Viral Hits to Horror Flicks: 'Talk to Me' (2022)

Join us for an electrifying conversation on "A Dingo Ate My Movie" as a friend of the the podcast, Brandon Hardy, returns to dissect the 2022 Australian horror sensation "Talk To Me." What happens when friends unleash terrifying spirits using an embalmed hand? We talk about how Sophie Wilde and Miranda Otto's stellar performances breathed life into this chilling narrative, and follow the remarkable journey of directors Danny and Michael Philippou from YouTube icons to cinematic trailblazers. We'll also dive into the film's sweeping success at film festivals and its laudable reviews on IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Letterboxd.

Have you ever wondered how smartphone culture shapes our experiences and perceptions, especially in the realm of modern horror? We'll explore this theme deeply as Brandon shares an anecdote from a midnight screening of "Evil Dead." This episode examines the film's portrayal of social media's influence on today's youth, the haunting isolation caused by our camera phones, and how these elements intertwine with grief and trauma. 

Finally, we discuss the grotesque and unsettling scenes that make "Talk To Me" unforgettable, from bone-chilling possessions to manipulative spirits preying on vulnerable characters. We'll debate the film's ambiguous ending and its impact on audience satisfaction, then shift gears to compare hype and expectations across films like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and upcoming cult favorites. 

Plus, we geek out over our passion for collecting physical media and obscure films. Tune in for an episode with horror analysis, personal stories, and cinematic love!

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Please note that this podcast often explores topics and uses language from past eras. This means that some of the discussions may include attitudes, expressions, and viewpoints that were common in those times but may not align with the standards and expectations of our society today. We'd like to ask for your understanding as we navigate these historical contexts, which are important to appreciate the era we're discussing fully.

Episode Transcript

Pete (00:25):
You're listening to a Monster Kid Podcast.
Hi and welcome to A Dingo Atemy Movie, a podcast that
features classic exploitationand other weird, wonderful,
overlooked and underappreciatedAustralian films from the 70s,
80s and beyond.
My name is Pete and I'm yourhost, the Night Rider.

(00:50):
That is his name, the NightRider.
Remember him when you look atthe night sky.
Welcome to A Dingo Ate my Movie, a podcast about weird and

(01:12):
wonderful Australian films fromthe 70s, 80s and beyond.
I'm your host, pete, and todayI'm joined by Brandon Hardy to
discuss Talk To Me from 2022.

Brandon (01:22):
Good morning, brandon us talk to me from 2022.
Good morning, Brandon.
Hello Pete, it's great to seeyou again and to be back on the
show.

Pete (01:31):
It's been a long time.
I was just looking at.
The last thing we did togetherwas BMX Bandits back in 2022.
So it's been like over a year.
It's been a while.

Brandon (01:40):
Yeah, I didn't realize it had been that long.

Pete (01:44):
All right, so today we're uh here to talk about, uh, talk
to me.
It's really strange how it'shard to say we're here to talk
about.
Talk to me just sounds weird ohyeah talk to me, talk to me,
talk to me about and it'sinteresting, like you know, I
say, uh, wonderful australianfilms from the 70s, 80s and
beyond.
Well, this is definitely beyondanything I've done.
This is like a movie, that'swhat?

(02:05):
Basically a year old, yeah, soI've never done one this recent.
So, yeah, so I'll go throughthe synopsis and I pinched the
synopsis from IMDb because I'mlazy and the synopsis is when a
group of friends discover how toconjure spirits using an
embalmed hand.
They become hooked on the newthrill until one of them goes

(02:29):
too far and unleashes terrifyingsupernatural forces.
Pretty much sums it up.
I like the IMDB synopsis.
Some of them are very good andvery straight up.

Brandon (02:40):
Yeah, I like succinct and to the point.

Pete (02:44):
Yeah, giving too much away that's why I pinch them and
don't write my head.
Yeah, um, the.
The movie is directed bybrothers danny and michael
philip who, and it stars sophiewilde as mia, alexandra jensen
as jade, joeensen as Jade, joeBird as Riley, miranda Otto as

(03:07):
Sue, and it was written by DannyFilippo and Bill Hinsman on a
concept created by Daley Pearson.
Yeah, the cast is fantastic.
I really enjoyed the cast inthis movie.
I didn't list them all becausethere's a lot of them.
No, I like the cast too.
Yeah, I think it's one of thethings that makes this movie

(03:30):
really work.
The movie premiered at theAdelaide Film Festival in
October 2022 and was initiallyreleased by Umbrella
Entertainment, maslowEntertainment and Aahi Films on
July 27, 2023.
Films on July 27, 2023.
It was shown at Cannes FilmFestival or Cannes Film Festival
in 2022, and then it was soldto several international

(03:52):
distributors and it had itsinternational premiere at
Sundance Film Festival in 2023.
Shortly after that, there was anumber of American distributors
engaged in a bit of a biddingwar for the film and A24
eventually secured the rights.
It's very much an A24 kind offilm, right.

Brandon (04:13):
Yeah, absolutely, and that was certainly.
That's what got people in thetheater was that A24 banner and,
of course, the hype builtaround that.
I think at the time they weresaying, oh, this is the scariest
movie of the year yeah, butthey say that a lot with movies
these days I know yeah surewhatever unfortunately that's

(04:37):
the story.

Pete (04:38):
Right, you should hear it like and we'll talk about that a
bit later.
I'll go to one of my talkingpoints about hype.
Oh yeah, yeah, it was budgetedat $4.5 million and it made $92
million at the box office, whichis a nice little return on
investment, I think.

Brandon (04:54):
Yeah, I think it's A24's most profitable film
they've made so far.

Pete (05:00):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Its ratings On IMDb it's rateda 7.1 out of 10, which is quite
high.
Rotten Tomatoes certified freshwith 95% critic score and an
82% audience score, and onLetterboxd it's a 3.6 out of 5,
so it's a pretty well-likedmovie.

(05:20):
I don't see too many peopletalking down about it.
I noticed when I was flickingaround on youtube looking for
you know, just bits to watch andpeople reviewing it and people
talking about it.
There was a a couple of uhvideos about it's, about how
it's not a great movie and allthis sort of stuff, and I watch

(05:40):
bits of that as well.
Some of them make some decentpoints, but I think overall it's
a pretty popular film.
This movie is basicallydirected by two guys that had a
YouTube channel, which is quiteinteresting.
Danny and Michael Philippow arewell-known for their YouTube
channel, raka Raka, which is areally interesting name.

(06:01):
I was trying to work out.
How would you come up with thatname?
What the hell does it mean?
But I didn't know name.
I was trying to work out howwould you come up with that name
, what the hell does it mean?

Brandon (06:06):
Yeah, I was hoping you would have some insight.

Pete (06:08):
No, which, as of this recording, has 6.8 million
subscribers, so it's a nicesubscriber base.
The channel's known for itsover-the-top action, dark humour
and special effects.
They initially gained famethrough videos featuring
Ronaldonald mcdonald in variousbizarre and violent scenarios.

(06:29):
I watched a couple of those.

Brandon (06:31):
I don't know if you bothered to watch a couple of
them I saw a few, a few clipsthat they played during an
interview and I'll have to watchthem later and they're.

Pete (06:41):
They're really violent and bizarre.
And then there's because Ithought, okay, to get an
understanding of these guys,I'll just flick through, watch a
couple of the videos, becausemost of them are short.
There's a lot of like oneminute, two minute videos, sort
of things on there and I thoughtI'll watch.
Some of these ronald mcdonaldones are really bizarre and I'm
like I don't know how they gotaway with it.
I'll have to look those up.

(07:04):
And then later on, I waswatching one of their later
videos and I think they weretalking about the fact that the
last video that they hadreleased, basically YouTube's
algorithm buried it because ofthe fact that it was so not
right.
Oh Okay, yes, not right.

(07:35):
Oh okay, yes, I don't thinkthere's been a video put up
there since a couple of yearsago, probably, when this movie
came out.
I think there was a video Isent you and, uh, I think that's
almost the last one that cameout and I don't think there's
been any movement on there for ayear or two, and with good
reason.
I'd say they're kind of, youknow, got bigger fish to fry at
the moment.

Brandon (07:54):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, but it
seemed like I mean from thatclip that you or that video that
you'd sent me, it seemed likethat they were, that their video
channel channel on youtube wasessentially like them
experimenting and kind ofcutting their teeth on like
using effects, using sounddesign, using, uh, using

(08:17):
techniques to to engage peoplein a short form, and so you can
definitely see, or I can imagineyou could see, like their,
their progression and theirability to do a lot with less
and especially making this filmfor four it's a four and a half
million, I mean certainly it's agood mark of a good filmmaker
is economy, and even the filmitself is like an hour 35

(08:42):
minutes.
You know it's pretty tight.

Pete (08:44):
You can definitely see where it's all come from because
, like some of the videos onthere, there's there's wire work
involved and there's, you know,makeup effects.
And I was listening to thecommentary for this film.
Uh, the other night and one ofthe people that I can't remember
what her name was exactly, whowas doing visual and makeup

(09:07):
effects with them on Raka Raka,ended up doing makeup effects in
Talk To Me.
It was the main makeup effects.

Brandon (09:14):
Oh, that's cool.

Pete (09:15):
Which is amazing, right.
So I think they brought a fewpeople across with them.
So, yeah, you can definitelysee the progression.
So, according to the twobrothers brothers, while in
pre-production there was a lotof interest from large american
production companies, theydidn't name who they were, but
once they started apparently tounderstand that they wanted them
to use an american cast andchange things in the film and

(09:40):
make it more, I guess theydecided to not go ahead with
that and they funded the filmlocally.
Much of the funding comes fromScreen Australia, the South
Australian Film Corporation andthe Adelaide Film Festival
Investment Fund.
There's another couple ofproduction companies Headgear

(10:02):
Films, metro Technology andCauseway Films.
Causeway Films is familiar withpeople who have listened to
this podcast and have aninterest in the Babadook, since
they were one of the producersof the Babadook back in 2014.
So they have a bit of form withthis.
But it's kind of nice to see,you know, creators that were

(10:23):
courted effectively by the bigstudio system inverted commas
kind of reject that and decidethat they wanted to, you know,
make the film they wanted tomake, which doesn't happen a lot
these days, or it starts outthat way, and then the second
film ends up being you know,overproduced, for want of a

(10:44):
better term, I guess.
Uh right, I guess we'll find outwith these guys, because
there's a sequel to this filmcoming up.
Oh, interesting anyway.
So yeah, so they're shooting aprequel, which I assume is going
to kind of maybe end where thisone starts okay, yeah, I hope
it's not like a.

Brandon (11:05):
Like an origin story like this is how the hand came
to be, like who the hand belongsto.
If it is indeed a real person'shand, all of that like I won't,
I think that's why it works sowell is the the mystique.
You know the mystery around itsorigin.
You know like there, I mean,even though some time is spent

(11:26):
talking about the rules, howthis works 90 seconds is the
hard limit and things like thatthat people have figured out but
it has all this lore around itand no one really knows where it
came from and what its purposewas, and so I like that and I
hope that they don't reveal toomuch.
I guess.

Pete (11:46):
So you don't want like talk to me origins, so exactly
yeah, Same same.
I think one of the things thatI loved about this film is they
didn't spoon feed the audience.

Brandon (12:00):
Yes.

Pete (12:01):
And they purposely kept things out of the film that
they'd filmed because either Ait was too drama-ish, or B they
just wanted to have thatmystique.
They didn't really show a lot.
They didn't talk about wherethe thing came from, where the
hand came from, Right.

Brandon (12:20):
And so that would have taken at least another 10
minutes, because most films likethis will have a scene where
people are doing research,they're Googling things or
they're in a library somewherelooking at microfilms.
This is the history of all ofthis.

(12:42):
This is how this hand came tobe, and it's magic.
You know explaining everything,and I'm so glad we didn't get
any of that in this film.
Yeah, I loved it.

Pete (12:53):
I love the fact that it just the hand just seems to go
to different people at differenttimes, and we'll go into that a
bit later Especially the end,especially the end.
So it's really interesting and Ithink they did a great job
doing that.
So I watched this on a Blu-ray.
So last year, umbrella releaseda Blu-ray and a 4K and a couple

(13:15):
of collector's editions of thisfilm, obviously because I think
they're one of the productionpartners, so it's a big deal to
them.
One of the editions, the Let MeIn edition, has a full-size
replica of the hand from themovie.
Uh, and quite amazingly, as oftoday's date the recording day
um, it's still available.
If you have 160 to spend, it'skind of tempting.

Brandon (13:39):
Is that the one that I think I've seen?
This it's like the hand also islike a bong or something or
like you can smoke out of it.
I've seen one of that I thinkmaybe a, I think I think I'm
thinking of like a24 replicahand that you can smoke out of
oh well, as we'll, as we'll talkabout.

Pete (14:03):
There's parallels between drug use and hand use in this.

Brandon (14:06):
Right Tobacco use only.

Pete (14:09):
Yeah exactly.
For sure.
Yeah, so they have that.
You can also watch this onNetflix in Australia and you can
buy it on Apple, amazon andother digital platforms.
Like, if you want to risk that.
I don't really advocate buyingdigital anymore, but I guess

(14:32):
that's a discussion for anotherday.
I mean, I'm not keen on thingsand hearing things like what's
the famous one I heard about afew months ago how they changed
bits of the French connection onDisney Plus.

Brandon (14:48):
Oh right, yeah, I heard that and I bought it that same
day on Blu-ray Right Good time.

Pete (14:54):
Worked out well.
Yeah, so that's why, you know,I don't really buy.
I've got some digital movies,but they're nothing special.

Brandon (15:03):
But I don't buy them anymore because you could just
lose access to them as wellright, yeah, I think the only
digital ones that I have areeither were redeemed through you
know codes that came with thethe disc, or you know, like on
apple tv, maybe this one, thisone, was on sale one day and I
was like okay, well, that'scheaper than the rental, so I'll

(15:26):
buy that oh yeah, for thatreason, yeah, yeah, yeah, just
not a not a fan of, uh, of thatsort of thing.

Pete (15:33):
And also noticed with digital games lately, playing
digital games is that they justremove them from the store after
a period of time when theydon't sell and stuff like that,
and then you know everything'sgot to be digital and I don't
think it's a great idea uh, yeah, I, I agree, I agree, I saw, I
watched this movie, uh, here inthe states on paramount plus.

(15:57):
That's where it's at currentlybefore we start talking about
the movie as such.
We're definitely going to spoilthis movie.
It's really important that ifyou don't want it spoiled,
please go and watch it beforeyou listen to the discussion
because, like, there's somemajor spoilers in this film, and
especially the ending.
So if you want to keeplistening, do it at your own

(16:18):
risk, I guess.
So what were your initialthoughts on the film, brandon?

Brandon (16:23):
I'm going to preface this with a short story.
So I went to see Evil Dead, the2013 film, when it came out and
on opening night it was amidnight screening packed house.
I'm there with a friend and hisdate We'll call the date Andrea

(16:45):
so she mentions having aheadache on the way there and
then, about 20 minutes into thefilm, she leaves and all of a
sudden there's murmuring, thenshouting, and the lights come on
in the theater and the moviestops and people are running
over to look over this partitionbetween the auditorium and this

(17:08):
little corridor that runsalongside it, and Andrea has
passed out in this corridor and,instead of anyone running to
help her, this crowded theatertakes out their phones and
starts recording her lying thereon the floor and someone
eventually helps her and themovie starts back up a bit later
.
But that moment has stuck withme, just that image of dozens of

(17:32):
phone screens and flashlightsand that poor girl lying
motionless on a dirty theatercarpeted hallway.
And 10 years later, I thoughtabout that when I first saw this
film, because the thing thatthis film does really well is it

(17:52):
I mean it.
It depicts like real youngpeople in a way that, like it,
accurately reflects like what,what they do and how they engage
with the world.

(18:13):
But it also comments on thisidea of spectatorship in an age
of social media and influencerculture and smartphone
dependence and just that beingthe smartphone and the camera
being kind of this bufferbetween a person and the world.
And I'll say my thoughts more onthat stuff later, but that's
what I was thinking about when Isaw it and that's what stuck
with me.
But when I saw the film, we'lltalk about the hype factor, but

(18:36):
this movie was really hyped uphere and I was expecting this to
be blown away and I wasn't.
And I think that's okay becauseit was in some ways a more not
subdued, but it was, you know,like we talked about, like there

(18:57):
weren't these frequent jumpscares.
I mean, we had the practicaleffects, we had some grotesque
imagery and disturbing thingshappening, but at the same time
it was invasive, you know, andit just kind of it's like a

(19:28):
stain on your hand.
It just lingers for a while,and so that's something I think
the film did really well and Ithink that is what I remember
most about seeing it for thefirst time.

Pete (19:40):
It's really interesting comparing it back to that story
from 10 years ago.

Brandon (19:47):
Yeah, I know, know it's crazy.

Pete (19:48):
I assume she was okay, at the end of it.

Brandon (19:50):
Yeah, she was fine, she was just lightheaded and passed
out.
But just the, this big crowdreacting in that way that their
impulse was to was to record it,and you know, and uh, and
something, and I'll, I'll getthis out of the way.
But since we're talking aboutkind of that, that dynamic being

(20:13):
, you know, early on in the film, you know, is trying to talk to
jade about seeing that kangarooon the on the road and you know
, of course, jade is on herphone and is distracted,
ignoring her, and mia calls herout and I'm like, yeah, put away
your phone and listen to yourfriend.
You know, but just this idea,like the party game and use, you

(20:37):
know, the possession is kind ofthe drug stand in, it's like
the camera phone, because Ithink we need to kind of get
this out of the way before wecontinue.
But the camera phone, itbecomes this kind of shield,
like this barrier that allowspeople to become non-participant
observers, like so, likethere's no consequence because

(20:57):
they're not really involved,they're just watching, yeah, and
they can also ride that thrillof the experience without taking
part in it.
You know, being accountable inany way or rather, I think you
know the events of this filmbrings that into question.
And since this film deals withgrief and trauma, you know, the

(21:18):
camera phone itself allows oneto associate, you know, and
disconnect from the world.
And it's like when they'rerecording this stuff or when
they're participating in this,they're essentially watching it
through another eye that's nottheir own, through this lens,
and so they don't have toexperience it for themselves.

(21:39):
They can be very passive, apassive observer rather than an
active participant in thesituation.
So there's something there whenit comes to grief and trauma
and how we can put that bufferbetween us and whatever it is
we're observing Now.
The last thing I want to mentionis that, through this act,

(22:00):
they're documenting it at thesame time.
They're documenting it at thesame time, they're preserving it
as fodder to be shared anddistributed, either for
attention, for clicks, for likes, or to be the first to share it
, or whatever.
But those moments are reducedto content, for entertainment,
for a distraction.

(22:21):
But it's like the possession.
Is it fake?
Is it just a trick, you know?
Is it just engagement bait oris it a means of humiliation,
you know?
So just all of those thingsthat dynamic kind of creates
this, this framework that thisfilm kind of works within and
you know kind of the big picturetop down stuff, and so anyway,

(22:45):
I just wanted to kind of getthat out there.

Pete (22:48):
Yeah, I think what you're saying is probably really well
demonstrated in the openingscenes of the film, right?

Preview Time Dude (22:56):
Oh absolutely .

Pete (22:57):
We've got this party and we've got this young bloke
locked in a room.
Obviously he's had experiencewith the hand and held onto it
for too long.
So the rules of engagement tellme if I'm wrong, brandon is you
hold onto the hand, you light acandle, you hold onto the hand,
you say talk to me, and thenyou say let me in, and then you

(23:18):
basically have 90 seconds tohave the experience and at the
end of the experience you let go, or someone pulls the hand away
and you blow out the candle andthat's right, and it sounds
like such a.
This is what I like about thismovie.
It's such a one of those thingslike when you were younger I
know I did you would you wouldhave you'd always know someone

(23:40):
that had a ouija board or orsomething like that and it was
all these like almost urbanlegends about you know, you do
this and then you do this, orthe Bloody Mary thing.
Right, you've got to do thisthree times.
Do this three times and this isgoing to happen right, yeah.
And this is like one of thesekind of, you know, urban legends

(24:01):
that they've created this moviefrom, and I think it's really
interesting.
You know, instead of a Ouijaboard or staring at the mirror,
they've got this.
You know, this hand thatapparently is I don't know has
some sort of stuff cast over it,but apparently on the inside
it's a mummified hand ofsomebody that lived at some

(24:24):
stage and they weren't sure ifit was, I think, a Satanist or
some sort of cleric or somethinglike that.
So you've got all these storiesswirling around.
So you have this opening scenewhere you know, obviously the
brother of this guy has beenusing it for way too long and is
having a session and hisbrother's trying to get him out

(24:47):
of his room, brings him out andhe just straight up stabs his
brother and then stabs himselfin the head, which is shocking
in the way it's shot.
I love the way it's shotbecause you're not.
In a lot of films they wouldpull right up close to that guy
stabbing himself in the face andmake it as graphic as possible.
But this is like and I this isgoes back to what you're talking

(25:07):
about at this stage you'realmost like the observer because
you're standing back as far assomebody might be at a party
like that, just watching thishappen.
And yeah, that's true andthat's the feeling I got when I
was watching it.
And at the same time, justbefore he does that, all you can
see in the background are phonecamera lights.

(25:27):
Yeah, it's just, it's donereally well and I think that's
one of the things that worksgreat in this film is they
really nail the kind of teenlifestyle of this point in time
in society which is all about.
You know they use Snapchat inthe film.

(25:50):
Oh right, yeah, apparently theyhad to get permission for that,
right, of course.
And they had to get permissionfor Apple to have iPhones in the
film and stuff like that, whichis quite interesting.
I mean, I've always figuredthat was the case, but it's
interesting when they weretalking about it on the
commentary oh, we had to getpermission for this, we had to
get permission for that.
We never thought we couldafford the Sia song that they're

(26:14):
singing in the car and she justsaid they could have it and
stuff like that, and yeah, soit's a really interesting start
to the movie, and the voyeurismand the like you said and your
story also reminded me, you know, when you're talking about
being disconnected from what'sgoing in front of you reminds me
of an old Tom Savini story, theMakeup Artist, where he learned

(26:40):
a lot of what he did withmakeup when he was a
photographer in Vietnam.

Brandon (26:47):
Oh, that's right.

Pete (26:47):
Yeah, and he was saying that he looked at everything
through the lens, so he was kindof disconnected from the whole
thing as well.
I think it still fucked him upa bit.
I think Vietnam fucked a lot ofpeople up, but he was saying he
felt disconnected from what hewas seeing.

(27:07):
Based on that as well, yeah,yeah, that's interesting.

Brandon (27:11):
Yeah, I mean because it is the lens you know, kind of
being like you are, kind of youknow on the other side of the
screen.
It's like there's this kind ofmembrane between you and what
you're observing and it offersyou some protection or some
feeling of safety because it'slike you are I don't know you're

(27:34):
so distant.
Like he was talking about howmuch you learn from from what he
observed, you know as a warphotographer, and just kind of
being able to separate yourselffrom the separate, the reality

(27:56):
from the image you're creating,if that makes sense.

Pete (27:58):
Yeah.

Brandon (27:59):
Yeah, I don't know it's .

Pete (28:01):
I like that the hot.
Like you said, the whole filmis based around kids filming
stuff.
Yeah, it's just quite amazingand it is it's so typical of
what people would do.

Brandon (28:16):
Oh yeah.

Pete (28:17):
Even at my age right, I'm 62.
If I was somewhere where thisis going on, I'm probably
getting my phone out.

Brandon (28:24):
Yeah, I probably would be too, and part of the.
And I'm glad that we can admitthat, because I remember when I
first saw the film and when Irewatched it in preparation for
the show, I was thinking thething about the film that I
guess was hard for me to buyinto is because I'm you know,

(28:48):
I'm a professor and I I workwith a lot of young people.
It's like, oh, these are justyoung people doing stupid shit,
you know, you know they're justgetting into mischief.

Pete (28:59):
I think one of my notes here was around the use of
technology and I just put teensdoing teen things yeah and some
of the reviews damn kids yeahI'll go and shout at some clouds
outside.
And and some of the reviews I Ilistened to, and, and and

(29:20):
watched on youtube.
A lot of it was a lot ofenjoyment, or a lot of people
got into the film because of theportrayal of the kids, and and
a few people said and I'm notdissing on america, but a few
people said if this was like anamerican film, that would have
all the stereotypes out there.
And and oh yeah and whereas thiswas just like a bunch of kids

(29:43):
doing kids stuff right, and Iwould say for a lot of this, you
know, especially with extrasand stuff like that, they
probably pulled in people thatwere in their videos on.
Youtube and God knows how manypeople they used.
Yeah, I thought it was reallyquite realistic.
On to the cast, I thought thatSophie Wall is well.

(30:04):
She carries the whole filmright.
The whole film depends on herperformance and I thought her
performance was fantastic and Iactually thought all the casts
were great.

Brandon (30:13):
They all were really quite stellar and very authentic
.
I think the acting, too, wasfantastic.
Was it was?
I don't know, this sounds verysimplistic, but it was very
believable, very naturalistic ina way that, like you, you felt
like these were real youngpeople, that they weren't like

(30:36):
you said, they weren't some kindof stereotype or like oh, this,
this is, you know, well, we gotthe nerd here and we got the
jock and the thely girl and thecheerleader or whatever it was
great to actually see MirandaOtto in this as well, that she
played a good part.

Pete (30:54):
I think she was really good as the mum Obviously a
single mum trying to deal withthe kids and I wanted to shout
out Joe Bird, who plays Riley,because that guy goes through a
lot of shit in this film.

Brandon (31:07):
He sure does.
No, yeah, he's a real trooper.
Yeah, yeah.

Pete (31:13):
Yeah, so the film opens with the party and it kind of
sets the scene.
Then you know I won't do thisscene by scene, by scene, but
then you know, we eventually getto a point where we find out
about me as mum passing away.
I think it was a year or two ago, yeah two years, two years yeah
and and I think that's you knowpart of this film is all about

(31:37):
how grief is.
People handle grief and andwanting to see her mum again,
and when the spirits latch ontoher later, they kind of I don't
think it's ever her mother thatshe sees.

Brandon (32:01):
I think it's something else right.
At the same time, she'svulnerable not just vulnerable
to bad influence, but tomalevolent spirits who are
trying to corrupt her ability tofind closure, because she has
so many questions around thedeath of her mother.
Was it an intentional suicideor was it an accident?

(32:26):
Or was it an accident or was itsomething else?

Pete (32:30):
yeah, and her father's not always straight up with her
about what happened.

Preview Time Dude (32:36):
So there's that there as well right, yeah,
so she's really open.

Pete (32:41):
She makes some really bad decisions in this film, but, but
I think obviously she has tofor the plot to progress.
But also I think they're quitebelievable For someone that's in
grief like that.
And really, you know, like thewhole reason that Riley has such
a bad time of it is because shebelieves it's her mother

(33:05):
talking to her through Riley, isbecause she believes it's her
mother talking to her throughRiley, so she wants to keep him
in that state, which they go waypast the 90 seconds.
And if you notice, at the endof all the kerfuffle with Riley,
the candle's still burning aswell.
Right, so they haven't blownthe candle out.

(33:26):
So, yeah, so she's reallysusceptible, as you were saying,
to all this sort of stuff andthe fact that she's under this
pressure and she's this stressthat she's in and the grief.
That's why I think it'sbelievable she makes so many
dumb decisions, some really dumbdecisions did you get the sense
that she was you?

Brandon (33:46):
you know, because her friend Jade, and like the
relationship she has with Jadeand Riley and their mother, it
seemed like she was kind of aalmost like she was part of, or
trying to be part of, thatfamily unit.
Yeah, yeah.

Pete (34:05):
Sue is almost her surrogate mother, right, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, she very muchdoes like.
It seems like she spends mostof she lives at the house, most
likely.
It doesn't seem like she goeshome very often and her father's
obviously dealing with thegrief as well, so it's kind of
split their relationship as well.
She doesn't have a very goodrelationship with the father and

(34:27):
and I think it's mainly because, like I said, I don't think
he's been too straight up withher about what really happened,
or maybe he doesn't really knowwhat happened either and he's
trying to deal with that as well.
So we go into scenes like whenyou know the first scene where
where mia decides that she'sgonna, she's gonna go through

(34:49):
the, the experience, and theexperience is really interesting
and I think her acting in thatscene is great and, um, I just
love watching like the waythey've got the, the way they're
all standing around her givingher advice, telling her how to
do it and all this.
It's very realistic, I think.
And also the way when she firstholds the hand and then sees

(35:11):
the image of the I think it'slike an old man and she pulls
the hand away.
When I was watching thecommentary, the guy who played
the old man.
He was in that just for likethat three seconds of screen
time.
A lot of this was shot duringCOVID.
He had to fly in to Adelaide,be locked away for three days,
basically to make sure that hewas, you know, okay from COVID

(35:33):
point of view.
He came on the set he wasworking for, like it turns out,
probably less than an hour.
Then he flew home and then hehad to quarantine for three more
days at the end.
So he was in the movie for likefive seconds.
I think he's in the like it'snot even five seconds.
He's on screen for.

Brandon (35:54):
It's mere seconds.
Yeah, it's mere seconds.

Pete (35:56):
And the second vision she sees looks like a drowning
victim right, and then when shesees her mother in all the other
scenes her mother always lookslike she's wet.
Yeah, I wondered about that,but so it makes me think that
the spirit that she first hadcontact with after she pulled
her hand away the first time.

(36:17):
Um seemed to be the spirit thatwas kind of that, had kind of
latched onto her a bit because,her mother didn't drown, so why
is there always water when?
when her mother's in the scene,there's always like a slushing
sort of watery sound as well.
So I think that's a good waythat it's actually not her
mother she's seeing, but shethinks it's her mother yeah,

(36:41):
interesting, I didn't noticethat sound, but yeah, the sound
design in this movie isfantastic as well.

Brandon (36:47):
It's really good yeah, I mean even even.
I mean I mean all the thebreathing and stuff, the low
drones that we kind of get whenthe first guy like stabs himself
in the face, like like thatsound effect sells it, like you
know it's.
It's far enough away that wedon't really see you know the

(37:08):
knife go into his face, but justthat motion and that sound
effect, just really sell it.

Pete (37:15):
A lot of the sound design reminded me that, because a
movie I saw recently with jayactually when he was in
australia last year was we wentand saw evil dead rise and I
don't know if you've seen.
Oh yeah, yeah, I've seen thesound design in.
That is fantastic, it'sunbelievable, especially in the
cinema.
It was amazing.
It reminded me a little bit ofthat.
The sound design and the waythe music worked with the sound
design was just so good.

(37:37):
It's really.
I think that's what, like youwere saying, there's absolutely
no jump scares in this film atall.
There, there's absolutely nojump scares in this film at all.
There's not one.
I don't think.
Yeah, I can't think of one.
The only other recent movie wetalked about in this podcast
recently was Lake Mungo, andthat only has like one jump
scare in the whole film, andit's kind of the same in the way

(37:59):
that it's more about building asense of dread and an
uneasiness in you, and I thinkthat's what works in this film
and and the way they've usedsound um and the music together
is kind of really has a lot todo with that, of course.
I mean, if you are watchingjust rushes of this film without
the sound effects and withoutthe music, it would be very

(38:20):
plain, of course, as any moviewould be you gotta have great, a
great sound, sound design.

Brandon (38:26):
But the I mean, there are so many movies that that,
over the years, have relied soheavily on jump scares and those
stingers you know to punctuatemoments that they want the
audience to you know to beafraid of and to react to.
And I like it when films don'tkind of tell you like, oh, this

(38:51):
is the scary moment, yeah, yeah,this is all right, here's the
little thing that's gonna popout like I don't know.
That just seems very cheap.

Pete (39:01):
I haven't seen the second one, but I saw the first movie,
the none.
Have you seen that?

Brandon (39:06):
yeah, I've seen.
I've seen the first.

Pete (39:07):
And that's just all jumps, it's just all jump scares.
Yeah, all those movies,conjuring universe, all jump
scares, and I mean they'reobviously made for an audience.
I mean jump scares probablywork best with an audience of
teens, right, and and thingslike that because it's fun.
But I find now, maybe justbecause I'm older or I've seen
more movies, I find that jumpscares kind of take me out of

(39:30):
the movie sometimes.
Yeah, because you suddenly yousort of jump and then you kind
of collect yourself and whenyou're collecting yourself
you're not really invested inthe film.

Brandon (39:42):
Yeah, I agree, I tend to now.
I don't like films that arelike a roller coaster in that
way, like where it feels likeit's just like an amusement park
kind of ride.
I like films that kind of buryyou in a mood and keep you there

(40:02):
and and you know, cause that'sa place that it eventually will
hopefully take you out of.
But this kind of goes back towhat you said earlier about the
hand-holding thing or spoonfeeding the audience.

Pete (40:17):
You know, I think it a lot of particularly, and I'll say
you know a lot of most americancommercial films do that because
they don't trust the audiencewell, they actually said in that
in the commentary at one pointthey wanted to trust the
audience to understand what wasgoing on and they just left
enough breadcrumbs for people tobe able to follow the story yes

(40:41):
, and there's no need to bespoon-fed.
Everything right, and some filmsdo that really badly, like give
you everything oh, I can'tstand it, yeah even when they're
talking about the hand in thisfilm, they're not really saying,
like someone says, oh, wheredid you get it from?
Oh, I got it from some guy whogot it from some guy.

(41:01):
That's all you need to know.
That's that's all you need.
Yeah, you don't need to know.
It came from some ancientburial ground and some you know.
Like you said before, I'mhoping the sequels or the
prequels or whatever don't gothere.
I think the Hand is great justto have.
It's one of those things youcould build on that.

(41:22):
The only thing I can see isit'll get to a point eventually
where all the movies are thesame, so that they kind of have
to do something.
I guess, yeah, I can see aprequel working.
I'm even concerned then that wewill get like a major origin
story and I don't really, reallywant that.
Well, we will see.
Speaking of disturbing scenes,there's a very disturbing scene

(41:46):
with the dog in this film, mia'sex.
He has his experience with thehand and he gets someone else
kind of possess him and he endsup having almost like a sexual
encounter where he's kind ofwrithing on the floor and it
looks like he's basically havingsex with the floor for a minute

(42:08):
.

Brandon (42:08):
Right.

Pete (42:09):
And then the dog comes over and starts licking his face
and then he starts kind ofmaking out with the dog.
It's gross and typical of thissort of thing.
the people around him in the thefilm, they're all thinking this
is amazing, fantastic andthey're all in there with the

(42:30):
cameras, of course, and and atthe end of it all, he wants them
to delete it and they're likeno way.
We're not deleting this sort ofthing, you know, right, and and
once again, that goes back tothat whole thing about
everything being filmed andyou're not necessarily in
control of what happens to that,to that media, you know.

Brandon (42:50):
I liked the attention to detail because when he comes
out of it and he's standing up,you can see all the dog slobber
on his mouth and the dog hairstuck to his face.
So that's you know.

Pete (43:05):
They used to they used a prosthetic dog head.
Did you realize that?
Oh, no, so that I was wondering.
In some of the behind thescenes on the blu-ray there's a
little bit where it's just likea puppeted head.
It's basically covers most ofthe hand of the of the guy doing
it.
It's just like one of those youknow things.

(43:26):
But it looks quite realisticand that's what they used
because there's no way you'regonna, you're gonna make out
with a real dog.
But but this is the part of thefilm where we get this sort of
grossness and then they get ridof the dog and you know, and and
he gets possessed again and andthen we get the bit with with

(43:47):
uh riley when he wants to do itand his sister keeps saying no,
and she's probably the onlyperson in this film that's kind
of sensible in that regard withher brother she's like no, he's
so young.
I think he's 13 or 14 years old, but of course he, I think, is
a little bit motivated bywanting to be one of the one of

(44:10):
the guys and wanting to kind ofyou know, show that he can do
that as 13 year olds do and 14year olds do well, peer pressure
is is certainly a big themehere and they establish that
whenever riley and his friendare sitting on the curb and his
friend offers him a cigarette,you know, and he's going to, I

(44:31):
don't smoke.

Brandon (44:32):
Just that idea of you know, not wanting to be seen as
a wimp, you know that I canhandle it, I can do this.
So just that I mean.
I mean you can kind of see thegerm of Riley's need to be uh
yeah to, of Riley's need to beseen as part of but also capable
.
You know he's not a kid, eventhough he is, but he can handle

(44:57):
it.

Pete (44:58):
Well, even his friend says to him I think I need to find a
new friend in that scene, ohyeah.
So he's obviously got thispressure on him right and that's
why he wants to do it.
Of course, mia fucks it upbecause they were just gonna.
They were like the agreement, Ithink was it 40 seconds or 50
seconds they were gonna have himdo and then they were gonna
stop it.
I think it was 50 yeah and thescene is excruciating to watch.

(45:21):
It's like it's the only bit offull-on gore, I think, in the
film.
And yeah, yeah, the way that it.
It's totally only bit offull-on gore, I think in the
film.
Yeah, yeah, the way that it'stotally unexpected.
I remember the first time I sawit, the first time he smashes
his head on the desk in front ofhim, the table in front of him.
It's like shocking, right, it'slike shit, I didn't expect that
.
And then he keeps doing it andthen he tries to pull his eye

(45:45):
out of his eye socket, which isgross yeah, it's gruesome, it's
a pretty gory film in some ways.

Brandon (45:53):
Yeah, with, especially with, uh, with riley, because he
early, he's always like tryingto hurt himself in some way.

Pete (46:04):
The possessed riley yeah, I wonder what the reason is for
that, though, like why it'sobviously the spirit that's
doing it, but why would thespirit be doing that is?
Is it to really get at mia?
In some way or is it just thathe's got some bad spirit inside
of him?

Brandon (46:22):
I was thinking about this today and I it seems like
they kind of get at this at theend.
Whenever Mia has Riley in thewheelchair on the side of the
road and the spirit that hastaken the form of her mother
that's telling her toessentially push him out into
traffic.
It seems like that they have ahold on his spirit, but they

(46:47):
can't have it permanently untilhe dies.
So I don't know that.
That's.
That's all I can really.

Pete (46:55):
That's all I can think of, too, yeah.

Brandon (46:57):
Yeah, so maybe that's why he's always trying to hurt
and kill himself, and so I don'tknow.

Pete (47:03):
Well, there's that scene where she gets that little,
remember she holds the hand, Ithink, in the in the hospital
and there's that little scene ofhim being kind of like covered
by all these people writhingaround.
It looks like hell.

Brandon (47:15):
Yeah, it's a very like Nightmare on Elm Street kind of
image.

Pete (47:21):
Apparently they shot a lot more of that.
We're told if you actually wantthis to get through the ratings
board you have to cut it likemassively.
The the riley thing is reallyinteresting and and the way that
her mother is not her motherbut the spirit is kind of
manipulating me or into thinkingher mother like she manipulates

(47:42):
her into wanting to kill Rileyto release him.
But I think I'm not sure ifthat's Mia's kind of like.
I think she's sort of pushedinto that position where she
kind of feels like I have tokill him to release him.
And right and um, we didn'tmention the kangaroo at the

(48:03):
start of the film.
Oh, because it comes back a bitlater on where they hit a
kangaroo when they're driving.
Uh, mia's driving riley homefrom something and and they hit
a kangaroo and the kangaroo iskind of just like on the road.
Uh, it's still alive butobviously not going to live.
And r Riley's like says to Mia,why don't you run over it?

(48:25):
Run over it just to finish itoff.
And she just can't bringherself to do it.
And I think at the end of thefilm where she's going to kill
Riley with the scissors, thenshe sees she has this vision of
like a kangaroo in the hallwayof the hospital as well, which
is interesting as well becauseshe doesn't go ahead with it,
but instead she rolls him out ina wheelchair to push him out

(48:48):
into the street, which I thinkis worse.

Brandon (48:52):
It seems almost fitting that that's where she would do
it Again, thinking about thekangaroo it's like this is like
she can give mercy to thatkangaroo, in a way, by going
through with something shewasn't willing to do earlier in
that space.
I don't know, there's somethingthere too.

(49:12):
I think is interesting.

Pete (49:14):
They even manipulate her so far as to kill the father.
Well, I don't know if he'sactually really dies, right,
right, but she eventually.
She has this.
There's a scene where she's inher room with the hand and has
the uh, has the banging on thedoor and it's like awful vision
of a father attacking her whenno one's really there and her

(49:35):
father's trying to get into theroom because he can hear all
this kerfuffle inside and whenhe eventually comes in, she
mistakes him for the spirit orwhatever it is and kills or
stabs him in the neck right,which is quite a shocking scene
as well.
There's a lot of stuff we we'renot even thinking about the foot
sucking, oh, that's right, yeah, which is so uncomfortable to

(50:01):
watch.
That whole scene where she's inher room with whatever the
guy's name is and she's likelying at the opposite end of the
bed, maybe because they'retrying to not be too close,
because he's the ex and they'resupposed to be just friends,
sort of thing.
Right, she has a vision of thisspirit sucking on the foot of

(50:22):
the guy and when she comes outof it all it's her, and it's so
gross.
I don't know why they decidedto go with foot sucking yeah,
maybe because it is gross.

Brandon (50:34):
I guess.

Pete (50:35):
So, yeah, like the dog, yeah, yeah it's really weird,
pseudo-sexuals kind of stuff,right.

Brandon (50:41):
Yeah, it's strange.

Pete (50:43):
Yeah, that's interesting, but I guess we should talk down
about the ending, because youknow we eventually go through
all these periods.
Riley's fucked up totally, Evenin hospital.
There's a bit where he tries,does she?
I can't remember now.
Does she actually trigger thatby holding his hand or putting
his hand on the hand?

(51:03):
I can't remember.
But there's a bit where hebasically bites into his own
wound on his arm right, and thenhe falls off the bed to start
smashing his head the back ofhis head into the tiled wall as
well, yeah, and then he startslicking the blood as it's
running away.
It's that poor guy having toact all the time.
I know it's pretty glorious.

(51:26):
He'd probably do well in anEvil Dead movie.
Oh yeah, he gets really fuckedup anyway.
So she decides like, okay, Ihave to kill him, I have to end
his life to release him, orsomething like that.
But, like you said or alludedto, I think that's kind of what
the spirits want.
Yeah, it's like, just do it, itand then he'll be with us

(51:51):
forever.
Yeah, that kind of thing, andyour mother will be back for
some weird reason, and oh sure,yeah.
And so she goes through thisgreat ruse and the way they shot
it off it was great.
They had this super close-up ofher calling her friend and
telling her to come around tothe house, or something like
that, because she's at thehospital with Riley.
So she gets in a car and drivesover to her house, which

(52:14):
obviously must be, I don't know20 minutes away, or something
like that and then all of asudden we see that Mia's in the
car park.
So the way they shot that wasreally good because, like you,
didn't know where she wascalling from and it was.
It was quite well, quite welldone, I think.
She's effectively gets riley ina wheelchair and wheels him to

(52:34):
the roadway and is going tobasically push him on the road
and for some reason, at the verylast second.
She doesn't do it.
Now I'm not sure if it'sbecause she had this clarity or
something, because there's thatlast second where the spirit of
her mother inverted commas leansover and says to her I'm proud

(52:54):
of you.
Which is kind of the spirit, Iguess, saying yeah, we're really
happy you're doing this right.
But then she doesn't getthrough with it.
And then all of a sudden youhit this crash and you're not
sure exactly what happened.
And then you see Mia lying onthe road Right, and so I don't
know if she's put herself on theroad or whether what's happened

(53:18):
.

Brandon (53:18):
Yeah, I'm not sure either.
Yeah.

Pete (53:20):
But there she is lying on the road and then we have the
scenes in the hospital and thisis where we're getting into
major spoiler territory.
So if you haven't watched it,you really need to go and watch
it where she starts walkingthrough the hospital and she
sees Riley there, and then shesees Riley again packing all his
stuff up and going home withhis mother and sister and

(53:44):
obviously is okay.
Then she sees visions of herfather in a lift and things like
that.
She walks in to a bathroom orsomething and looks in a mirror
and can't see a reflection,which is a callback to earlier
in the movie where she's talkingabout a dream she has where she
can't see her own reflection.

(54:04):
And it was at that point Ithink I was thinking and I
probably should have thought itearlier.
I was like, oh, she's dead,because it just put me back to
the old vampire thing you can'tsee your own reflection, right?

Preview Time Dude (54:18):
Because you're in the dark.

Pete (54:19):
Right, yeah, the bit I love the most, which still comes
out of the blue, even if youkind of think she's dead is she
goes, there's like all thisdarkness around her and she sees
this white light and she goestowards the light and all of a
sudden this hand comes out andholds onto her hand and that's
somebody else that's conjuring,basically conjuring her up from

(54:43):
the spirit world, and that's theend of the movie and I thought
it was a really good ending yeah, it is.

Brandon (54:51):
I mean, I like movies that end ambiguously, but I also
love movies that tie up all theloose ends and provide real
closure to the narrative in asatisfying way.
And I like this ending a lot,because the tables kind of turn

(55:13):
here and the movie does that afew different ways.
But I'm thinking about now Mia,now that she's dead.
She's now the genie in thebottle, so to speak.
She's the one that's caged andgoing to be used as a party
trick, right?

Pete (55:34):
Yeah.

Brandon (55:36):
And it's like the idea of the abuser becoming the abuse
, the one being exploited, theclown who's being made to dance.
You know that's interesting.

Pete (55:49):
I think it's a really good ending.

Brandon (55:50):
It's actually I found it quite satisfying yeah, that's
the word I was looking for.
It was a satisfying ending andit wasn't presented to us as
like a gotcha, like a twist,like oh, I bet you didn't see
this coming.
You know it wasn't.

(56:11):
There wasn't a lot of fanfarearound it, or it wasn't
presented to us in a way thatwas heightened.
You know, it was just that seaof darkness and that light that
she was drawn to and then foundherself kind of on the other
side of the table and I just Ilike how simply that was done,

(56:36):
but in a very, you know,evocative but beautiful sort of
way, and it kind of just closesthe whole loop right, Exactly,
exactly.

Pete (56:45):
It's fantastic.
So on to the hype of this movie.
This movie was massively hyped,as many movies are these days.
So how did you feel as I thinkyou've already kind of given
your answer a little bit, Likeyou know do you feel like when a
movie is super hyped, that itchanges your perception of the

(57:07):
movie when you start watching itor it changes what you think
about the movie when you'vefinished watching it?

Brandon (57:14):
hmm, I don't know, I'm a little torn.
I was trying to think of some,some recent examples of movies
that were hyped and kind of whatmy reactions were.
But I feel like because if amovie is really hype, like it's
setting a bar and sometimes like, yeah, we'll get the, it's the
scariest movie of the year, andyou're like, yeah, we've heard

(57:36):
that before, so you just kind oftake that with a grain of salt.
But when everyone's talkingabout it, like oh, oh, you've
got to go see this.
Oh my gosh, like I couldn'tbelieve it.
Like uh, or movies that youknow are are like big, you know
big awards films like barbie oroppenheimer, which I I'm I'm

(57:58):
glad that's all over, becauseI'm tired of hearing about both
of them, even though I likedboth films a lot.
But I'm like, oh my gosh, justthe awards fatigue still still
there.
But anyway.
But I was going to say is itdoes affect your expectations
going in, and if you, if itdoesn't meet or exceed those

(58:20):
expectations, I mean you'regoing to have a bad time.
And there have been films I'llgive you one example and this is
uh, kind of a an internal hypefactor.
I'll explain what that means.
So, like uh, when I saw the mostrecent scream film in the, the
opening of that was so differentthan what we had seen before

(58:42):
and I was like, oh my gosh, thisis, this is.
I don't know what to thinkabout this.
Yeah, I loved it, yeah, and theway it ends, that cold open
ends, you know, with ghost facesaying you know who gives a fuck
about the movies, and I waslike, holy shit, like this is
going to be totally different.
I don't even know what I'm infor.

(59:03):
And then at the end I was likethis is this ending was really a
letdown.
But anyway, that opening reallyhyped me up and established my
expectations and so I was likeI'm, I know I'm going in for
something that's reallydifferent and I don't know what

(59:24):
I'm in for and I'm excited aboutit.
So I like when movies, I likewhen it's the hype is justified.
I guess I mean, even if I don'tlike the film, if I feel like
the hype was worth it, like itwas worth talking about, I don't
know it feels like, yeah, okay,that's fine, but uh, but you,

(59:45):
you know, you, I don't trust the, the marketing machine, at all
these days.
I mean, I, I, I actuallydespise most modern movie
trailers too.
Uh, because they're overhypedand they give away this like a
three minute version of themovie.

Pete (01:00:04):
I know, they give away so much.

Brandon (01:00:06):
I know, but, but I digress, but I'm, I, I I like
when movies are sincere in howthey are establishing your
expectations and I and I'm I'mnot sure that the scariest movie
of the year thing was effective, but the thing that made it

(01:00:31):
worth the hype was that it wasan A24 film and they carry a lot
of credibility because of thequality of their work and it
does.
I will say this.
I'll end this by saying qualityof their work and it does.
I will say this.
I'll end this by saying yes, it, you know it belongs in the
catalog of a24.
You know it's an, it's a bodyof work because it it is of high

(01:00:56):
, it is a high quality film andit does push the envelope.
It does things differently andit's not just a run-of-the-mill
horror film or supernaturalhorror film.
So yeah, so I I feel like, yes,the hype was legit yeah, I
always find hype reallyinteresting.

Pete (01:01:15):
Another recent one that I can think of.
Another funnily enoughaustralian movie uh, late night
with the devil, have you seenthat?
Yes, I liked that.
That was overhyped Notoverhyped, but that was super
hyped up by the fans.

Brandon (01:01:29):
Yes, it was.

Pete (01:01:32):
And I really liked it and Umbrella are just releasing.
I've just bought another $160or whatever.
It was the thing and it's.
They've actually got like a vhswith it that you can actually
play that has footage from thefilm and stuff on it oh, that's
awesome yeah, so that's allcoming soon.

(01:01:53):
And, um, I found that wasanother movie.
I don't know if we'll cover iton here, but we might one day.
But that's another movie thatwas really hyped up and I
watched it.
I missed it at the moviesbecause it had fairly limited
release here.
For me to go and see it I wouldhave had to drive about an hour

(01:02:15):
and I just didn't have time atthe time.
And then I found out it was onShudder and then I thought, oh,
it's not on Australian Shudder,but that's okay, I've got a VPN
VPN.
It was on Shudder.
And then I thought, oh, it'snot on Australian Shudder, but
that's okay, I've got a VPN VPN.
So I watched it a few weeks agowith May and we kind of really
enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed it, but to methe hype was a little overdone

(01:02:39):
and I think this one's actuallythe better movie.
Talk to Me.
But the other ones they're bothvery different movies, though I
just think this was really good.
And the hype, yeah, I don'tlike hype with movies.
So I just last night, while Iwas lying in bed, I was scanning
through what movies are comingup soon.
I was like, oh, furiosa is onin a few weeks.

(01:03:02):
So I jumped on, I boughttickets to that and then I
thought to myself right, I'm notgoing to watch one trailer, if
I can help it, and I'm going totry not to read anything about
it until I've seen it.
And because I know it's, it'salready hyped, right?

Brandon (01:03:18):
oh yeah and everyone's talking about it.

Pete (01:03:21):
Yeah, although the reviews are really good and we can talk
about it.
Here's a strange film, yeah,and it looks like it's going to
be a fantastic movie.

Brandon (01:03:33):
I'm very excited about it.

Pete (01:03:34):
I can't wait.
I'm really looking forward toit.
So it should be good, yeah, butI think the whole thing with
hype and you know, I don't knowit is a concern.
And moving on from hype toother hype like this is like
this is obviously a supernaturalmovie, although it has some
drama and horror elements in itas well.
And I'm just trying.

(01:03:57):
I was thinking the other daylike how does this sit with
other supernatural movies ofrecent years?
And in most cases I think it'sprobably better.
Because when you thinksupernatural movies of recent
years and in most cases I thinkit's probably better, because
when you think supernaturalmovies of recent years, what are
you thinking?
Conjuring, what's the one wherethey have the cameras set up
all around the house, paranormalActivity, paranormal Activity,

(01:04:19):
all those sort of things.
I think as far as if you stackit up with any of those films, I
still think it's a much betterfilm than any of those films,
although I do like some.
I like the original conjuring,I think it's good, but I think
it's just a little better thanmost of those.
I don't know supernatural inthe past yeah, there's, there's

(01:04:41):
a few, but I noticed there'sanother supernatural film with
the movies and there's a tar,but I noticed there's another
supernatural film with themovies.
Is it Tarot or Tarot orwhatever it is?
and it's based on Tarot, butit's getting absolutely panned.
I was going to go and see it.
I saw a trailer for it where Iwent and saw the first Omen a
few weeks ago which is reallygreat.
It's really great, really good.
It has some jump scares, butthe jump scares are in the right

(01:05:03):
place and they're not overdoneand it's a really good prequel.
And anyway, I saw the shortsfor this tarot movie and I
thought, oh my God, this is justlike it was almost like.
I think the premise issomething about they get these
tarot cards from somewhere thatthey shouldn't have, or

(01:05:24):
something like that, and thecards sort of show the way that
each of the characters is goingto die, or something right.
And I'm like, oh, this is justlike a retooling of Final
Destination, Right.
That's what I was thinking.
So I didn't see it and thereviews are like it's being

(01:05:44):
panned.
It's probably a good one forstreaming later, like just leave
your brain at the door and havea good time, maybe.
Um, so there's quite a few goodhorror movies in the abigail.
I haven't caught up with thatyet.

Brandon (01:05:55):
That yeah, I haven't seen that one.

Pete (01:05:56):
It actually looks really good.
So yeah, um yeah, it's probablyit's a pretty good time for
horror at the moment, actuallyyeah, I haven't seen.

Brandon (01:06:04):
I can't think of the last one I've seen.
Well, besides, uh, late nightwith the devil, but um, it's
been a while it.

Pete (01:06:11):
I think it stacks up pretty well against some of the
other supernatural movies.

Brandon (01:06:14):
Because I'm not I never like paranormal activity
because once again it's just ajump scare fest and pretty
boring when you think of it yeah, it can be kind of dull because
a lot of what you're watchingis just very mundane domestic
life and then some weird shithappens and then you're back to

(01:06:38):
you know it's definitelysupernatural, but I think it
stacks up really well withsupernatural movies of the past.

Pete (01:06:43):
I think it's pretty good actually well, it dare.

Brandon (01:06:46):
it dares to do something a little bit different
, or at least do it in adifferent way, and that was
really refreshing.
And with it being a genre filmor you know, we've.
I mean, you could like justlook at your watch and be like,
okay, we're at the 20-minutemark and these are the things
that that are going to happen,yeah, yeah.

(01:07:08):
Yeah it's so true.
It's so true, yeah, so eventhough I mean it has structure,
but it's not.
Everything was Well, it hasnothing to do with
predictability, I guess.
It's more that you becomeinvested because you're like,

(01:07:29):
I'm just interested From aconceptual point of view.
Just being possessed as a wayof kind of socially getting high
was like that's reallydifferent.
It's a great concept actually,yeah, yeah, instead of going to
a party where everyone passes abong around, everyone's passing

(01:07:49):
a hand around this time, eventhough we have these
conversations in the movie about, uh, you know, using cigarettes
or you know you better not bedrinking and things like that.
You know, at least we're notdoing drugs.
But it's that idea.
It's like it's kind of the thestand-in, uh, for that.
You know, at least we're notdoing drugs.
But it's that idea.
It's like it's kind of thestand-in for recreational drugs.
You know even the language thatMia was using when she is

(01:08:12):
telling Riley what it was like.
She said it felt amazing, likeI was glowing, like I was in the
passenger seat.
It felt incredible.
You know, it's like it's thatsame kind of transformative
experience.
You know, to feel different, todisentangle ourselves from
reality, you know.
So just that was pretty cool.

Pete (01:08:34):
Any final thoughts on the film you recommend?

Brandon (01:08:37):
the film.
I would recommend the film.
I like it.
I mean there's a lot of kind ofbig picture stuff that's worth
looking at and kind of zoomingin on, just from a social and
cultural point of view.
I mean it's a great film.

(01:08:59):
It's a tight, 95 minutes,there's not a lot of exposition.
Great film it's a tight, 95minutes, there's not a lot of
exposition.
Yeah, I mean the even the waythe film ends.
It's like this is gonna keephappening.
You know we've seen that beforeevil never dies, right, you
know, but it's it's much like,you know, this film's concern
with life and death and andgrief and trauma.

(01:09:20):
It's cyclicalical, but it'slike this thing that's happening
around this hand will persistor it will endure, and I think
the act of using the hand as ameans of possession is
interesting because it'sentertainment for young people.

(01:09:40):
But in a way and I could bewrong, you could tell me what
you think, but it may besomething that the film may be
saying to me is that the scarything isn't really the unknown,
the supernatural entities orwhatever known, the supernatural

(01:10:07):
entities or whatever it's.
You know it's us or it's it'shuman behavior or the corruption
of human behavior and how we,how we corrupt and abuse things
that were previously shown asscary or harmful to us, you know
.
So that's a turning of thetables a bit too like tiny
digression I was thinking justnow about, about I can't
remember who pitched this, butit was a Nightmare on Elm Street

(01:10:29):
sequel that never got off theground.
It was just a pitch, but it wasthat it would be in the future
and kids were, because Freddy isweakened in the dream world and
kids were going into the dreamworld to abuse Freddy because he

(01:10:49):
was weakened and it was abouthim finding enough power to come
back at them, but not that hewas the hero of the story, but
anyway.
But that idea of turning thetables in a way and making the,
the the boogeyman kind of thethe puppet in a way, I don't
know I just thought that wasreally unique and original, and

(01:11:15):
so I applaud the filmmakers forfor taking some, uh, some bold
steps, and I'm glad that theygot this widely distributed so,
brandon, what's happening inyour world at the moment?

Pete (01:11:30):
I think we we chat a little bit before we start
recording.
Oh yeah, be quiet on thepodcast front yeah, a bit quiet
on the podcast front.

Brandon (01:11:39):
I I've been as, as I've mentioned this, on the two
shows of which I'm a partVericon Video and the Gory
Picture Show, which are kind ofon a break right now, an
indefinite break I have beenwith my job very busy.

(01:11:59):
I have a lot of commitments.
It's just taken a lot of mytime and resources.
So I am hoping to get back intoit very soon, since I have a
lot more time on my plate, orhave a lot less on my plate and
free time to hopefully do somepodcasting this summer.

Pete (01:12:18):
That'd be good.
Corey Pictures shows what wasthe last episode you did of that
.
I did listen to it.
Oh shoot, Was it NightmareSisters, Something like that
yeah, they're always fun becausethey're always really great,
like movies that not many peoplehave heard of.

Brandon (01:12:37):
Oh, I know, I know that's what I like about it, and
it's usually Lewis saying like,have you heard of this movie?
And I'm like no, but let's doit.
And then it's something likenecromantic.
Yeah, you know.

Pete (01:12:52):
What was the one you actually?
I listened to the podcast.
I thought I've got to watch it.
What was the one about the guy?
He was in New York City, Ithink.
Was it Butcher Baker, nightmareMaker, or something like that?
He was in new york city, Ithink.
Um, was it something?

Brandon (01:13:06):
was it butcher baker, nightmare maker, or something
like that butcher, bakernightmare maker is one of my
favorites we've done it's reallygood.
It just got a 4k release, uh,from severin it's amazing.

Pete (01:13:18):
They have these movies that hardly anyone's seen and
they give them 4k releases.
It's amazing, I know.

Brandon (01:13:24):
So how did they even find like a print of this
obscure movie.

Pete (01:13:28):
The thing is, though, it's a collector's market.
Now, right, like, oh right,yeah, traditionally, people that
would traditionally buy mediadon't buy it anymore.
Like you're seeing it in retail.
You're seeing less discs inretail.
There's still quite a few.
I see it.
My local JB Hi-Fi.
They still have quite a decentamount, but some of the stores

(01:13:49):
the JB Hi-Fi stores I'm hearingare cutting back or cutting out
physical media altogether, whichis really sad, especially when
they're also quite happy to sellvinyl LPs now, yeah, which is
quite odd.
So I think it's amazing thatit's really, and I think, in a

(01:14:14):
way, it's good because, yes, allthese editions, like the one we
talked about for Talk to Me$160, or the Late Night with the
Devil, which I think was aboutthe same price, right, these
things are fairly expensive, butthey're catering to a market
that's passionate about physicalmedia and, and, yeah, wanting
to have physical media and, uh,I think it's.

(01:14:37):
It's fantastic that you knowthat's available for people in
companies like Severin Umbrellayeah.
Who do I buy stuff from?
Quite a bit Arrow, arrow, kino,lorber yeah, they always have
great stuff.
I've got Rollerball from Arrowthe original oh yeah, such a
great movie I've never seen it.
It's so good yeah.

Brandon (01:14:58):
Yeah, it's great.
It's very 70s Nice.
I think it might be Arrow orKino, I can't remember, but
there's a 4K.
Someone has that's on saleright now and I thought about
picking it up, so maybe I will.
Yeah.

Pete (01:15:15):
I just bought a 4K set from Arrow for all the Psycho
films.
I think they were all in 4K.

Brandon (01:15:21):
Oh yeah.

Pete (01:15:22):
And it was a nice set.
So yeah, it's pretty good.
The only thing with the arrowstuff it's pretty expensive for
me because the exchange rate sooh but.
But all this stuff, becauseit's a british company, all this
stuff's in the same region forme so I can buy it without
having to worry about it whereasokay if I see stuff on shout
factory, it's probably not goingto work because even with 4K

(01:15:46):
they region lock it, which is abummer.

Preview Time Dude (01:15:50):
That's a bummer.

Pete (01:15:52):
But, yeah anyway, but yeah , so that's it.
Any socials you want to share?

Brandon (01:15:59):
If you like, you can follow me on X, the app formerly
known as Twitter.
It used to be good, the BrandonHardy.
Yeah, it used to be good.
It used to be great.
Now it's kind of a graveyard.

Pete (01:16:14):
All right.
Well, thank you so much forBrandon.
Thank you so much for Brandon.
Thank you so much, Brandon, forcoming onto the show.
I appreciate it.
It's great having you on.
It's been so long.
Maybe we'll try and sneakanother one in before you get
back to work.

Brandon (01:16:30):
Yeah, I'm ready, just let me know.

Pete (01:16:32):
and we'll do it again.
Sounds great.
Well, thanks for coming on andgood to see you again.
Yeah, you too, and when wereturn we'll see what's coming
up next.

Preview Time Dude (01:16:46):
And now preview time.
When it comes to entertainment,you can't beat a good film, so
let's take a look at what'scoming your way.
I know nothing about politics,senator, but I do know about

(01:17:07):
magic.
I know there are powers at workin the universe.
To those higher powers, thedematerialization of a given
target would be child's play.
A top politician disappearswithout trace An accident or

(01:17:30):
assassination, mommy, a dyingchild recovers without reason.
Do you want to die To rot?
A miracle or fraud?
Only the Harlequin knows theanswer.

(01:17:51):
In the old Italian comedy, theHarlequin couldn't be seen by
other characters, only bymembers of the audience.
It's moved.
The senator fears him.
The woman loves him.
The manipulator wants todestroy him.
There is the edge.

(01:18:11):
Only the wind separates youfrom the rocks.
What do you feel?
I think you push people intothe deep end.
The deep end is always with you.
All you have to do is fall.

(01:18:32):
Alice In our own house, aliceright Now.
Was that before or after?
He slept with you?
I'll hold him.
I'll hold him if I have to nailhis hands to the wall.
Harlequin, he's the ultimateparadox.

(01:18:55):
Find him, and he isn't there.
Kill him and he will not die.
He's the man with the powerover mind and matter.

(01:19:15):
Love and hate, life and death.
Harlequin is he the new messiahor a demon from another world?

Pete (01:19:44):
Thanks for taking the time to listen to this episode of A
Dingo Ate my Movie.
I want to thank all my guestswho give their time to make this
podcast possible, and a specialthanks to you for listening.
Don't forget you can follow ADingo Ate my Movie on social
media On Twitter, it's justDingo Movie.
Facebook and Instagram is DingoMovie Pod and, of course, you
can check out our website, dingomovie pod dot com.

(01:20:06):
So until next time, stay safeand I'll see you soon.