We just rewatched this. I don't even
know how many times I've seen this movie, but I
am a huge fan. We both are. It's an hour
fifty three minutes rateed R and the genre is horror,
mystery thriller. We have a synopsis for you as well.
It reads. In the far Northern Hemisphere, the small town
(02:14):
of Barrow, Alaska, experiences a solid month of darkness every year.
Though most of the residents head south for the winter,
some townspeople remain behind. However, those that stay regret their
decision when one year, hungry vampires descend on Barrow to
feed Sheriff Ebitt and his wife and a dwindling band
(02:34):
of survivors must try to last until dawn breaks over
Barrow's month long twilight. What a cool concept, the.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Concept there being if you caught this, if any horror
movie you represent, vampire horror movie. If you're scared, scared,
scared the whole movie, the one time you relax and
get relief as.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Win during the daily dail light.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Soon as you see a daytime see you go, we're
cool for a minute. There is no daylight for thirty days.
This movie the concept that vampires can roam free and
there's no hiding from them day or night for thirty days.
It's a cool entrapment type of a movie. Kind of
it sounds crazy compared to you know, I love Diehard,
(03:20):
but this idea that you're in there with your enemy
and nobody can go anywhere is what this movie feels like.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh it's so And it did really really well at
the box office, seventy five point five million. It had
a budget of thirty million. It did really well, but
the critics did not give it the love that we
believe it deserves. However, I have noticed again this was
two thousand and seven, so almost twenty years now. Recent
reviews have been much more positive because sometimes critics will
(03:47):
go back and re review it, and certainly audience members
who see it on streaming services will review it. And
I've noticed there is a tonal shift from when it
first came out versus now. So I don't know if
there's an appreciation now that we have more perspective or
they were expecting something different. But it's really interesting to
see the arc of the critics. This has a stellar cast.
(04:07):
Josh Hartnett plays the sheriff, his wife Melissa George estranged wife,
I should say in the movie. And then Danny Huston,
who got a claim from everyone, even the critics who
didn't like the movie. He plays the lead vampire. It
was resoundingly people were so impressed with his performance.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Okay, and people you might not know his name, you here,
you see his face, You're going to go, oh yeah,
oh yeah, you'll probably start being able to name some
things you've seen him in. You haven't seen him like this, Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's so good. And then Ben Foster is really good
in this as well. But the director David Slade. Anyway,
it was a stellar cast. I thought it an. We
thought it was an incredible concept and I thought it
was well executed. Did you do you have anything negative
to say about the movie?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, I probably will, but later. But the thing I
didn't piece this again until we start watching these movies
like this, and every day we were talking about the cast,
and I think a lot of horror movies are not
not necessarily known for great acting, or at least historically.
So it's to be a screen queen. Long as you
can run, trip over a branch and scream really loud
(05:09):
and die really well on TV, that's a good horror movie, actress, sweetheart,
every have you noticed we've got Oscar winners, We've got
very accomplished, award winning actors in some of these horror
movies that are deep cuts. I guess it adds to
the point that good acting helps the product.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Well, you know, I also think this. It seems as
if there's been a recent shift in years where I
think a lot of as you mentioned, well esteemed actors
might have been afraid bad pun there to do a
horror movie because they felt like maybe it would lower
their their artistic how they're considered. You know, it's not Shakespeare, right,
So it might have felt like a genre that is
(05:54):
beneath you know, well regarded actors, but we're seeing that
completely changed.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Tell me, obviously this year was a big deal with
weapons and centers, right, and so no, it's been No,
it's fun to say, I didn't necessarily put it together
till every movie we're reviewing, Oh she has an oscar,
Oh he has a golden globe. Oh he was in
this show. Oh they're great actors.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
All right. So all that said, thirty Days of Night
only got a Rotten Tomato score of fifty percent, and
their audience score wasn't much better at fifty six percent.
We wholeheartedly disagree and urge you not because I think
sometimes you do see that and you say I'll pass.
It's probably not good. This is one you should not
pass on. This made our list for a reason.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You would have passed on this, I think, I mean,
given your I mean your rules. Usually if there's a
low critic score but a high audience score, you like,
hell yeah, I'm all in. But usually when you see
both of them, you see a low audience score, you're
kind of lukewarm.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I would have looked at this with significant skepticism. Absolutely
but I so listen to the critic con consensus. While
Thirty Days of Night offers a few thrills, it ultimately
succumbs to erratic execution. All right, So that again would
turn a lot of folks off. But then and we
have some I actually found a lot of, like I said,
(07:12):
recent positive critic reviews, and certainly the audience reviews that
were on Rotten Tomatoes were much better the nearer you
are to this date, like some of them were written
a few days ago. Oh okay, right, so a sample
critic review. Here's one. This is one of the bad ones,
A sadly missed opportunity, a waste of talent on senseless
drek that made even the always welcome Danny Huston as
(07:36):
the Vampire Leader look silly. Wow, I couldn't agree more.
I couldn't disagree more. Sorry, I couldn't. He didn't look
silly at all. He was scary as hell.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Oh yeah, the whole time. What was that language they
were speaking, some language that even added to the.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Terrors and the noises they would make, like, oh my gosh,
I can't even do it. All right, So here's some
of that. There was another bad one about his skin
is Count Shocula. I saw that one that was mean
and unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And not accurate in the least bit. Agreed Count Schocula
wouldn't last thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
In this movie was one of my favorite cereals as
a kid growing up. No, but here are some of
the better good ones that critics gave. Here is one
of those rare movies that penetrates the membrane separating all
those disposable gotcha scarefests from genuinely engrossing supernatural thrillers. And
then another one, an entertaining horror and action film that,
(08:33):
by presenting vampires as truly monstrous and ruthless creatures, manages
to create an incredibly suspenseful experience.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
We don't do that enough, and there's some that do it.
But I mean, yes, vampires are sexy right up until
they kill you, but they're wearing all black. They usually
have a nice tailored outfit, right, This is not that
vampires are monsters. Start to finish in this movie, and
there's not a single one of them you would ever
want to be close to.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Oh my god, No, and the teeth, the makeup, it
was so good. They did look monstrous from start to finish,
wanted to read a couple of audience recent audience reviews
that I really liked and thought summed up part of
why we put this on our list. I love this movie,
says KK. Thirty Days of Night is dark, suspenseful, and
(09:21):
some gross moments, but excellent acting. Even knowing what the
big bad was to be from the get go didn't
lose my interest. Rather, the predatory nature of the vampires,
led by Hustin as Marlowe, made me wonder who was
next and how they would be killed. Hustin really embodied
a soulless, evil vampire that didn't just kill humans to
(09:41):
eat and live, but rather appear to hate and despise
human existence.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You can't reason, You cannot reason with them under any circumstance.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yes, and then Logan writes an all time great vampire movie.
Ignore the critics who are just mad that nobody bangs
a vamp in this one. I started laughing because it
is true. I think there's that expectation of the sexiness.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
There is nothing at all. They are creatures in the
night who are here to kill all of you. That
is the movie, and there is not. Some of the
fight scenes the dramatic. They're shot in such a way
like battlefields, just in a small town. This is an
incredible movie. This is a look. We recommend all of them,
(10:25):
but this is what I will scream against critics about.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It stays with you and like you said, like the scenery,
the imagery, This Alaskan town frozen with snow everywhere, cut
off from civilization, so to speak, with the roads and
the weather and the darkness. It's so good. So I
was trying to come up with a way to write
why it made our list, and I found a website
that summed it up better than I could say it.
(10:49):
So I want to read it because this is exactly
why we chose this movie for our list. Thirty Days
of Night helped give birth to a new breed of vampire,
one that wasn't in interested in holding up in gothic
castles or spending their nights in hip clubs with techno
music pumping all around them. The vampires and this one
were feral, animalistic, and monstrous, yet at the same time,
(11:11):
there was a method to their madness. There was organization
among the chaos, which made them feel even more terrifying.
I couldn't have said it better.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
To add to that, they were we saw victims like
disappear in a flash, yes, like they were coming out
of nowhere and their attack like you couldn't see anything
going on, and that added to I think the fear.
I think that might have been some of the early
kills to where now you're wondering in every scene, this
person's gonna who knows how they're gonna go out?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, they just get like whipped underneath a building or
whipped underneath the truck, and you're like, where did they
just go? Oh my god, what's happening to them?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So, yeah, this was a there were I'm trying to
I don't want to give this scene away, but there
are scenes that no no violence takes place that there
is no thing about the scene on the road when
they're like, what is that chasing us? Oh? Yes, and
there would nobody die. Nobody got hurt in that scene,
even but you're scared as all get out because there's
(12:11):
just it's cold, it's dark, there's a mystery, and this
thing is I'm going seventy miles an hour. For some reason,
something just caught me. The tension in that scene is
that kind of what goes throughout that you're actually nervous
and scared of what's around the corner.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, like super whom human strength coming up at you?
All right? So who is this for? Obviously anyone who
loves a vampire movie, anyone who loves like an end
of day's apocalyptic style movie, because that's what it felt
like with the town on fire and everything, like the
fights that were going on, it felt apocalyptic. Lots of
jump scares, and there is a lot of gore, I
(12:45):
would say, and I wanted to add this. I think
this movie is for anyone who's rooting for love in
tough times. I say this because I had fun while
being scared hoping that Josh Hartnett and Melissa George's care
Ara get back together. While they're fighting vampires. I was
hoping that they were also fighting to save their troubled marriage.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm with you there, and I will admit the first
time or what, but I got tears in my eyes
at the end of this movie, and I bet you
all will too, because they do such a good job
of building their relationship even though they're no longer in
one You your heart is in it with him.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And wasn't it Melissa George.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yah, your heart is in it with them, and he
is as heroic as you will ever see. Josh Hartnett
in this movie. And I'm telling you the end is
holy hell, I'm telling you it broke me down.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, and she's a badass in this movie too. I
love it. They're both strong. It's not like one's weak
and one's helping together. They were both. They were they
were a team. That's I'm getting choked, Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
So I will say that you talk about who the
movie is for, it's for anybody who who who likes
being on the edge of your seat for an entire
movie like this grabs you very early on, and even
the moments where there's not violence and you don't see
a vampire, you're standing by waiting for one to come,
(14:09):
or what's the next word is gonna come out of
his mouth? That that's just constant tension, and they build
a mystery for so long the town doesn't know what's
going like what is happening to us? It is a
great build. So yes, if you like edge of your
seat stuff, this takes you from beginning to end almost.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
All right, coming up, we're gonna tell you who it's
not for What's a Parrot with where you can watch it?
And to tease for our next movie on the list.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, we continue now number what is it on
the list? Twenty four? Twenty four? Now on the list
thirty Days of Night. Yes, it is a vampire movie
like you have never seen before. It starts Josh Hartnett.
Can we give this dude some love? He took a
break from acting for a little while, but he has
come back in a few things that I have loved
seeing him in. I know Trapp didn't get a whole
(15:02):
lot of great reviews, but he carried that as a
as a what an OCD serial killer?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yes, I mean the first half of the movie was
amazing and compelling. They just kind of lost their way,
I think with the writing and the second half. But
it was nothing. It had nothing to do with his performance.
He was amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
But he's had several things he's come back, and I
will add I mean, I just this was before he
took the so it was twenty two years of movie.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
This was two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
He took the break after what I can't remember when
he took his break, but man, in the last few years,
and this just shows The dude's a solid, solid actor
and has been for a long time, so it was
it was cool to go back and watch something and
to remember I guess the younger cat. Now we see
him as an.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Older guy movies, but he's likeable.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
He is. Man. I like this guy.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I really do too. All Right, So who is this
movie not for? Well? I would say if you're alone,
you should not watch it. I think it will creep
you out. I don't know. You may disagree, TJ. But
and if you obviously, if you don't like blow and gods,
you know, vampires are eating people. Okay, so this is gory.
So if that's not your jam, this isn't your movie.
But man, even if you could just look away during
(16:09):
those parts and still get the rest of it, I
still I think most people who like or love horror
movies are going to love this movie. I really think that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah. And even if you look away, you got to
deal with the sound effcts, because you're gonna hear some
slashing and some chomping and some ove all kinds of stuff. No,
if you don't like if you're immediately turned off by
blood and guts and killing, and it's essentially monsters eating people.
It's not like shots and stabs. This is like some
pretty mantra. They use their teeth and their sharp claws
(16:38):
to deal with their victims. So if you don't think
you can stomach that, then heads.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Up, or like anyone laughing with blood all over their face,
like there is there are some sister pretty haunting images
that stay with you.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
To your point about I guess we're different on this regard.
If this is one like like you said, I if
you want to watch it by yourself, because I'm not
worried about the vampire jumping through the window like you said.
Sometimes on like the don't watch that alone because the
next time you hear a creak in your house, you're
gonna freak out. This is one where the vampires don't
necessarily scare me.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I see. I feel like at night when I'm sleeping
or whatever, like when I'm trying to go to bed
and I'm alone and I've just watched that movie that's
not I'm like, damn it, what did I watch that
movie alone? This might be one of them for me.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
How many nights are you sleeping alone these days?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, I'm just rememberring, I'm remembering back to those days
of traveling alone in a hotel room and then being
so regretful of a movie I watched. I just I
have memories of that back in the day when I
used to sleep alone sometimes. All right, what to pair
this with? Atmosphere? Food, drinks? All right, so obviously red
wine and if you're watching a vampire movie, it's fun
(17:46):
to have a glass of red wine. You disagree, You know.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Red wine and horror don't go together matter.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I know they don't normally, but I'm saying, when you're
watching a vampire movie, it's kind of fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
The thing about drinking blood, yeah, you know, most normal
people would want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I don't know why I felt like this, but
I just feel like this. Have you ever mixed raisinets
with popcorn?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
No?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's so good. No, it's amazing. It's like a salty sweet.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I don't actually I never heard of that.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think, Oh my gosh, people do it all the time. Raisinets,
so the chocolate covered reason with popcorn. I know people
who put the box of raisinets and put it in
the popcorn and mix them together so you you get
a handful of salty sweet.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
This is why I don't hang with your friends.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
For some reason, I feel like this movie would be really,
really really good to do that with. Why because you
get salty sweet. There's no you get hitty sweet with
the salty ever.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Why would I do? Okay, that's a different episode, stark, Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
All right. I also, obviously, this is one where I
believe you have to watch at night because it's dark.
You know, we've talked about this. We try. We like
horror movies twenty four to seven, but this one would
be a hard one to watch during the day because
it's dark and then you've got the light. So I
just this mood, the ambiance, and even just the fact
that all the scenes are.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Can't do it. Yes, you cannot watch this with sunlight
coming into the room.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And I think this one is a fun one to
watch with a group.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh yeah, because you react to so many things and
there'll be some people going ooh, look at this. Other
than a hiding in the face, that's a very fun
communal thing. This is one that will cause different people
to react in different ways, and to have them all
in one room is fun.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah. This is a this is a Halloween party kind
of a film. I think is really fun to watch,
all right, And the cool thing is you can watch this.
Everybody can watch it for free. That was part of
why I think there was a resurgence of recommendations and
reviews because it's free on two b it was as
of October first, so people got excited that they could
watch it. But if you have a Paramount Plus subscription,
and I think that's you can get that with Hulu
(19:43):
or with Prime Video if you've got an add on, which,
of course watch this one Paramount Plus. I think Hulu
or Prime Video because.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I thought there was in our library. This is not.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh wait, I do own this one. I do own
this one. Actually there. I do have a few horror
movies that I put into my Apple Music Library, Apple
Movie Library, and this is among them. But I do
think that we are Paramount Plus subscribers because so many
horror movies come through that and Shutter, so we never
want to miss Shutter.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We need to tell people about Shutters.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They don't know what Shutter and Paramount Plus are like
epic four horror movies. So yes, you can watch it.
Everyone can watch it, and we're excited and hope you do.
All right, our next episode I was really excited about
this tease. Our our next movie on the hit list.
It would be number twenty three, so it's also underrated.
It also has some very big names attached to the movie,
(20:36):
and among them a name you don't often see in
a horror movie, Betty White.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And it's my favorite role. I haven't ever seen her it.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
How's that for a tease? All right, and with that,
thank you everyone for listening. We hope you're enjoying our
horror hit list. I may Bee Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes.
We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
S
Welcome everyone. It is Wednesday, October eighth, and this is
the latest installment of Deep Cuts Amy and TJ's Halloween
horror hit list. And today on Wednesday, we are up
to number twenty four. And I love a recent headline.
This is an older movie from two thousand and seven,
(00:28):
so almost twenty years ago, but this was a recent headline,
just from a couple days ago from the website movie
Web to describe our next movie, the most underrated vampire
movie of the century, sings its teeth into a new
streaming home so it is available to everyone now. But yes,
we are talking about two thousand and seven's Thirty Days
(00:48):
of Night, number twenty four on our list.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This is the best, one of the best concepts for
a vampire movement ever seen, maybe the best.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yes, because it's actually fun. This is a vampire movie
that feels apocalyptic, that feels almost like a zombie movie
except for its vampires. And we're used to seeing vampires
be a little bit more romantic, and the genre of
vampires has always been I feel like, oftentimes coupled with
some sort of romance, some sort of fascination with humans,
(01:24):
and bringing humans into the vampire world. This is very different.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh, it's Dracula was sexy exactly. Jackiela could buy you
a drink and you'd be raided or you know, you
have to attack me, sir, bite me, baby, take me.
Uh it is what we're all e been used to.
And even yes, you go back to I think a
lot of people remember interview with a vampire. Those are
I mean Tom Prus and a pretty sexy vampires. This
(01:48):
ain't that at all. Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, this movie runs a little bit longer than we're
used to, but honestly, it goes by so quickly because
it's so good. We just rewatched this. I don't even
know how many times I've seen this movie, but I
am a huge fan. We both are. It's an hour
fifty three minutes rateed R and the genre is horror,
mystery thriller. We have a synopsis for you as well.
It reads. In the far Northern Hemisphere, the small town
(02:14):
of Barrow, Alaska, experiences a solid month of darkness every year.
Though most of the residents head south for the winter,
some townspeople remain behind. However, those that stay regret their
decision when one year, hungry vampires descend on Barrow to
feed Sheriff Ebitt and his wife and a dwindling band
(02:34):
of survivors must try to last until dawn breaks over
Barrow's month long twilight. What a cool concept, the.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Concept there being if you caught this, if any horror
movie you represent, vampire horror movie. If you're scared, scared,
scared the whole movie, the one time you relax and
get relief as.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Win during the daily dail light.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Soon as you see a daytime see you go, we're
cool for a minute. There is no daylight for thirty days.
This movie the concept that vampires can roam free and
there's no hiding from them day or night for thirty days.
It's a cool entrapment type of a movie. Kind of
it sounds crazy compared to you know, I love Diehard,
(03:20):
but this idea that you're in there with your enemy
and nobody can go anywhere is what this movie feels like.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh it's so And it did really really well at
the box office, seventy five point five million. It had
a budget of thirty million. It did really well, but
the critics did not give it the love that we
believe it deserves. However, I have noticed again this was
two thousand and seven, so almost twenty years now. Recent
reviews have been much more positive because sometimes critics will
(03:47):
go back and re review it, and certainly audience members
who see it on streaming services will review it. And
I've noticed there is a tonal shift from when it
first came out versus now. So I don't know if
there's an appreciation now that we have more perspective or
they were expecting something different. But it's really interesting to
see the arc of the critics. This has a stellar cast.
(04:07):
Josh Hartnett plays the sheriff, his wife Melissa George estranged wife,
I should say in the movie. And then Danny Huston,
who got a claim from everyone, even the critics who
didn't like the movie. He plays the lead vampire. It
was resoundingly people were so impressed with his performance.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Okay, and people you might not know his name, you here,
you see his face, You're going to go, oh yeah,
oh yeah, you'll probably start being able to name some
things you've seen him in. You haven't seen him like this, Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's so good. And then Ben Foster is really good
in this as well. But the director David Slade. Anyway,
it was a stellar cast. I thought it an. We
thought it was an incredible concept and I thought it
was well executed. Did you do you have anything negative
to say about the movie?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, I probably will, but later. But the thing I
didn't piece this again until we start watching these movies
like this, and every day we were talking about the cast,
and I think a lot of horror movies are not
not necessarily known for great acting, or at least historically.
So it's to be a screen queen. Long as you
can run, trip over a branch and scream really loud
(05:09):
and die really well on TV, that's a good horror movie, actress, sweetheart,
every have you noticed we've got Oscar winners, We've got
very accomplished, award winning actors in some of these horror
movies that are deep cuts. I guess it adds to
the point that good acting helps the product.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Well, you know, I also think this. It seems as
if there's been a recent shift in years where I
think a lot of as you mentioned, well esteemed actors
might have been afraid bad pun there to do a
horror movie because they felt like maybe it would lower
their their artistic how they're considered. You know, it's not Shakespeare, right,
So it might have felt like a genre that is
(05:54):
beneath you know, well regarded actors, but we're seeing that
completely changed.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Tell me, obviously this year was a big deal with
weapons and centers, right, and so no, it's been No,
it's fun to say, I didn't necessarily put it together
till every movie we're reviewing, Oh she has an oscar,
Oh he has a golden globe. Oh he was in
this show. Oh they're great actors.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
All right. So all that said, thirty Days of Night
only got a Rotten Tomato score of fifty percent, and
their audience score wasn't much better at fifty six percent.
We wholeheartedly disagree and urge you not because I think
sometimes you do see that and you say I'll pass.
It's probably not good. This is one you should not
pass on. This made our list for a reason.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You would have passed on this, I think, I mean,
given your I mean your rules. Usually if there's a
low critic score but a high audience score, you like,
hell yeah, I'm all in. But usually when you see
both of them, you see a low audience score, you're
kind of lukewarm.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I would have looked at this with significant skepticism. Absolutely
but I so listen to the critic con consensus. While
Thirty Days of Night offers a few thrills, it ultimately
succumbs to erratic execution. All right, So that again would
turn a lot of folks off. But then and we
have some I actually found a lot of, like I said,
(07:12):
recent positive critic reviews, and certainly the audience reviews that
were on Rotten Tomatoes were much better the nearer you
are to this date, like some of them were written
a few days ago. Oh okay, right, so a sample
critic review. Here's one. This is one of the bad ones,
A sadly missed opportunity, a waste of talent on senseless
drek that made even the always welcome Danny Huston as
(07:36):
the Vampire Leader look silly. Wow, I couldn't agree more.
I couldn't disagree more. Sorry, I couldn't. He didn't look
silly at all. He was scary as hell.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Oh yeah, the whole time. What was that language they
were speaking, some language that even added to the.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Terrors and the noises they would make, like, oh my gosh,
I can't even do it. All right, So here's some
of that. There was another bad one about his skin
is Count Shocula. I saw that one that was mean
and unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And not accurate in the least bit. Agreed Count Schocula
wouldn't last thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
In this movie was one of my favorite cereals as
a kid growing up. No, but here are some of
the better good ones that critics gave. Here is one
of those rare movies that penetrates the membrane separating all
those disposable gotcha scarefests from genuinely engrossing supernatural thrillers. And
then another one, an entertaining horror and action film that,
(08:33):
by presenting vampires as truly monstrous and ruthless creatures, manages
to create an incredibly suspenseful experience.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
We don't do that enough, and there's some that do it.
But I mean, yes, vampires are sexy right up until
they kill you, but they're wearing all black. They usually
have a nice tailored outfit, right, This is not that
vampires are monsters. Start to finish in this movie, and
there's not a single one of them you would ever
want to be close to.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Oh my god, No, and the teeth, the makeup, it
was so good. They did look monstrous from start to finish,
wanted to read a couple of audience recent audience reviews
that I really liked and thought summed up part of
why we put this on our list. I love this movie,
says KK. Thirty Days of Night is dark, suspenseful, and
(09:21):
some gross moments, but excellent acting. Even knowing what the
big bad was to be from the get go didn't
lose my interest. Rather, the predatory nature of the vampires,
led by Hustin as Marlowe, made me wonder who was
next and how they would be killed. Hustin really embodied
a soulless, evil vampire that didn't just kill humans to
(09:41):
eat and live, but rather appear to hate and despise
human existence.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You can't reason, You cannot reason with them under any circumstance.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yes, and then Logan writes an all time great vampire movie.
Ignore the critics who are just mad that nobody bangs
a vamp in this one. I started laughing because it
is true. I think there's that expectation of the sexiness.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
There is nothing at all. They are creatures in the
night who are here to kill all of you. That
is the movie, and there is not. Some of the
fight scenes the dramatic. They're shot in such a way
like battlefields, just in a small town. This is an
incredible movie. This is a look. We recommend all of them,
(10:25):
but this is what I will scream against critics about.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It stays with you and like you said, like the scenery,
the imagery, This Alaskan town frozen with snow everywhere, cut
off from civilization, so to speak, with the roads and
the weather and the darkness. It's so good. So I
was trying to come up with a way to write
why it made our list, and I found a website
that summed it up better than I could say it.
(10:49):
So I want to read it because this is exactly
why we chose this movie for our list. Thirty Days
of Night helped give birth to a new breed of vampire,
one that wasn't in interested in holding up in gothic
castles or spending their nights in hip clubs with techno
music pumping all around them. The vampires and this one
were feral, animalistic, and monstrous, yet at the same time,
(11:11):
there was a method to their madness. There was organization
among the chaos, which made them feel even more terrifying.
I couldn't have said it better.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
To add to that, they were we saw victims like
disappear in a flash, yes, like they were coming out
of nowhere and their attack like you couldn't see anything
going on, and that added to I think the fear.
I think that might have been some of the early
kills to where now you're wondering in every scene, this
person's gonna who knows how they're gonna go out?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, they just get like whipped underneath a building or
whipped underneath the truck, and you're like, where did they
just go? Oh my god, what's happening to them?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So, yeah, this was a there were I'm trying to
I don't want to give this scene away, but there
are scenes that no no violence takes place that there
is no thing about the scene on the road when
they're like, what is that chasing us? Oh? Yes, and
there would nobody die. Nobody got hurt in that scene,
even but you're scared as all get out because there's
(12:11):
just it's cold, it's dark, there's a mystery, and this
thing is I'm going seventy miles an hour. For some reason,
something just caught me. The tension in that scene is
that kind of what goes throughout that you're actually nervous
and scared of what's around the corner.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, like super whom human strength coming up at you?
All right? So who is this for? Obviously anyone who
loves a vampire movie, anyone who loves like an end
of day's apocalyptic style movie, because that's what it felt
like with the town on fire and everything, like the
fights that were going on, it felt apocalyptic. Lots of
jump scares, and there is a lot of gore, I
(12:45):
would say, and I wanted to add this. I think
this movie is for anyone who's rooting for love in
tough times. I say this because I had fun while
being scared hoping that Josh Hartnett and Melissa George's care
Ara get back together. While they're fighting vampires. I was
hoping that they were also fighting to save their troubled marriage.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm with you there, and I will admit the first
time or what, but I got tears in my eyes
at the end of this movie, and I bet you
all will too, because they do such a good job
of building their relationship even though they're no longer in
one You your heart is in it with him.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And wasn't it Melissa George.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yah, your heart is in it with them, and he
is as heroic as you will ever see. Josh Hartnett
in this movie. And I'm telling you the end is
holy hell, I'm telling you it broke me down.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, and she's a badass in this movie too. I
love it. They're both strong. It's not like one's weak
and one's helping together. They were both. They were they
were a team. That's I'm getting choked, Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
So I will say that you talk about who the
movie is for, it's for anybody who who who likes
being on the edge of your seat for an entire
movie like this grabs you very early on, and even
the moments where there's not violence and you don't see
a vampire, you're standing by waiting for one to come,
(14:09):
or what's the next word is gonna come out of
his mouth? That that's just constant tension, and they build
a mystery for so long the town doesn't know what's
going like what is happening to us? It is a
great build. So yes, if you like edge of your
seat stuff, this takes you from beginning to end almost.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
All right, coming up, we're gonna tell you who it's
not for What's a Parrot with where you can watch it?
And to tease for our next movie on the list.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, we continue now number what is it on
the list? Twenty four? Twenty four? Now on the list
thirty Days of Night. Yes, it is a vampire movie
like you have never seen before. It starts Josh Hartnett.
Can we give this dude some love? He took a
break from acting for a little while, but he has
come back in a few things that I have loved
seeing him in. I know Trapp didn't get a whole
(15:02):
lot of great reviews, but he carried that as a
as a what an OCD serial killer?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yes, I mean the first half of the movie was
amazing and compelling. They just kind of lost their way,
I think with the writing and the second half. But
it was nothing. It had nothing to do with his performance.
He was amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
But he's had several things he's come back, and I
will add I mean, I just this was before he
took the so it was twenty two years of movie.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
This was two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
He took the break after what I can't remember when
he took his break, but man, in the last few years,
and this just shows The dude's a solid, solid actor
and has been for a long time, so it was
it was cool to go back and watch something and
to remember I guess the younger cat. Now we see
him as an.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Older guy movies, but he's likeable.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
He is. Man. I like this guy.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I really do too. All Right, So who is this
movie not for? Well? I would say if you're alone,
you should not watch it. I think it will creep
you out. I don't know. You may disagree, TJ. But
and if you obviously, if you don't like blow and gods,
you know, vampires are eating people. Okay, so this is gory.
So if that's not your jam, this isn't your movie.
But man, even if you could just look away during
(16:09):
those parts and still get the rest of it, I
still I think most people who like or love horror
movies are going to love this movie. I really think that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah. And even if you look away, you got to
deal with the sound effcts, because you're gonna hear some
slashing and some chomping and some ove all kinds of stuff. No,
if you don't like if you're immediately turned off by
blood and guts and killing, and it's essentially monsters eating people.
It's not like shots and stabs. This is like some
pretty mantra. They use their teeth and their sharp claws
(16:38):
to deal with their victims. So if you don't think
you can stomach that, then heads.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Up, or like anyone laughing with blood all over their face,
like there is there are some sister pretty haunting images
that stay with you.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
To your point about I guess we're different on this regard.
If this is one like like you said, I if
you want to watch it by yourself, because I'm not
worried about the vampire jumping through the window like you said.
Sometimes on like the don't watch that alone because the
next time you hear a creak in your house, you're
gonna freak out. This is one where the vampires don't
necessarily scare me.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I see. I feel like at night when I'm sleeping
or whatever, like when I'm trying to go to bed
and I'm alone and I've just watched that movie that's
not I'm like, damn it, what did I watch that
movie alone? This might be one of them for me.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
How many nights are you sleeping alone these days?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, I'm just rememberring, I'm remembering back to those days
of traveling alone in a hotel room and then being
so regretful of a movie I watched. I just I
have memories of that back in the day when I
used to sleep alone sometimes. All right, what to pair
this with? Atmosphere? Food, drinks? All right, so obviously red
wine and if you're watching a vampire movie, it's fun
(17:46):
to have a glass of red wine. You disagree, You know.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Red wine and horror don't go together matter.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I know they don't normally, but I'm saying, when you're
watching a vampire movie, it's kind of fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
The thing about drinking blood, yeah, you know, most normal
people would want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I don't know why I felt like this, but
I just feel like this. Have you ever mixed raisinets
with popcorn?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
No?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's so good. No, it's amazing. It's like a salty sweet.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I don't actually I never heard of that.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think, Oh my gosh, people do it all the time. Raisinets,
so the chocolate covered reason with popcorn. I know people
who put the box of raisinets and put it in
the popcorn and mix them together so you you get
a handful of salty sweet.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
This is why I don't hang with your friends.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
For some reason, I feel like this movie would be really,
really really good to do that with. Why because you
get salty sweet. There's no you get hitty sweet with
the salty ever.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Why would I do? Okay, that's a different episode, stark, Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
All right. I also, obviously, this is one where I
believe you have to watch at night because it's dark.
You know, we've talked about this. We try. We like
horror movies twenty four to seven, but this one would
be a hard one to watch during the day because
it's dark and then you've got the light. So I
just this mood, the ambiance, and even just the fact
that all the scenes are.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Can't do it. Yes, you cannot watch this with sunlight
coming into the room.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And I think this one is a fun one to
watch with a group.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh yeah, because you react to so many things and
there'll be some people going ooh, look at this. Other
than a hiding in the face, that's a very fun
communal thing. This is one that will cause different people
to react in different ways, and to have them all
in one room is fun.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah. This is a this is a Halloween party kind
of a film. I think is really fun to watch,
all right, And the cool thing is you can watch this.
Everybody can watch it for free. That was part of
why I think there was a resurgence of recommendations and
reviews because it's free on two b it was as
of October first, so people got excited that they could
watch it. But if you have a Paramount Plus subscription,
and I think that's you can get that with Hulu
(19:43):
or with Prime Video if you've got an add on, which,
of course watch this one Paramount Plus. I think Hulu
or Prime Video because.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I thought there was in our library. This is not.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh wait, I do own this one. I do own
this one. Actually there. I do have a few horror
movies that I put into my Apple Music Library, Apple
Movie Library, and this is among them. But I do
think that we are Paramount Plus subscribers because so many
horror movies come through that and Shutter, so we never
want to miss Shutter.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We need to tell people about Shutters.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They don't know what Shutter and Paramount Plus are like
epic four horror movies. So yes, you can watch it.
Everyone can watch it, and we're excited and hope you do.
All right, our next episode I was really excited about
this tease. Our our next movie on the hit list.
It would be number twenty three, so it's also underrated.
It also has some very big names attached to the movie,
(20:36):
and among them a name you don't often see in
a horror movie, Betty White.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And it's my favorite role. I haven't ever seen her it.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
How's that for a tease? All right, and with that,
thank you everyone for listening. We hope you're enjoying our
horror hit list. I may Bee Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes.
We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
S
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.