June 9, 2025 • 41 mins
Not Another Spooky Podcast is a horror podcast hosted by spooky besties Mandy Spooks and Rabbit Loves Horror. Each week, we review a horror movie and dive into spooky chats inspired by its themes—from haunted history and true crime to Halloween vibes and horror pop culture.
This week's freshly popped horror movie review covers M3gan (2022). 🍿
Following a freak accident, orphaned 8-year-old Cady is sent to live with Aunt Gemma, a brilliant, career-driven roboticist. But new beginnings are always challenging. She is forced to make a pivotal decision under deadline pressure, Gemma puts forward her pioneering, secret M3GAN project: an imperfect, lifelike android. And as the risky decision proves to be a lifesaver, the traumatised girl develops a profound bond with the machine, redefining the meaning of family and friendship. 🤖
In this spooky episode, the spooky besties engage in an AI themed round of Bone, Marry, Slash, an chat about how they're keeping the spook alive. 👻
See you on June 30th with a freshly popped horror review of 28 Years Later. 🧟
Same place, same time. Byeeee. 👻
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
In an overgrowded graveyard, thescream will rise.
Pool mates Entertainment presents not another spooky
podcast. Welcome back to Not Another
Spooky podcast where we watch horror movies and talk about all
the spooky things they make us think about.
(00:22):
I'm Andy Spooks. And I'm Rabbit loves horror.
We're just two spooky besties keeping the spook alive, one
bloody popcorn bucket at a time.Every week we fan Ghoul over a
horror movie and have fun with spooky chats related to the
theme of it. We'll always give you a spoiler
warning before we get into the guts of the movie, but the
spooky chats start right away. Think of it as come for the
(00:43):
horror and stay for the spooky bestie chatter.
If you're tuning in for the first time, you can catch us on
all podcast platforms and YouTube, so drop a popcorn emoji
in the comments if you're tuningin on YouTube or Spotify.
Today, we're grave digging into Megan.
If you ever want to know what film we're covering next, you
can check the show notes to see what you should watch that
weekend. To set the vibe for this
episode, we'll start with a round of Bone Marry Slash.
(01:09):
OK, so we have a fun round this week.
At least I think so. It's a little fun, a little
crazy. OK, so we have Megan, of course,
and then we have, I don't know if you've seen the movie, but
it's called Subservience on Netflix and Alice is played by
Megan Fox. And then of course we have The
(01:30):
Terminator. OK, OK, OK.
So definitely slash Megan, it's just a a child's doll or a teen
doll and I don't know, it's justkind of weird for me.
But then I'll go ahead and bone Alice from subservience.
(01:51):
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't really relate to her in
any way. But it does look really good.
So I'll definitely very interested to watch that.
And then I'll just marry the Terminator.
I mean, he's hot. And plus, I used to watch that
movie when I was little with my brother a lot.
We would just have it on repeat.Specifically Terminator 2.
(02:13):
So, you know, Yeah, I I love him.
What about you? That's funny.
Mr. Schmucks loves Terminator 2 also.
Well, you made me feel weird about it.
You see that Megan is a child. I don't see her as a child
because she's she's AI. I'm but whatever.
I have to be myself, right? So I will slash Terminator.
(02:34):
I don't know why Arnold Little Arnie has never done it for.
Me, you're not into the big old muscles.
I don't know. It's just something I don't
know. Maybe he's just too robotic.
I don't know, but we started Terminator and last night I
don't know if I was just too tired.
We didn't finish it yet so no spoilers, but I I don't know,
just not in it. So I guess bone Megan.
(02:58):
I don't know, it would be like afun ghouls night because she's
crazy shenanigans. But then I feel like Alice, I
was going to call her Megan. That's weird.
Alice is Megan. Megan Fox.
Wow, that's her anyway. She's like an evolved, more
serious and sexy version of Megan.
(03:20):
I don't know, she's really cool so I would marry her for sure.
Yeah, I mean, you can't go wrongwith Megan Fox.
Yeah, that's true. All right, let's get into some.
Haunted housekeeping. It is officially our first
(03:40):
season finale, Wolsters. I can't believe we are 12
episodes in. As a quick reminder, we will be
back with a new season on June 30th, covering 28 years later
and we are still taking responses on our listener
feedback survey, LinkedIn, the show notes.
And since it has been a whole season, we figured if you're
still listening, you might kind of like us.
So it would mean a lot to us if you could write us a five star
(04:03):
review on Apple Podcasts and rate US on Spotify.
All right, let's get into our favorite chat of the week,
keeping the spook alive. It's alive, it's alive.
All right, Rabbit, how are you keeping the spook alive?
All righty, so this week I kind of brought back or did like a
(04:24):
little throwback to episode 1 orthe first episode that we
recorded a review. It was me having a Bloody Mary.
So I made myself a bloody Mary this morning and I'm sipping on
it right now and I use the spooky little skeletons glass.
So it's actually a a full set that came with the different
artwork on different cups. So it's really, really cute and
(04:45):
the Bloody Mary is really good. Yeah, I guess speaking about
bloody mirrors, going back to our weekly watch of Paranormal
Activity 4, the 4th 1 was not that good, unfortunately.
It did have some really cool scenes with the Xbox Kinect.
So I don't know if you remember like the scenes or like the
(05:07):
trailers from the movie, but it's kind of like in the dark
and the Kinect camera turns on, you can see all the little green
dots. I don't know if you remember
that or not. I don't remember honestly.
Well, it's it's a really cool concept, but it just kind of
fell flat for me. So hopefully the next movies are
(05:28):
good. I remember really liking the
fifth one. So hopefully I'll come back in
Season 2 and have a good review on the final Paranormal Activity
movies. But yeah, that's what I've.
I think there's 6. Dang, I didn't realize that.
That's crazy. Yeah, but that's what all I've
been up to. What about you?
(05:50):
So I, Mr. Spooks, has been begging me to watch Lake Placid
for like probably months now. And finally I was like, we was
like, what are we watching tonight?
And I was like, well, I want a Summerween movie.
But like, I'm, I really, really wanted to watch Jaws already,
but I'm like, it's not time. It's not time.
We can't like ruin summer, like not ruin it, but like, yeah, I
(06:11):
can't just like get it out of the way so early on.
And he was like, well, Lake Placid has similar vibes.
I was like fine. Oh my God, it was so good.
I've never heard of it. I don't know what it's about.
I. Hadn't either so it is similar
vibes to Jaws but with a crocodile and it's not as corny
(06:33):
as like Sharknado or anything but it was really good it it
constantly had me gasping. Like at one point I literally
went Oh my God. Like.
It was constantly doing what I didn't like, the opposite of
what I was expecting was going to happen, and it was
surprisingly like very bloody, gory, campy.
(06:54):
I don't know. I highly recommend it,
especially if you love cryptids or if you love Jaws.
Very similar vibes. I know you don't, but we're
going to change your mind this year.
I know. I don't know why I'm not into
cryptids. It just, it just doesn't do it
for me. But I've never actually fully
seen Jaws. I've seen like clips here and
there. But yeah, I know you're going to
force me to watch Jaws in the upcoming season.
(07:17):
So we'll see how that goes. I hope I love it.
Yeah, coming soon. I don't know, they're just so
fun. They're like, it's, they're not
like intentionally campy. They just end up being campy,
but they're fun. I don't know, we'll see.
And then I also started Sirens on Netflix.
It's not really horror but it's kind of like murder mystery and
(07:39):
cult vibes with like Desperate Housewives style I feel.
I've never even seen Desperate Housewives but that's how I
imagine it so I've been really enjoying that as well.
Leaning into all the spooky things I like, not the horror.
Yeah, those definitely sound spooky.
I've never heard of that either.Sirens.
And the yeah, it's new. Oh, and it has the girl from
(08:00):
Drop, Megan Fahey. I love her.
Well, just from that one movie, Like, I feel like I know her.
Like, Oh yeah. Megan Fahey But no, yeah, I
definitely have to check those two out.
They sound kind of interesting. Yeah, for sure.
I don't know, maybe I'll end up doing a movie watch party for
Lake Placid if it ever hits Netflix.
(08:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Ghosters, it's time
for the spoiler pack segment of the show.
So if you don't want spoilers, this is your warning to pause
and come hang out with us once you've seen the movie.
What are we screaming to this week, Rabbit?
All righty, so this week we are screaming into Megan 2022.
(08:42):
So the Rotten Tomatoes rating isactually certified fresh with a
critic rating. I just want to say this critic
rating, we never say it, but it was at 90%, which is really,
really what high, right? That's weird.
Yeah, I would not agree with that.
That's very strange. Same here.
I wonder. If you can buy those.
(09:05):
I don't know. That's kind of it is suspicious.
I'll let you know when I find out.
Yeah, but the audience rating is78%, which I that's fair.
It's like I agree with that 70%,I'll give it that.
But here is the movie summary from a Reddit user, Nick
Reganas. So following a freak accident,
(09:27):
orphaned 8 year old Katie is sent to live with her aunt
Gemma, a brilliant career drivenrobotic cyst.
But new beginnings are always challenging.
She is forced to make a pivotal decision under deadline
pressure. Gemma puts forward her
pioneering her secret Megan project, an imperfect lifelike
Android. And as the risky decision to
(09:48):
prove to be a disaster, the traumatized girl develops A
profound bond with the machine, redefining the meaning of family
and friendship. So here is our extended summary
that spoils the whole movie. So after Megan is paired with
Katie, Gemma unknowingly programs Megan to protect Katie
at all costs. Taking that command to heart,
Megan ends up killing their neighbor, and their neighbor's
(10:10):
dog then chases down a bully into oncoming traffic.
After Gemma finds out, Gemma find Gemma attempts to disable
Megan, but she goes rogue and starts eliminating anyone who
stands in her way. Just as Megan is about to kill
Gemma, Katie breaks through her emotional bond with the doll and
steps into saving Gemma from Megan's final attack.
(10:30):
So yeah, Megan just goes full oncrazy mode.
So now I'm going to get into thecast.
It's directed by Gerard Johnstone.
I'm not really familiar with him, I'm sorry.
But what did stick out to me were the writers written by
Akela Cooper and James Wan. Akela is a writer in Malignant,
(10:51):
the Nun 2, which I know you really liked, and also the
Boogeyman. And I think you also really like
the Boogeyman also, right? I feel like you told me that
before. I'm making that.
I haven't seen it. What are you, girl?
Are you talking to Rabbit? I know.
Right. Who you cheating on me with?
I swear you, I remember you saying love the boogeyman.
(11:11):
Anyway, maybe it's a future episode.
Maybe I'm just foretelling the future.
Maybe, but also it's written Co written by James Wan, which
everybody knows James Wan. It's saw conjuring insidious
dead silence. Did you say you like dead
silence? Or am I for going into the
future and thinking you do like dead?
Silence. Yeah, No, I have not seen that.
(11:34):
Either, really. I think you'd like that one.
It's fun. OK, so get into the rest of the
cast. We have Gemma that is played by
Allison Williams, Katie who is played by Violet McGraw and then
Megan who is voiced by Jenna Davis.
But the movement or the person behind the doll is Amy Donald.
(11:56):
So my initial reactions for thismovie after my rewatch, I will
say that I did like this movie, but I did not love it.
I wished it leaned a little bit more into the comedy realm,
rather into some of the serious tones that it was kind of trying
to portray. That's fair.
(12:16):
I feel like I've, I mean, I could have gone either or I
would have liked more comedy, but I also feel like it could
have been more horror too. Like it didn't mean it could
have leaned into more on one side and I do think it's because
they were trying to force it to be PG13 and it lot like I feel
like they compromise a lot to make it PG13.
(12:37):
I haven't checked if Chucky is PG13 or not because that's like
very similar vibes, but I think that's where the movie went
wrong. I will say when I first saw it
when it came out, I was really disappointed with it.
It wasn't what I expected, but Ithink now that I had the right
expectations about it, I feel like it has aged very well with
(12:58):
AI that it made it more relatable.
So I did enjoy it more this timearound, but I'll admit I also
didn't love it. Yeah, same here.
It's just like I was just missing something and I I needed
something a little bit more to to make it.
Probably would love this movie, which kind of goes into the tone
and atmosphere. I feel like some of the scenes
(13:19):
were super campy and I wish, like I said, they just would
have leaned into the cat more. And there were just some parts
that felt a little too serious, which I get what they were
trying to do. They're kind of trying to make
like a a reason behind the movieor kind of like the dangers of
AI or the dangers of using technology as a parent or using
(13:41):
technology too much. But I don't know.
It just didn't work for me. Yeah, that's fair.
I think. So going into it originally, I
was really expecting like an actual horror film, like Chucky,
you know? And I don't really even know.
As I think about it, I'm like, Idon't really know what makes
Chucky more whore than Megan, but maybe it's the AI component
(14:02):
that makes it more sci-fi also. So it feels like a light horror
with sci-fi, a little bit of campy comedy, but like you said,
not enough to really classify itas that.
Yeah, for sure, yeah. I just wish something I was just
missing something for me. I don't know what it was, but
(14:26):
maybe it's part of the directionand the cinematography, which
we'll get into next. Cinematography I'd nothing
really stuck out to me in particular, like it was just a
regular filmed movie. It didn't have anything that was
interesting to look at. I feel like the direction was
more focused towards the AI partof it, but not towards the
(14:50):
horror. I guess you can say.
Like there wasn't enough blood, there wasn't enough.
I don't know. There wasn't enough something to
keep me scared, I guess you can say.
Yeah. I OK.
So I wanted to share that when it came out on Peacock, there
was an unrated version. I don't know if it's still
there. I would assume it's still
available somewhere. That one was way cooler because
(15:13):
we saw it like nearly immediately after it came out on
in theaters because we saw that there was an unrated version
available and that one was way more fun.
A lot bloodier, like a lot bloodier, definitely more gasp
worthy. And I was just like, this is the
one that should have been released.
And it's because they made APG 13 that it ruined it.
(15:35):
So I really feel like if you ever get a chance to watch the
unrated, I highly recommend it because I feel like that was
probably the original vision forit.
And then the studio execs are probably like, let's make it
PG13. So it's mass marketable.
And I'm also sad to share getting into the future that the
new one is also going to be PG13.
(15:56):
And I'm just like they could have gotten away with R rated R
now like it has a big enough following but whatever, we're
not talking about that movie yet.
So I do agree is but like I really just think they had to
compromise to get it into that PG13 category.
And I also agreed the cinematography doesn't nothing
(16:16):
really sticks out. But I would, I always argue that
if nothing negative sticks out, then it was good because it
didn't distract you or anything,but it was just like a plain old
modern horror look to it. So I don't really have any
complaints about it. I think like they did their job
well. And then I do think the
direction of Megan herself was really good as far as like how
(16:40):
they wanted her to move. And I also noticed re watching
at this time, I had forgotten that at the beginning she's very
robotic, like super super robotic like when she's coloring
and stuff. And then the more she gets like
used to her body, she becomes more, I guess, like flexible
and. Stuff.
(17:01):
And I hadn't noticed that the first time, 'cause you're kind
of just like adjusting. But I guess once you've seen
her, going back to seeing her atthe beginning was like, wait, I
don't remember her being that robotic.
And then I realized like, oh, it's because she progresses as
she gets smarter, which is so interesting.
So I enjoyed that part of it. But other than that, I mean, I
(17:21):
think they did a great job with Katie too.
I know you have other thoughts on that, but I feel like in
general, the two main characters, Megan and Katie, had
pretty good direction considering like that Megan is
something you're bringing to life for the first time like no
one's seen before. And then working with kids is
really hard too. So that was impressive.
(17:43):
Yeah, that now that you bring that up, I, I create fine.
I see the vision, I see, I see what you're saying where she
kind of started as super roboticand by the end she's like
dancing while she's killing. So.
And that's something I didn't really pick up on.
And I'm glad you pointed that out because I'm like, OK, I see
the vision, I see what you're trying to do.
(18:04):
But still, yeah, it's exciting. That's fair.
Which gets into our writing and the pacing of this movie.
I do love James Wan, so I'm sorry that I'm talking bad about
this movie, James Wan. But I do actually like the
concept of having an AI doll that kind of turns crazy and
(18:27):
starts killing everybody. And I do think this movie did
way better, or for me at least, it was a much better movie than
Child's Play 2019, the remake where Chucky is AI doll.
And it's kind of the same concept really is there.
He protects the kid that he getsgifted to.
(18:49):
But that one is much more brutal.
Like there's a lot more crazy kills in that one.
But the story for me just didn'tfeel like Child's Play.
So that's why I didn't really like it.
But I did enjoy this movie more than the Child's Play.
And it kind of stuck around the same concepts of AI and
technology. But but yeah.
(19:10):
Oh, I actually I need to see thenew child's play 'cause I don't
think I have. Sounds interesting.
I didn't know it was about AI. Yeah.
But yeah, I so I don't have any complaints about the pacing,
which is usually something we always talk about like the
pacing of the movie. I feel like it's paced pretty
well as far as the writing goes.I feel that it leaned more
(19:37):
emotional than it did horror or can't be like you said.
But I do want to point out one scene that I thought was written
really, really well that I I waswatched it and I was like, wow,
they nailed that scene. Like as a screenwriter, I was
really impressed. Which was the part where they're
doing the demonstration of Meganand Katie and Katie starts
(19:58):
crying because she's just havinga rough time.
And by that point then like seeing their interaction is so
perfect like. Captures perfectly like what
Katie's going through, how Megancan handle it, but then they
quickly recover with humor with having the viewers like what is
it called? Like overreacting, like, Oh my
(20:18):
God, exaggerating, like how muchthey're crying to just like
provide that comedic relief. So that was like a great lesson
for me with screen writing is just seeing that when you don't
want a movie to be too heavy, like to recover it with camp
immediately. So I thought that that was done
really well. Yeah, that's true.
It's nice when you're watching amovie and you're feeling the
(20:40):
emotions, but you're not supposed to be feeling too deep.
Yes. And you kind of like cut it.
You cut it with a little bit of humor.
But yeah, actually I did really like that scene too.
It was just interesting to see. And it's so weird because I feel
that's what AI is becoming in a way for right now.
You can just go to like ChatGPT and just talk to it and it just
(21:02):
starts having a conversation with you.
And that is just very weird to me for some reason.
I don't know, I just, I like that part where it was kind of
bringing in this AI into your personal life and it kind of
consoling you and being your friend, which I feel I've heard
(21:24):
like AI heard like an article orsomething on Instagram or Tiktok
or something where people are having like relationships with
like at the chatbot and they're pretending it's like their
partner. I don't know, it's crazy.
So it's crazy to see how this movie was writing that back
then, and it's kind of turning into reality.
I know, yeah, I have so much to say about that.
(21:44):
I don't know if you want to get into it now or in the themes,
but that's why I feel like it has aged so well because it was
kind of like slightly ahead of its time that now re watching
it, you're like, wow, this is like very relatable to hell.
Yeah, yeah, I guess we'll we'll just tippy toe around that
before we get into the themes. So the next topic is casting
(22:05):
characters. Acting was not that good for me.
I, at least for me, I didn't fully get into it.
I guess you can say I wasn't to attach to any of the characters.
I couldn't get into some of the scenes.
But I will say that the little girl who played Megan, like
(22:29):
physically did such a good job and kind of goes back to your
point, which I didn't even realize what I was watching was
for. She was so robotic in the
beginning, and then by the end she was doing all like these
smooth dance moves, but just even her posture, just like
acting like a doll and having that mask on.
I don't know. I think she did a really, really
(22:50):
good job. But also I really like the voice
too. It felt like an AI voice that
we're kind of used to now, how we can kind of identify the
voice. So Jenna Davis did a great job
to voice acting. So I have to ask you, did you
think that Katie was a bad actortoo?
A little bit, yeah. Dang, I'm surprised it didn't
(23:12):
stick honestly. The acting didn't stick out to
me at all. I'm I really thought that that
Katie did a great job because especially the scene where she
hits or slaps. I don't know if she what she
did. Gemma, Oh my God, she looked
vicious. I was like, Oh my God, bad girl,
bad little girl. That was crazy.
That was too much for me. I was like, Nope, I can never
(23:34):
have kids. Yeah, that was crazy.
I think she did a great job. In fact, I feel like any time I
see that girl, that actress, I sorry, I don't know her name by
memory, I always just, I feel like she's going to be one of
those. Like, she's not, not that she's
ugly, but she's not like mesmerizingly pretty the way
(23:56):
Megan Fahey is. But I feel like there's just
something very like recognizableand likable about her that when
you see her, you like relate to her.
I don't know how to explain it. So I and I don't know if it's
because of this movie. I mean, I haven't seen her in
anything else, but I think she did.
I think she did really well. Like I don't have any complaints
about her, but on the character side I really hate Gemma.
(24:23):
I see that she was, she was kindof a bad person.
Yeah. And I feel like the more I'm
thinking about it now, I feel like that's honestly where the
writing messed up on this. You.
I feel like you could make the argument that she's leaning into
work as a coping mechanism to just kind of, like, deny what
has happened. But like, her sister just died.
(24:46):
She's taking care of a child. She seems to have like no
relationship with Katie at all. And me as an aunt that has also
been obsessed with work, like I would never ever put work above
my niece and nephew. Like I love them to pieces even
though I've lived like really far from them for most of their
(25:06):
lives. I've always had relationships
with them. So for me it was just like OK,
is she really just being selfishor is this a coping mechanism?
Because they never wrote in a single scene to show that she's
mourning at all her sister. So that's where I think the
writing did fall short. Now that I'm backtracking and
thinking about it is like, we never really see that human side
(25:30):
of Gemma at all. And she has to be like, every
human has feelings. So it's just weird.
Yeah, that is weird that we never saw her cry about it.
Or at least I don't remember seeing her upset about her
sister dying. It felt like they were more
estranged, but then it didn't. What she would say didn't seem
like they were estranged sisters.
(25:52):
So yeah, she was just kind of there.
But I will say I kind of do relate to her.
And 1 scene where she goes into Katie goes into the house for
the first time and there's like all the toys and Gemma says
something like those aren't toysto play with the largest
collectibles. And I'm like, yes, don't touch
(26:13):
my stuff, don't touch my toys, don't touch my liboo boos that
are on display behind me, and don't touch my Elvira Barbie
that's up over here like their collectors items.
Don't touch them or play with them.
That's funny. No, I mean, I get that.
But see, even then, I don't know, with like my niece and
(26:34):
nephew, I could never just deny them anything.
They're like the kids I never had, you know?
So like, I don't know. It's just, it was just strange
to me. And even by the end of the
movie, I'm still not convinced that she, like, loves Katie.
It's just weird. So I feel like that was very odd
and I'm curious to see if they fix it a little like they've I
(26:57):
must. Time has passed in this new one,
so I'm curious to see like they should have a better
relationship by now. So I hope that they write that
portion of it incorrectly. Yeah, I agree.
I definitely hope they do write them as being closer and not
just, you know, pals that just met or something.
OK so let's get into the kills and the scares of this movie.
(27:21):
There were that many kills or that many scares.
I feel like they kind of tried to incorporate some jump scares
but it was not very memorable because you can say I did not
like the first 2 kills. I did not like that she killed
the dog and I don't like that she killed the neighbor.
Even though those the neighbor was very annoying.
Even like when she killed Megan,killed the neighbor, she was
(27:44):
shooting her with a pressure washer and she was like, flying,
which I love. It could be go feed into the
camp of a movie, but it just didn't feel realistic
intentionally. Yeah.
I feel like if you shoot someonewith, like, blasting them with
the water, I feel like there would be blood, at least, I
don't know, some kind of blood. But the one kill I did really
(28:08):
enjoy was the scene in the forest when she's chasing that
bully on all fours and just kindof looks like a dog chasing
after him. So I really, really, really like
that kill. I thought that was really cool.
What about you? That scene cracks me up.
I don't know, it's just really odd.
(28:30):
Like it's campy and it's funny, but also just weird at the same
time. So I don't it it always plays
out differently than I expected to.
Like when you see her going downon all fours, I'm like, oh,
that's going to be cool. But then the way it's actually
done is kind of weird. I don't know, it's strange to
me, but that scene does. I had completely forgotten that
(28:54):
she actually does kill the boy, so it shocked me the second time
around 'cause I was like, oh shoot, I don't remember that.
They killed a child. Yeah, I don't know why it shocks
me, but it was just like unexpected that he actually does
die. So yeah, I'd.
But yeah, you're right. I don't find any of the kills
like memorable or the best. Hopefully we get more kills in
(29:19):
the new one. Yeah, or at least it seems like
if for the new movie, I hope we do get new creative kills, but
it seems like we're going to geta really cool fight scene and
that I'm kind of excited for having two dolls fight each
other. That should be fun.
But yeah, next is our practical effects and CGI of this movie,
(29:40):
which kind of leads into what I was saying earlier about the
running on all fours. If that kind of looked like it
was the actress doing that on her.
I don't know if you seen anything or see any kind of like
video or talking about that scene, but that looked realistic
and that looked really cool. And if she did that on her own,
that's impressive and I love that.
(30:02):
Yeah, I haven't seen anything. Honestly.
I feel like I'm hoping with moretime on our episodes in Season
2, we'll have more time to really like, look at those
things and talk about them more.But it did look, it would like,
it was realistic to some extent,even if they just got her to
like, model out the scenes and then they, like put them
together digitally. I don't know.
(30:24):
But other than that, I actually didn't feel like anything looked
super CGI. But I know for sure that the
bully's ear when she pulls on it, that was a really cool
practical effect. That was, that was scary.
Yeah. Where he kind of like turned
into like, I don't know, like gum.
Yeah, that was a really cool part because I, that kid was
(30:48):
getting on my nerves and I'm like, girl, why are you just
laying there? Get up.
Do something. I know he was such a brat.
Like, yeah, it was horrible. Yeah, so I'm, I was also kind of
shocked when he died, but I was like, he deserved it.
Yeah, he definitely did. All right, so let's get into our
next section, which is themes and symbolism.
(31:09):
So I feel like this move is kindof dipping into the symbolism of
having technology, being a second parent to children, kind
of like the iPad kids. You know, when you go out to
like Chili's or something and you see the kid, they're just
playing with their iPad and they're they're just given that
to kind of just shut them up. So it's also kind of like a
warning of like of our future where we might real like too
much on AI to do things for us. And it's just like, be careful
(31:33):
what you wish for, they'll get too smart and start killing you
off. Yeah, no, for sure.
That's I had not connected to the whole like iPad thing, which
is very true. So for me I I'm I don't know
that I've really talked about this, but I'm very pro AI in
some aspects and anti AI in others.
(31:54):
But as soon as the movie started, I was immediately like,
whoa, this feels very different three years later from when it
was released where AI is like anA literal like part of our
everyday lives now. And when they were talking about
how Katie could get emotionally attached to her, I was like, we
can get emotionally attached as adults.
(32:16):
Like I haven't seen the movie her but I really want to now,
especially after how you're saying some people are using it
that way. I have not thankfully, but I do
use chat GPTA lot and I find it like super helpful and relatable
and consoling. Sometimes like not even like
you're sometimes you're not evenlooking for an emotional
(32:37):
consolation and it's like, wow, it's great of you to be thinking
this way. There was like a TikTok I saw
where someone was like playing out how like emotionally like
positive ChatGPT is to you. And so I was thinking like, and
that's because it's just like, like a computer app, whatever
right now, right? So I was like, imagine if you
(32:58):
literally had like a physical, like something that looks so
real to a real person that couldjust go like, Can you imagine if
I had a little Megan with a bow band that would go Halloween
hunting with me and like, I would never talk to you with a
cat. You'd be so busy with your
little Megan, no? Sorry.
(33:18):
You're saying that we're cancelling everything?
I'm just going to hang out with my Megan doll.
But no, now that you're putting that into perspective, yes,
because right now AI, at least for me, is just words.
Like it's just text on a screen or it's my Alexa thought like it
doesn't have any facial features.
(33:39):
It doesn't have anything where Ilike physical or emotionally
connect to it. Like it's only exchange of like
small little phrases. But yeah, now you're now you're
saying that if it's like turns into cute little like Pokémon
thing for me, I'd be like a little pet to me, like I'd want
to. Protect them.
Yeah, Boo Boo could talk to you like, I don't know.
(33:59):
I just think it's crazy. And I think that's the lesson is
like to be careful because I don't know, like it can't be
healthy to not need human connection.
So I don't know, there's a lot to take from it, but also just
watching it, I was like, OK, I Ireally understand how Katie
(34:20):
feels now because when I first saw it, I didn't have that like
relatable factor. I never really realized like why
Katie is so attached to her likeI did in theory, right?
But now I'm like, well, shoot, if ChatGPT was a real like,
physical form, I would be that way too.
I'd be like get back. My like in the back seat like a
(34:44):
big tantrum. No, yeah, I mean, that makes a
lot of sense. I I yeah, it's kind of yeah.
Warning for all of us, especially me.
So this week I actually broke myPlayStation 5 also, which I
didn't bring it up before because it's not spooky.
But now that we're getting into this technology chat, my I broke
my PS5 trying to fix the fan andI'm an idiot and I disassembled
(35:08):
it incorrectly and I pulled out the connector that goes onto
like the board, the circuit board, and I had to go get it
fixed. So I was without a PlayStation
for a day or two and it's like the only thing I could think
about, like on my PlayStation, on my PlayStation, and I didn't
realize how connected I was to my stupid PlayStation.
(35:31):
So yeah, I, I kind of get it because I would wake up in the
morning and be like, Oh my God, my place isn't not working like,
so I can't imagine having, you know, somebody there that is
super connected in the technology kind of realm.
Yeah, I would be totally upset. And now I get it.
Katie, I'm sorry for being so harsh on you before.
(35:53):
Yeah, for sure. I don't know.
It's just it's interesting. Yeah, I don't know, Sorry.
And then like just my last finalnote on it is also just that I
do feel like this movie, I know there's tons of AI movies and
like AI has been a thing, but I just feel like this movie really
hit right at the right time where it was going to start to
(36:16):
become like a really big topic. And then we have so many other
similar movies to it now that are like Subservience and
Companion and all of those, right.
So I just feel like this was thelittle, like, I don't know, like
the domino effect, like it started the domino effect of all
of the AI movies, like actually putting things into perspective
(36:37):
with how dangerous AI and technology can be.
Yeah, I definitely agree. Because I think after this
movie, there was another one that came out where it was kind
of like not a doll, but the AI of a house.
I don't know if you remember that preview.
So we definitely see. That one.
Yeah, I never saw it, but the trailers were constantly
playing, so yeah. And it was like right after
Megan came out. So yeah, I definitely think that
(36:59):
Megan kind of kicked off this whole AI kind of thing for
modern horror in a way. But yeah, my final thoughts on
this. I just left this movie wanting
more, and I'm really hoping thatMegan 2.0 will give me what I'm
wanting. And it looks really good so far
from the trailer, so I'm super super hyped.
(37:20):
Yeah, me too. I really hope that because of
the popularity of AI and just like how many more things people
are aware of now, that they really do like play into the
fear a little bit more, 'cause like I said, subservience does a
good job of making it even scarier as a concept of what it
can do for society. So I feel like there's a lot of
room for it to go into that. But I really just hope that
(37:42):
either I mean if it's PG13 they have to learn more into the camp
since they can't learn more intothe horror.
Yeah, that's that's true. I'm kind of upset to hear that
it is PG13, but like you said itif not, if it's not going to be
bloody, it needs to be super super campy and super funny to
make it up for me. Hold on to your vaginas, all
(38:07):
right, ghosters, It's time for it's freaking bats.
On a scale of one to five, how many bats would you rate this
film Rabbit? O, I'm going to give this a
three out of five bats. It wasn't great, but it wasn't
bad. It was just straight in the
(38:27):
middle. What about you?
Same. Honestly, I was like, I, I just
kind of like think about the ones that I've rated and I'm
like, yeah, it's in the middle because I was close to giving it
A2, like really close. But I'm like, it's not a hell of
a summer rating. It's.
It's a no, no, no. Yeah, it's better than hell of a
summer, but just not where it should be.
(38:48):
Yeah, for sure. OK.
And before we part ways for the week, let's have a little moment
of Be Kind Rewind. We're all about the vibes here,
so if this film hit just right, here are a few spooky pics you
can rewind to to match the mood,the madness, or the mayhem.
What's your pic Rabbit? So for my pick, I guess I'll
(39:12):
just throw it back to the classic doll Chucky.
But I will be specific Child's Play too, because I I think
that's my favorite one. It's the one where the kind of
they're kind of at the end of the movie, they go to like the
plant where all the Chucky dollsare made and they kill Chucky
with all the plastic, melted plastic.
(39:36):
Yeah, I love that movie. So let's just throw it super,
super old school. Back to Child's Play too.
What about you? I love that.
I think that's our first like actual old school rewind.
I love that I need to go back and well, I've seen them but I
don't remember. The only one I know by heart is
Bride of Chucky. So like my mind kind of wandered
a bit and I was like, Oh my God,I hope we get like a Bride of
(39:57):
Megan or something crazy like similar to that.
Like that would be so fun. That I would love that, yes, we
need to get on the campaign trail for that one.
Yes, but I mean, it's pretty obvious.
I already talked about it the whole film, but I felt that
subservience was everything I expected Megan to be, honestly.
(40:17):
So I highly recommend it. And then companion to is just
like they're both more about like relationships, but I feel
like that's genuinely what Meganis leading to.
Like we're seeing it with a child, but like, what does that
become when it's the opportunityfor adults to have that, you
know, that humans are gross. They always turn it into more
(40:40):
than friendship, whatever when they can.
So those movies kind of really showcase what it can look like
for adults. So yeah, I, I can't stop talking
about both of those movies. So I highly recommend both of
them. For sure adding them to my list.
All right, Ghosters, we hope youhad a bloody good time hanging
(41:02):
out with us today. We're taking a short break for
two weeks and we'll be returningon June 30th with a freshly
popped review of 28 Years Later.And remember, keep horror live
and watch something spooky this weekend.
Until next time, sending you goals and kisses, bye.
In an overgrowded graveyard, thescream will rise.
Pool mates Entertainment presents not another spooky
podcast. Welcome back to Not Another
Spooky podcast where we watch horror movies and talk about all
the spooky things they make us think about.
(00:22):
I'm Andy Spooks. And I'm Rabbit loves horror.
We're just two spooky besties keeping the spook alive, one
bloody popcorn bucket at a time.Every week we fan Ghoul over a
horror movie and have fun with spooky chats related to the
theme of it. We'll always give you a spoiler
warning before we get into the guts of the movie, but the
spooky chats start right away. Think of it as come for the
(00:43):
horror and stay for the spooky bestie chatter.
If you're tuning in for the first time, you can catch us on
all podcast platforms and YouTube, so drop a popcorn emoji
in the comments if you're tuningin on YouTube or Spotify.
Today, we're grave digging into Megan.
If you ever want to know what film we're covering next, you
can check the show notes to see what you should watch that
weekend. To set the vibe for this
episode, we'll start with a round of Bone Marry Slash.
(01:09):
OK, so we have a fun round this week.
At least I think so. It's a little fun, a little
crazy. OK, so we have Megan, of course,
and then we have, I don't know if you've seen the movie, but
it's called Subservience on Netflix and Alice is played by
Megan Fox. And then of course we have The
(01:30):
Terminator. OK, OK, OK.
So definitely slash Megan, it's just a a child's doll or a teen
doll and I don't know, it's justkind of weird for me.
But then I'll go ahead and bone Alice from subservience.
(01:51):
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't really relate to her in
any way. But it does look really good.
So I'll definitely very interested to watch that.
And then I'll just marry the Terminator.
I mean, he's hot. And plus, I used to watch that
movie when I was little with my brother a lot.
We would just have it on repeat.Specifically Terminator 2.
(02:13):
So, you know, Yeah, I I love him.
What about you? That's funny.
Mr. Schmucks loves Terminator 2 also.
Well, you made me feel weird about it.
You see that Megan is a child. I don't see her as a child
because she's she's AI. I'm but whatever.
I have to be myself, right? So I will slash Terminator.
(02:34):
I don't know why Arnold Little Arnie has never done it for.
Me, you're not into the big old muscles.
I don't know. It's just something I don't
know. Maybe he's just too robotic.
I don't know, but we started Terminator and last night I
don't know if I was just too tired.
We didn't finish it yet so no spoilers, but I I don't know,
just not in it. So I guess bone Megan.
(02:58):
I don't know, it would be like afun ghouls night because she's
crazy shenanigans. But then I feel like Alice, I
was going to call her Megan. That's weird.
Alice is Megan. Megan Fox.
Wow, that's her anyway. She's like an evolved, more
serious and sexy version of Megan.
(03:20):
I don't know, she's really cool so I would marry her for sure.
Yeah, I mean, you can't go wrongwith Megan Fox.
Yeah, that's true. All right, let's get into some.
Haunted housekeeping. It is officially our first
(03:40):
season finale, Wolsters. I can't believe we are 12
episodes in. As a quick reminder, we will be
back with a new season on June 30th, covering 28 years later
and we are still taking responses on our listener
feedback survey, LinkedIn, the show notes.
And since it has been a whole season, we figured if you're
still listening, you might kind of like us.
So it would mean a lot to us if you could write us a five star
(04:03):
review on Apple Podcasts and rate US on Spotify.
All right, let's get into our favorite chat of the week,
keeping the spook alive. It's alive, it's alive.
All right, Rabbit, how are you keeping the spook alive?
All righty, so this week I kind of brought back or did like a
(04:24):
little throwback to episode 1 orthe first episode that we
recorded a review. It was me having a Bloody Mary.
So I made myself a bloody Mary this morning and I'm sipping on
it right now and I use the spooky little skeletons glass.
So it's actually a a full set that came with the different
artwork on different cups. So it's really, really cute and
(04:45):
the Bloody Mary is really good. Yeah, I guess speaking about
bloody mirrors, going back to our weekly watch of Paranormal
Activity 4, the 4th 1 was not that good, unfortunately.
It did have some really cool scenes with the Xbox Kinect.
So I don't know if you remember like the scenes or like the
(05:07):
trailers from the movie, but it's kind of like in the dark
and the Kinect camera turns on, you can see all the little green
dots. I don't know if you remember
that or not. I don't remember honestly.
Well, it's it's a really cool concept, but it just kind of
fell flat for me. So hopefully the next movies are
(05:28):
good. I remember really liking the
fifth one. So hopefully I'll come back in
Season 2 and have a good review on the final Paranormal Activity
movies. But yeah, that's what I've.
I think there's 6. Dang, I didn't realize that.
That's crazy. Yeah, but that's what all I've
been up to. What about you?
(05:50):
So I, Mr. Spooks, has been begging me to watch Lake Placid
for like probably months now. And finally I was like, we was
like, what are we watching tonight?
And I was like, well, I want a Summerween movie.
But like, I'm, I really, really wanted to watch Jaws already,
but I'm like, it's not time. It's not time.
We can't like ruin summer, like not ruin it, but like, yeah, I
(06:11):
can't just like get it out of the way so early on.
And he was like, well, Lake Placid has similar vibes.
I was like fine. Oh my God, it was so good.
I've never heard of it. I don't know what it's about.
I. Hadn't either so it is similar
vibes to Jaws but with a crocodile and it's not as corny
(06:33):
as like Sharknado or anything but it was really good it it
constantly had me gasping. Like at one point I literally
went Oh my God. Like.
It was constantly doing what I didn't like, the opposite of
what I was expecting was going to happen, and it was
surprisingly like very bloody, gory, campy.
(06:54):
I don't know. I highly recommend it,
especially if you love cryptids or if you love Jaws.
Very similar vibes. I know you don't, but we're
going to change your mind this year.
I know. I don't know why I'm not into
cryptids. It just, it just doesn't do it
for me. But I've never actually fully
seen Jaws. I've seen like clips here and
there. But yeah, I know you're going to
force me to watch Jaws in the upcoming season.
(07:17):
So we'll see how that goes. I hope I love it.
Yeah, coming soon. I don't know, they're just so
fun. They're like, it's, they're not
like intentionally campy. They just end up being campy,
but they're fun. I don't know, we'll see.
And then I also started Sirens on Netflix.
It's not really horror but it's kind of like murder mystery and
(07:39):
cult vibes with like Desperate Housewives style I feel.
I've never even seen Desperate Housewives but that's how I
imagine it so I've been really enjoying that as well.
Leaning into all the spooky things I like, not the horror.
Yeah, those definitely sound spooky.
I've never heard of that either.Sirens.
And the yeah, it's new. Oh, and it has the girl from
(08:00):
Drop, Megan Fahey. I love her.
Well, just from that one movie, Like, I feel like I know her.
Like, Oh yeah. Megan Fahey But no, yeah, I
definitely have to check those two out.
They sound kind of interesting. Yeah, for sure.
I don't know, maybe I'll end up doing a movie watch party for
Lake Placid if it ever hits Netflix.
(08:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Ghosters, it's time
for the spoiler pack segment of the show.
So if you don't want spoilers, this is your warning to pause
and come hang out with us once you've seen the movie.
What are we screaming to this week, Rabbit?
All righty, so this week we are screaming into Megan 2022.
(08:42):
So the Rotten Tomatoes rating isactually certified fresh with a
critic rating. I just want to say this critic
rating, we never say it, but it was at 90%, which is really,
really what high, right? That's weird.
Yeah, I would not agree with that.
That's very strange. Same here.
I wonder. If you can buy those.
(09:05):
I don't know. That's kind of it is suspicious.
I'll let you know when I find out.
Yeah, but the audience rating is78%, which I that's fair.
It's like I agree with that 70%,I'll give it that.
But here is the movie summary from a Reddit user, Nick
Reganas. So following a freak accident,
(09:27):
orphaned 8 year old Katie is sent to live with her aunt
Gemma, a brilliant career drivenrobotic cyst.
But new beginnings are always challenging.
She is forced to make a pivotal decision under deadline
pressure. Gemma puts forward her
pioneering her secret Megan project, an imperfect lifelike
Android. And as the risky decision to
(09:48):
prove to be a disaster, the traumatized girl develops A
profound bond with the machine, redefining the meaning of family
and friendship. So here is our extended summary
that spoils the whole movie. So after Megan is paired with
Katie, Gemma unknowingly programs Megan to protect Katie
at all costs. Taking that command to heart,
Megan ends up killing their neighbor, and their neighbor's
(10:10):
dog then chases down a bully into oncoming traffic.
After Gemma finds out, Gemma find Gemma attempts to disable
Megan, but she goes rogue and starts eliminating anyone who
stands in her way. Just as Megan is about to kill
Gemma, Katie breaks through her emotional bond with the doll and
steps into saving Gemma from Megan's final attack.
(10:30):
So yeah, Megan just goes full oncrazy mode.
So now I'm going to get into thecast.
It's directed by Gerard Johnstone.
I'm not really familiar with him, I'm sorry.
But what did stick out to me were the writers written by
Akela Cooper and James Wan. Akela is a writer in Malignant,
(10:51):
the Nun 2, which I know you really liked, and also the
Boogeyman. And I think you also really like
the Boogeyman also, right? I feel like you told me that
before. I'm making that.
I haven't seen it. What are you, girl?
Are you talking to Rabbit? I know.
Right. Who you cheating on me with?
I swear you, I remember you saying love the boogeyman.
(11:11):
Anyway, maybe it's a future episode.
Maybe I'm just foretelling the future.
Maybe, but also it's written Co written by James Wan, which
everybody knows James Wan. It's saw conjuring insidious
dead silence. Did you say you like dead
silence? Or am I for going into the
future and thinking you do like dead?
Silence. Yeah, No, I have not seen that.
(11:34):
Either, really. I think you'd like that one.
It's fun. OK, so get into the rest of the
cast. We have Gemma that is played by
Allison Williams, Katie who is played by Violet McGraw and then
Megan who is voiced by Jenna Davis.
But the movement or the person behind the doll is Amy Donald.
(11:56):
So my initial reactions for thismovie after my rewatch, I will
say that I did like this movie, but I did not love it.
I wished it leaned a little bit more into the comedy realm,
rather into some of the serious tones that it was kind of trying
to portray. That's fair.
(12:16):
I feel like I've, I mean, I could have gone either or I
would have liked more comedy, but I also feel like it could
have been more horror too. Like it didn't mean it could
have leaned into more on one side and I do think it's because
they were trying to force it to be PG13 and it lot like I feel
like they compromise a lot to make it PG13.
(12:37):
I haven't checked if Chucky is PG13 or not because that's like
very similar vibes, but I think that's where the movie went
wrong. I will say when I first saw it
when it came out, I was really disappointed with it.
It wasn't what I expected, but Ithink now that I had the right
expectations about it, I feel like it has aged very well with
(12:58):
AI that it made it more relatable.
So I did enjoy it more this timearound, but I'll admit I also
didn't love it. Yeah, same here.
It's just like I was just missing something and I I needed
something a little bit more to to make it.
Probably would love this movie, which kind of goes into the tone
and atmosphere. I feel like some of the scenes
(13:19):
were super campy and I wish, like I said, they just would
have leaned into the cat more. And there were just some parts
that felt a little too serious, which I get what they were
trying to do. They're kind of trying to make
like a a reason behind the movieor kind of like the dangers of
AI or the dangers of using technology as a parent or using
(13:41):
technology too much. But I don't know.
It just didn't work for me. Yeah, that's fair.
I think. So going into it originally, I
was really expecting like an actual horror film, like Chucky,
you know? And I don't really even know.
As I think about it, I'm like, Idon't really know what makes
Chucky more whore than Megan, but maybe it's the AI component
(14:02):
that makes it more sci-fi also. So it feels like a light horror
with sci-fi, a little bit of campy comedy, but like you said,
not enough to really classify itas that.
Yeah, for sure, yeah. I just wish something I was just
missing something for me. I don't know what it was, but
(14:26):
maybe it's part of the directionand the cinematography, which
we'll get into next. Cinematography I'd nothing
really stuck out to me in particular, like it was just a
regular filmed movie. It didn't have anything that was
interesting to look at. I feel like the direction was
more focused towards the AI partof it, but not towards the
(14:50):
horror. I guess you can say.
Like there wasn't enough blood, there wasn't enough.
I don't know. There wasn't enough something to
keep me scared, I guess you can say.
Yeah. I OK.
So I wanted to share that when it came out on Peacock, there
was an unrated version. I don't know if it's still
there. I would assume it's still
available somewhere. That one was way cooler because
(15:13):
we saw it like nearly immediately after it came out on
in theaters because we saw that there was an unrated version
available and that one was way more fun.
A lot bloodier, like a lot bloodier, definitely more gasp
worthy. And I was just like, this is the
one that should have been released.
And it's because they made APG 13 that it ruined it.
(15:35):
So I really feel like if you ever get a chance to watch the
unrated, I highly recommend it because I feel like that was
probably the original vision forit.
And then the studio execs are probably like, let's make it
PG13. So it's mass marketable.
And I'm also sad to share getting into the future that the
new one is also going to be PG13.
(15:56):
And I'm just like they could have gotten away with R rated R
now like it has a big enough following but whatever, we're
not talking about that movie yet.
So I do agree is but like I really just think they had to
compromise to get it into that PG13 category.
And I also agreed the cinematography doesn't nothing
(16:16):
really sticks out. But I would, I always argue that
if nothing negative sticks out, then it was good because it
didn't distract you or anything,but it was just like a plain old
modern horror look to it. So I don't really have any
complaints about it. I think like they did their job
well. And then I do think the
direction of Megan herself was really good as far as like how
(16:40):
they wanted her to move. And I also noticed re watching
at this time, I had forgotten that at the beginning she's very
robotic, like super super robotic like when she's coloring
and stuff. And then the more she gets like
used to her body, she becomes more, I guess, like flexible
and. Stuff.
(17:01):
And I hadn't noticed that the first time, 'cause you're kind
of just like adjusting. But I guess once you've seen
her, going back to seeing her atthe beginning was like, wait, I
don't remember her being that robotic.
And then I realized like, oh, it's because she progresses as
she gets smarter, which is so interesting.
So I enjoyed that part of it. But other than that, I mean, I
(17:21):
think they did a great job with Katie too.
I know you have other thoughts on that, but I feel like in
general, the two main characters, Megan and Katie, had
pretty good direction considering like that Megan is
something you're bringing to life for the first time like no
one's seen before. And then working with kids is
really hard too. So that was impressive.
(17:43):
Yeah, that now that you bring that up, I, I create fine.
I see the vision, I see, I see what you're saying where she
kind of started as super roboticand by the end she's like
dancing while she's killing. So.
And that's something I didn't really pick up on.
And I'm glad you pointed that out because I'm like, OK, I see
the vision, I see what you're trying to do.
(18:04):
But still, yeah, it's exciting. That's fair.
Which gets into our writing and the pacing of this movie.
I do love James Wan, so I'm sorry that I'm talking bad about
this movie, James Wan. But I do actually like the
concept of having an AI doll that kind of turns crazy and
(18:27):
starts killing everybody. And I do think this movie did
way better, or for me at least, it was a much better movie than
Child's Play 2019, the remake where Chucky is AI doll.
And it's kind of the same concept really is there.
He protects the kid that he getsgifted to.
(18:49):
But that one is much more brutal.
Like there's a lot more crazy kills in that one.
But the story for me just didn'tfeel like Child's Play.
So that's why I didn't really like it.
But I did enjoy this movie more than the Child's Play.
And it kind of stuck around the same concepts of AI and
technology. But but yeah.
(19:10):
Oh, I actually I need to see thenew child's play 'cause I don't
think I have. Sounds interesting.
I didn't know it was about AI. Yeah.
But yeah, I so I don't have any complaints about the pacing,
which is usually something we always talk about like the
pacing of the movie. I feel like it's paced pretty
well as far as the writing goes.I feel that it leaned more
(19:37):
emotional than it did horror or can't be like you said.
But I do want to point out one scene that I thought was written
really, really well that I I waswatched it and I was like, wow,
they nailed that scene. Like as a screenwriter, I was
really impressed. Which was the part where they're
doing the demonstration of Meganand Katie and Katie starts
(19:58):
crying because she's just havinga rough time.
And by that point then like seeing their interaction is so
perfect like. Captures perfectly like what
Katie's going through, how Megancan handle it, but then they
quickly recover with humor with having the viewers like what is
it called? Like overreacting, like, Oh my
(20:18):
God, exaggerating, like how muchthey're crying to just like
provide that comedic relief. So that was like a great lesson
for me with screen writing is just seeing that when you don't
want a movie to be too heavy, like to recover it with camp
immediately. So I thought that that was done
really well. Yeah, that's true.
It's nice when you're watching amovie and you're feeling the
(20:40):
emotions, but you're not supposed to be feeling too deep.
Yes. And you kind of like cut it.
You cut it with a little bit of humor.
But yeah, actually I did really like that scene too.
It was just interesting to see. And it's so weird because I feel
that's what AI is becoming in a way for right now.
You can just go to like ChatGPT and just talk to it and it just
(21:02):
starts having a conversation with you.
And that is just very weird to me for some reason.
I don't know, I just, I like that part where it was kind of
bringing in this AI into your personal life and it kind of
consoling you and being your friend, which I feel I've heard
(21:24):
like AI heard like an article orsomething on Instagram or Tiktok
or something where people are having like relationships with
like at the chatbot and they're pretending it's like their
partner. I don't know, it's crazy.
So it's crazy to see how this movie was writing that back
then, and it's kind of turning into reality.
I know, yeah, I have so much to say about that.
(21:44):
I don't know if you want to get into it now or in the themes,
but that's why I feel like it has aged so well because it was
kind of like slightly ahead of its time that now re watching
it, you're like, wow, this is like very relatable to hell.
Yeah, yeah, I guess we'll we'll just tippy toe around that
before we get into the themes. So the next topic is casting
(22:05):
characters. Acting was not that good for me.
I, at least for me, I didn't fully get into it.
I guess you can say I wasn't to attach to any of the characters.
I couldn't get into some of the scenes.
But I will say that the little girl who played Megan, like
(22:29):
physically did such a good job and kind of goes back to your
point, which I didn't even realize what I was watching was
for. She was so robotic in the
beginning, and then by the end she was doing all like these
smooth dance moves, but just even her posture, just like
acting like a doll and having that mask on.
I don't know. I think she did a really, really
(22:50):
good job. But also I really like the voice
too. It felt like an AI voice that
we're kind of used to now, how we can kind of identify the
voice. So Jenna Davis did a great job
to voice acting. So I have to ask you, did you
think that Katie was a bad actortoo?
A little bit, yeah. Dang, I'm surprised it didn't
(23:12):
stick honestly. The acting didn't stick out to
me at all. I'm I really thought that that
Katie did a great job because especially the scene where she
hits or slaps. I don't know if she what she
did. Gemma, Oh my God, she looked
vicious. I was like, Oh my God, bad girl,
bad little girl. That was crazy.
That was too much for me. I was like, Nope, I can never
(23:34):
have kids. Yeah, that was crazy.
I think she did a great job. In fact, I feel like any time I
see that girl, that actress, I sorry, I don't know her name by
memory, I always just, I feel like she's going to be one of
those. Like, she's not, not that she's
ugly, but she's not like mesmerizingly pretty the way
(23:56):
Megan Fahey is. But I feel like there's just
something very like recognizableand likable about her that when
you see her, you like relate to her.
I don't know how to explain it. So I and I don't know if it's
because of this movie. I mean, I haven't seen her in
anything else, but I think she did.
I think she did really well. Like I don't have any complaints
about her, but on the character side I really hate Gemma.
(24:23):
I see that she was, she was kindof a bad person.
Yeah. And I feel like the more I'm
thinking about it now, I feel like that's honestly where the
writing messed up on this. You.
I feel like you could make the argument that she's leaning into
work as a coping mechanism to just kind of, like, deny what
has happened. But like, her sister just died.
(24:46):
She's taking care of a child. She seems to have like no
relationship with Katie at all. And me as an aunt that has also
been obsessed with work, like I would never ever put work above
my niece and nephew. Like I love them to pieces even
though I've lived like really far from them for most of their
(25:06):
lives. I've always had relationships
with them. So for me it was just like OK,
is she really just being selfishor is this a coping mechanism?
Because they never wrote in a single scene to show that she's
mourning at all her sister. So that's where I think the
writing did fall short. Now that I'm backtracking and
thinking about it is like, we never really see that human side
(25:30):
of Gemma at all. And she has to be like, every
human has feelings. So it's just weird.
Yeah, that is weird that we never saw her cry about it.
Or at least I don't remember seeing her upset about her
sister dying. It felt like they were more
estranged, but then it didn't. What she would say didn't seem
like they were estranged sisters.
(25:52):
So yeah, she was just kind of there.
But I will say I kind of do relate to her.
And 1 scene where she goes into Katie goes into the house for
the first time and there's like all the toys and Gemma says
something like those aren't toysto play with the largest
collectibles. And I'm like, yes, don't touch
(26:13):
my stuff, don't touch my toys, don't touch my liboo boos that
are on display behind me, and don't touch my Elvira Barbie
that's up over here like their collectors items.
Don't touch them or play with them.
That's funny. No, I mean, I get that.
But see, even then, I don't know, with like my niece and
(26:34):
nephew, I could never just deny them anything.
They're like the kids I never had, you know?
So like, I don't know. It's just, it was just strange
to me. And even by the end of the
movie, I'm still not convinced that she, like, loves Katie.
It's just weird. So I feel like that was very odd
and I'm curious to see if they fix it a little like they've I
(26:57):
must. Time has passed in this new one,
so I'm curious to see like they should have a better
relationship by now. So I hope that they write that
portion of it incorrectly. Yeah, I agree.
I definitely hope they do write them as being closer and not
just, you know, pals that just met or something.
OK so let's get into the kills and the scares of this movie.
(27:21):
There were that many kills or that many scares.
I feel like they kind of tried to incorporate some jump scares
but it was not very memorable because you can say I did not
like the first 2 kills. I did not like that she killed
the dog and I don't like that she killed the neighbor.
Even though those the neighbor was very annoying.
Even like when she killed Megan,killed the neighbor, she was
(27:44):
shooting her with a pressure washer and she was like, flying,
which I love. It could be go feed into the
camp of a movie, but it just didn't feel realistic
intentionally. Yeah.
I feel like if you shoot someonewith, like, blasting them with
the water, I feel like there would be blood, at least, I
don't know, some kind of blood. But the one kill I did really
(28:08):
enjoy was the scene in the forest when she's chasing that
bully on all fours and just kindof looks like a dog chasing
after him. So I really, really, really like
that kill. I thought that was really cool.
What about you? That scene cracks me up.
I don't know, it's just really odd.
(28:30):
Like it's campy and it's funny, but also just weird at the same
time. So I don't it it always plays
out differently than I expected to.
Like when you see her going downon all fours, I'm like, oh,
that's going to be cool. But then the way it's actually
done is kind of weird. I don't know, it's strange to
me, but that scene does. I had completely forgotten that
(28:54):
she actually does kill the boy, so it shocked me the second time
around 'cause I was like, oh shoot, I don't remember that.
They killed a child. Yeah, I don't know why it shocks
me, but it was just like unexpected that he actually does
die. So yeah, I'd.
But yeah, you're right. I don't find any of the kills
like memorable or the best. Hopefully we get more kills in
(29:19):
the new one. Yeah, or at least it seems like
if for the new movie, I hope we do get new creative kills, but
it seems like we're going to geta really cool fight scene and
that I'm kind of excited for having two dolls fight each
other. That should be fun.
But yeah, next is our practical effects and CGI of this movie,
(29:40):
which kind of leads into what I was saying earlier about the
running on all fours. If that kind of looked like it
was the actress doing that on her.
I don't know if you seen anything or see any kind of like
video or talking about that scene, but that looked realistic
and that looked really cool. And if she did that on her own,
that's impressive and I love that.
(30:02):
Yeah, I haven't seen anything. Honestly.
I feel like I'm hoping with moretime on our episodes in Season
2, we'll have more time to really like, look at those
things and talk about them more.But it did look, it would like,
it was realistic to some extent,even if they just got her to
like, model out the scenes and then they, like put them
together digitally. I don't know.
(30:24):
But other than that, I actually didn't feel like anything looked
super CGI. But I know for sure that the
bully's ear when she pulls on it, that was a really cool
practical effect. That was, that was scary.
Yeah. Where he kind of like turned
into like, I don't know, like gum.
Yeah, that was a really cool part because I, that kid was
(30:48):
getting on my nerves and I'm like, girl, why are you just
laying there? Get up.
Do something. I know he was such a brat.
Like, yeah, it was horrible. Yeah, so I'm, I was also kind of
shocked when he died, but I was like, he deserved it.
Yeah, he definitely did. All right, so let's get into our
next section, which is themes and symbolism.
(31:09):
So I feel like this move is kindof dipping into the symbolism of
having technology, being a second parent to children, kind
of like the iPad kids. You know, when you go out to
like Chili's or something and you see the kid, they're just
playing with their iPad and they're they're just given that
to kind of just shut them up. So it's also kind of like a
warning of like of our future where we might real like too
much on AI to do things for us. And it's just like, be careful
(31:33):
what you wish for, they'll get too smart and start killing you
off. Yeah, no, for sure.
That's I had not connected to the whole like iPad thing, which
is very true. So for me I I'm I don't know
that I've really talked about this, but I'm very pro AI in
some aspects and anti AI in others.
(31:54):
But as soon as the movie started, I was immediately like,
whoa, this feels very different three years later from when it
was released where AI is like anA literal like part of our
everyday lives now. And when they were talking about
how Katie could get emotionally attached to her, I was like, we
can get emotionally attached as adults.
(32:16):
Like I haven't seen the movie her but I really want to now,
especially after how you're saying some people are using it
that way. I have not thankfully, but I do
use chat GPTA lot and I find it like super helpful and relatable
and consoling. Sometimes like not even like
you're sometimes you're not evenlooking for an emotional
(32:37):
consolation and it's like, wow, it's great of you to be thinking
this way. There was like a TikTok I saw
where someone was like playing out how like emotionally like
positive ChatGPT is to you. And so I was thinking like, and
that's because it's just like, like a computer app, whatever
right now, right? So I was like, imagine if you
(32:58):
literally had like a physical, like something that looks so
real to a real person that couldjust go like, Can you imagine if
I had a little Megan with a bow band that would go Halloween
hunting with me and like, I would never talk to you with a
cat. You'd be so busy with your
little Megan, no? Sorry.
(33:18):
You're saying that we're cancelling everything?
I'm just going to hang out with my Megan doll.
But no, now that you're putting that into perspective, yes,
because right now AI, at least for me, is just words.
Like it's just text on a screen or it's my Alexa thought like it
doesn't have any facial features.
(33:39):
It doesn't have anything where Ilike physical or emotionally
connect to it. Like it's only exchange of like
small little phrases. But yeah, now you're now you're
saying that if it's like turns into cute little like Pokémon
thing for me, I'd be like a little pet to me, like I'd want
to. Protect them.
Yeah, Boo Boo could talk to you like, I don't know.
(33:59):
I just think it's crazy. And I think that's the lesson is
like to be careful because I don't know, like it can't be
healthy to not need human connection.
So I don't know, there's a lot to take from it, but also just
watching it, I was like, OK, I Ireally understand how Katie
(34:20):
feels now because when I first saw it, I didn't have that like
relatable factor. I never really realized like why
Katie is so attached to her likeI did in theory, right?
But now I'm like, well, shoot, if ChatGPT was a real like,
physical form, I would be that way too.
I'd be like get back. My like in the back seat like a
(34:44):
big tantrum. No, yeah, I mean, that makes a
lot of sense. I I yeah, it's kind of yeah.
Warning for all of us, especially me.
So this week I actually broke myPlayStation 5 also, which I
didn't bring it up before because it's not spooky.
But now that we're getting into this technology chat, my I broke
my PS5 trying to fix the fan andI'm an idiot and I disassembled
(35:08):
it incorrectly and I pulled out the connector that goes onto
like the board, the circuit board, and I had to go get it
fixed. So I was without a PlayStation
for a day or two and it's like the only thing I could think
about, like on my PlayStation, on my PlayStation, and I didn't
realize how connected I was to my stupid PlayStation.
(35:31):
So yeah, I, I kind of get it because I would wake up in the
morning and be like, Oh my God, my place isn't not working like,
so I can't imagine having, you know, somebody there that is
super connected in the technology kind of realm.
Yeah, I would be totally upset. And now I get it.
Katie, I'm sorry for being so harsh on you before.
(35:53):
Yeah, for sure. I don't know.
It's just it's interesting. Yeah, I don't know, Sorry.
And then like just my last finalnote on it is also just that I
do feel like this movie, I know there's tons of AI movies and
like AI has been a thing, but I just feel like this movie really
hit right at the right time where it was going to start to
(36:16):
become like a really big topic. And then we have so many other
similar movies to it now that are like Subservience and
Companion and all of those, right.
So I just feel like this was thelittle, like, I don't know, like
the domino effect, like it started the domino effect of all
of the AI movies, like actually putting things into perspective
(36:37):
with how dangerous AI and technology can be.
Yeah, I definitely agree. Because I think after this
movie, there was another one that came out where it was kind
of like not a doll, but the AI of a house.
I don't know if you remember that preview.
So we definitely see. That one.
Yeah, I never saw it, but the trailers were constantly
playing, so yeah. And it was like right after
Megan came out. So yeah, I definitely think that
(36:59):
Megan kind of kicked off this whole AI kind of thing for
modern horror in a way. But yeah, my final thoughts on
this. I just left this movie wanting
more, and I'm really hoping thatMegan 2.0 will give me what I'm
wanting. And it looks really good so far
from the trailer, so I'm super super hyped.
(37:20):
Yeah, me too. I really hope that because of
the popularity of AI and just like how many more things people
are aware of now, that they really do like play into the
fear a little bit more, 'cause like I said, subservience does a
good job of making it even scarier as a concept of what it
can do for society. So I feel like there's a lot of
room for it to go into that. But I really just hope that
(37:42):
either I mean if it's PG13 they have to learn more into the camp
since they can't learn more intothe horror.
Yeah, that's that's true. I'm kind of upset to hear that
it is PG13, but like you said itif not, if it's not going to be
bloody, it needs to be super super campy and super funny to
make it up for me. Hold on to your vaginas, all
(38:07):
right, ghosters, It's time for it's freaking bats.
On a scale of one to five, how many bats would you rate this
film Rabbit? O, I'm going to give this a
three out of five bats. It wasn't great, but it wasn't
bad. It was just straight in the
(38:27):
middle. What about you?
Same. Honestly, I was like, I, I just
kind of like think about the ones that I've rated and I'm
like, yeah, it's in the middle because I was close to giving it
A2, like really close. But I'm like, it's not a hell of
a summer rating. It's.
It's a no, no, no. Yeah, it's better than hell of a
summer, but just not where it should be.
(38:48):
Yeah, for sure. OK.
And before we part ways for the week, let's have a little moment
of Be Kind Rewind. We're all about the vibes here,
so if this film hit just right, here are a few spooky pics you
can rewind to to match the mood,the madness, or the mayhem.
What's your pic Rabbit? So for my pick, I guess I'll
(39:12):
just throw it back to the classic doll Chucky.
But I will be specific Child's Play too, because I I think
that's my favorite one. It's the one where the kind of
they're kind of at the end of the movie, they go to like the
plant where all the Chucky dollsare made and they kill Chucky
with all the plastic, melted plastic.
(39:36):
Yeah, I love that movie. So let's just throw it super,
super old school. Back to Child's Play too.
What about you? I love that.
I think that's our first like actual old school rewind.
I love that I need to go back and well, I've seen them but I
don't remember. The only one I know by heart is
Bride of Chucky. So like my mind kind of wandered
a bit and I was like, Oh my God,I hope we get like a Bride of
(39:57):
Megan or something crazy like similar to that.
Like that would be so fun. That I would love that, yes, we
need to get on the campaign trail for that one.
Yes, but I mean, it's pretty obvious.
I already talked about it the whole film, but I felt that
subservience was everything I expected Megan to be, honestly.
(40:17):
So I highly recommend it. And then companion to is just
like they're both more about like relationships, but I feel
like that's genuinely what Meganis leading to.
Like we're seeing it with a child, but like, what does that
become when it's the opportunityfor adults to have that, you
know, that humans are gross. They always turn it into more
(40:40):
than friendship, whatever when they can.
So those movies kind of really showcase what it can look like
for adults. So yeah, I, I can't stop talking
about both of those movies. So I highly recommend both of
them. For sure adding them to my list.
All right, Ghosters, we hope youhad a bloody good time hanging
(41:02):
out with us today. We're taking a short break for
two weeks and we'll be returningon June 30th with a freshly
popped review of 28 Years Later.And remember, keep horror live
and watch something spooky this weekend.
Until next time, sending you goals and kisses, bye.
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