WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD

This week Mike and Ariel reach the nadir of the Wrong Turn franchise, with the third entry, Left For Dead. It's the film that dares to as who one would root for in this situation: a murderous Cartel warlord, a white supremacist, or the cops? Filled with poorly rendered CGI, dodgy acting from a cast that looks like generic versions of much better performers and an overstuffed plot, this one is a tough hang. However, we made the best of it, and talked about the important issues like Stone Cold Steve Austin's filmography, and how John Cena's heel turn is going.

Episode Transcript

(00:35):
None. Hey there, everybody.
Welcome to the pod and the Pendulum, the horror movie
franchise, the horror movie podcast.
It covers all of the franchises one movie and one episode at a
time, whether we like it or not,it's the gimmick.
I'm your host, Mike Snoonian. And joining me today back once

(00:57):
again the author of Millennial Nasties, Miss Ariel Power Shop.
Ariel, how are we? Oh, I'm doing great.
You know, I picked this franchise for us for this year
and I knew that this movie was apart of it and I still think the
franchise is worth doing. But I am the only other Co host

(01:18):
with you here today because thisisn't going to be the strongest
entry in the franchise. And behind the scenes folks,
like usually when it's only myself and one other, I love a
three person pod. It just kind of keeps it going
and Ari was the only one who signed on for this and I didn't
have it in me after watching this to ask any other the other

(01:39):
Co hosts like so sometimes I'm like, hey, you know, can we try
to get someone else on? Like we could use one more.
I didn't have it in me. I'm like, I can't.
We're doing this for free. Life is very short.
I couldn't ask someone to committo this, but in your defense,

(02:01):
the first two wrong turns are a lot of fun.
Absolutely. I really enjoy the remake from
2021 and this is the only other one I've seen so far.
You've assured me part 4 kind ofrebounds and others have said
that as well. So that would mean like 4 out of
five are pretty good and I don'tknow what 5 and 6 have to offer.

(02:26):
I don't remember them like at all.
Like I, I feel like I have seen them but I cannot remember them
so much that I'm like, did I really watch those?
So when I watch them for the pod, it'll be interesting to see
what I remember. OK, but.
Even then, loving for. Even then, four out of seven

(02:48):
entries in. That's a win.
Yeah, in a win when like 6 of them are direct to video like
that is not a bad, that's not a bad batting average.
So hopefully we'll have some fun.
We have like virtually no background section today.
But before we kind of give our initial thoughts on this movie,
let's do a little housekeeping. So if you are listening to the

(03:11):
show for the first time or you're a new listener and have
not given us a rating yet, please wherever you're getting
your podcasts, rate review and subscribe to us everywhere
you're getting your podcast. If you're on Spotify, you can
leave a five star rating. You can also comment on episodes
and we got a bunch of comments over the past two weeks, which

(03:31):
is really fun. That's awesome.
One of them challenged Ariel to a wrestling match.
That's. True.
Don't. Don't make me break out my old
luchador mask. Like don't threaten us with a
good time, right? It did make me think, like, what
Patreon level would it take to get us to like, wrestle our
patrons? Like 500 bucks a neutral site, 3

(03:56):
minute rounds, 3 rounds and we know best of seven falls.
I don't know. Would you be game for that?
Yeah, like the $1,000,000 man. Yeah, if the price is right, I'm
sure there's something we could figure out.
OK, I would be up for that. I would totally be up for that.
But you can but subscribe to us wherever you do get your

(04:18):
podcasts on Apple, make sure that you're leaving us five
stars and a few kind words. That goes a long way.
And if you really are buying what we're selling, you can
literally buy it by going to patreon.com and becoming a
patron today where we have a tonof bonus content, including
Ari's incredible series on all of the I Spit on Your Grave

(04:39):
films. Brian is currently about halfway
through the Nosferatu series with this month we posted Werner
Herzog's 1979 remake. And have you guys recorded the
2024 Nosferatu yet? Like has that occurred?
Not yet. Not yet.
I'm very nervous for that for some reason, like because.

(05:02):
You and Brian are on opposite sides of the fence on that one.
And Brian is I cannot go toe to toe with Brian's.
Yes you can. Like movie authority.
And so I'm like, I'm going to beon there.
Like, I like the movie and he's going to be like, here's a smart
list of reasons why I didn't. So you literally wrote the book

(05:24):
on this sub genre. Do not sell yourself short.
You absolutely can go toe to toewith Brian on it.
So I have faith in, I think Steven, Steven will be, I think
it's going to be almost everyoneexcept for me on that.
It's going to be like a lot of the regulars on that.
And I'm going to just like take a back seat and let you all do

(05:44):
that for the patron. So that should be fun.
And then Shadow of the Vampire after that for the patrons.
We're going to be doing Back to the Future like one a month.
It's the 40th anniversary, so I'm really excited for that.
It's a franchise we would never cover here in the main feed.
But I mean, come on, how do we not talk about that movie when

(06:07):
it turns 40 years old? I'm in and then I've talked to
Jess about doing a very special series on a film lady filmmaker
who made three films in the 70s,one in the 90s.
She's a prolific writer. It's not horror as well, but you
know, we will have a lot of horror stuff on there.

(06:28):
So I really want to talk about the films of what the films of
Elaine May who did Mikey and Nicky Ishtar, a new leaf with
Walter Matthau and Elaine May starring opposite him is a very
klutzy and Juan like a very wealthy woman.
Walter Matthau playing a Britishsocialite which if you can

(06:51):
imagine that. And then the original Heartbreak
Kid with Charles Grodin and a young civil Shepherd and like
she only directed really 4 movies but wrote a ton of great
films including like Tootsie andThe Bird Gauge among others.
So. Yes, I've heard of those last
two. The rest of it's a complete

(07:12):
blind spot, so I'll be seated for some education.
Ishtar for a time like that, youassociated a blockbuster bomb,
like an absolute train wreck with Ishtar.
Like, that was the running joke for a solid, I got to say like
10 years in the 90s. And it's actually really good
stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman.

(07:36):
It just was one of those movies were like egos and budget
spiraled out of control. And by the time it came out,
like the critics had their knifesharpened because they were kind
of like tired of Warren Beatty anyway by then.
So it's like, oh, we get to kindof like really cut into him.
So that should be a fascinating 1 to do.

(07:58):
So hopefully that will happen later this year.
Folks, we have avoided talking about the movie recovering today
Wrong turn 3. Like we're just kind of like, do
we have to? And yes, yes we do, but in.
Our contracts we. Do it is in our contract Wrong
Turn 3, Left for Dead, the 2009 straight to video sequel to

(08:23):
Wrong Turn 1 and 2 and Ari what?Because you had seen this one
prior to us doing this series, what are your initial thoughts?
This one's a pretty rough watch.And you know, like with the
exception of The Exorcist Believer, I have a hard time
really ragging on a movie because I I love movies and I

(08:44):
don't want to be hard on them. This one's pretty rough to
watch. The first time I watched it I
think it took me 3 or 4 times tofinish watching it.
There is a good chunk of it that's just loud screaming and
so I was like muting my TVA lot.I do like that we get our our

(09:04):
villains back. Love to see them.
They're lots of fun always, and there's some pretty entertaining
kills in this one, but it doesn't hold up as well as the
first two. No, it's a pretty steep drop
down from the 1st 2 movies. It's a pretty precipitous,
precipitous drop and you can't blame it on being direct video

(09:29):
because the second film is direct video.
And I would argue that it's moreentertaining than the first
movie. Like, I think the first movie
looks better than Part 2, but ifI had to pick one of the two off
the shelf, I'm probably going with Part 2 like 7 times or six
times out of 10. Yeah, that's what I'm going to

(09:50):
go to. The biggest thing that wrong the
first wrong turn has going for aside from, you know, I really
like Eliza Dushku. Like, no secret there.
But also that it's like 77 minutes before credits, like,
right. It's a pretty, pretty tight,
easy breezy. But yeah, yeah, this is one of

(10:11):
the worst movies I've ever watched.
Yeah, it's really bad. It looks cheap, like the CGI,
that there's some like good ideas for kills, but whenever
you see them executed on screen,it's kind of sad.
Like I actually just feel sad for everybody involved in this

(10:33):
one. I don't think anyone ever sets
out to make a bad movie, but sometimes that is just kind of
what happens and I think that iskind of what happened here with
this one. So we'll dive into it.
This may be one of our shorter episodes.
I can't, you know, unless you feel like doing a minute by

(10:55):
minute 7 hour dive into this just to torture ourselves.
I was going to say it depends onhow many side tangents we go on,
but oh. We're going to try to limit them
today. Yeah, I have very.
Little and way of background forthis one.
OK. But you were going to say I, I
kind of cut in there? No, that's OK.

(11:16):
I was going to just like jump into talking about the movie but
background wise. Well, we'll be there in like a
hot minute, because literally the only two things I have is
like, filmed in Bulgaria, for one.
Like, you've moved. That's kind.
Of a fun fact. Yeah.
But I think I feel like when youhear that, like, you know, like
a lot of movies like moved to Eastern Europe around this time,

(11:39):
a lot of the full moon films in particular like would move to
Eastern Europe locations. And sometimes you get some gems
like some of the subspecies movies that like take advantage
of that location and you get these gorgeous old castles.
So it looks like a great gothic vampire movie starring the pro

(12:00):
wrestlers thing. Like that's what it looks like.
And sometimes it ends up like this, like, you know, that's a
bad sign. Like the budget dropped from 4
million to 1,000,000 bucks for this movie.
It was going straight to video. Yeah and to be fair, it did
well. I mean it made about 6 million
in home video sales. So it didn't flop.

(12:22):
I think based on maybe the goodwill of the 1st 2 movies,
people wanted a bit more Three Finger and you know, but the
other thing know what I have is like the cast here, it's like
bunch of folks that you have never heard of and would never
see really again in anything. Yeah, I was looking through on

(12:45):
IMDb before we were recording, trying to find a little Easter
egg of like, oh, this person wasalso in this and didn't find
much that jumped out at me. The only thing I have of note is
like the woman who plays Alex, who is Janet Montgomery.
She is also in I believe it is. I believe I have this right.

(13:08):
Maybe I am wrong here. Going to have to do a little
more editing than I thought. Here it is, I do OK, I am right.
The woman who played Alex, she is also in The Hills Run Red
which is a super nasty slasher from the early 2000s by Dave
Parker. Like a really good slasher

(13:29):
movie. I just bought that on Blu-ray
actually just last week. I love the hill trend red.
I would cover that for the patron.
Oh, I would absolutely love to. That's a fun one.
That is one that should have a franchise attached to it.
Super iconic. Like, look for the killer you
made, like all practical effectsfrom what I remember.

(13:52):
Like they made a really big yeah.
And again, you're right, like a very like low budget feel, but
like let's make the most out of that low budget.
I would definitely enjoy like 3 or 4 more The Hills Run Red
sequels. So, you know, I think that time
has passed. Yeah, unfortunately, probably I

(14:15):
didn't realize that that actresswas in that she's so her
performance in Wrong Turn 3 is not that strong.
I I didn't recognize it at all. No, she kind of is lowered to
the level of the others here. And where do you want to start
with this movie? To start with the setup, the
premise, because you know, in the first wrong turn we've got

(14:39):
our friends camping in the woods.
In the second one we've got a reality show, so big swerve.
And in the third one we're doingsomething even differently.
It starts out with friends camping in the woods, and most
of them get killed off right away, except for one Alex and
her white tank top. She's running, but the rest of

(14:59):
it is very like Halloween coatedin that we're doing a prison
transfer on a bus and the hill people crash the bus.
And now we've got prisoners shackled together, a couple of
cops and Alex all running through the woods trying to get

(15:20):
away from their attackers. And just for some added spice,
there's also piles of money for some reason.
So it's a really different set up than either of the other two
movies, which is not like that. That could be a really good
thing. But it's, it ends up being like

(15:42):
the, the characters themselves are not enough to sustain, like
we're with them the whole time in the woods and they're they're
not strong enough for that. But it is, it's a different
premise. It's kind of interesting.
It's a really overstuffed is what it is.
There is like a ton of ideas that are thrown into it and then

(16:05):
none of them are really like, fleshed out in any way that kind
of holds the interest. I mean, it's a, it's 92 minutes.
That feels like a much longer movie.
I mean, it feels like you feel like there's a point in the
movie where they're like, we've walked by this tree three Times
Now. What are you doing?

(16:26):
And as a viewer, it's almost like a meta commentary, like
what the viewers are experiencing at home.
Like it feels like this is just kind of going on and on here.
That's fairly true. There's also the side the
subplot where one of the cops isunder cover because he's trying
to like infiltrate the gang of 1of the criminals that's being

(16:48):
transported and that goes absolutely nowhere.
Like it's just kind of there's zero pay off to it.
You're right. They find a armored Brinks truck
that it seems well off the road.Like it seems like it's like a
couple miles into the woods. You wonder how it got there,
what it's doing there. Yeah, and it's not like you

(17:12):
wonder how it got there, not in a Have you ever seen Lost?
Yes. Yes, OK, so like the Black Rock,
the ship that's in the middle ofthe island, like that's
fascinating. Like how did this giant pirate
ship get into the middle of thisisland?
That's a fascinating mystery. The how did this big Brinks

(17:32):
truck end up two miles into the woods isn't fascinating.
It just seems super lazy. Yeah.
And then you're like, I'm so also supposed to believe that no
one has ever discovered this, Like, no one has ever gone here
and kind of found this, including like the film crew,
like the documentary crew from Part 2, right?

(17:54):
It's just sat here. So that to me was an odd thing.
Yeah, there's. So I, I was going to put this
movie in Millennial Nasties and I decided not to just because I
felt that there wasn't enough towrite about.
And it comes really close to having some themes about the
recession and earning and deserving and success and work.

(18:18):
And it like, it briefly gesturestowards those ideas, but those
don't really go anywhere either.Like, we've got our main guy, I
think his name is Nick. Nick Nate, that's what it is.
And he's really interested in making a lot of money who isn't,
you know, And he gets into some conversations about should he

(18:42):
keep this money? What should he do?
Should he take a job that's soulless, but he can make a lot
of money? And all of that ends up
amounting to nothing. And I was just like, in 2009,
they could have made even a tenuous statement about the
recession that we're going through at the time.
And they really don't. They just sort of are like a bag

(19:02):
of money that'll drive them through the woods.
Yeah, it in the there's the conversation he has with like
the other cop that's like driving the truck was like,
well, you know, he's like, I thought you wanted to be a
lawyer to help people. He's like, well, I've paid for
law school and I'm broke and, you know, I want to make as much
money as possible and live on the South Beast at Beach Miami

(19:24):
and not have to work. And the other cop is like, you
know, there's more to life than money.
And it's just like this the mosthackneyed throat.
Like we're trying to give our character some sort of character
development here. And it's just like script
writing, like 101, like the mostfirst draft type of thing that

(19:45):
you have going here. 2009 as a movie year for horror fans, it's
a wild year in terms of just thediversity of offerings like at
the box office and at the home at this point.
I mean, I know Paranormal Activity is technically a 2007

(20:08):
movie. Like that's when it was shot.
When it played the festival circuits.
But that is the year that Paranormal Activity hit theaters
like October of that year. And is it saw six that year as
well, correct? Yeah, it's saw 6.
So you have like probably one ofthe best saws, like it's in the

(20:29):
top three first year of orphan. Right.
Human Centipede comes out, you get the remake chain is still
going on, you get both the My Bloody Valentine remake and the
Friday the 13th remake that year.
Like it's a pretty solid year overall for horror.

(20:51):
I think Freddy versus Jason, that's.
A few years before. Oh, is it OK?
Yeah, this is when the remake hits in 2009.
OK, OK. You're thinking 04?
OK, I thought. It was much later in the decade.
Well, yeah, 2009 is chock full of quite a lot.

(21:14):
And it's winding up. They're like winding down on
that millennial nasty era. And we're going to start moving
into some new trends in a few years.
And I believe 2009 is also haunting in Connecticut, which
is, like, just before the Insidious Conjuring take off of

(21:34):
doing, you know, family hauntinghorror.
And haunting in Connecticut's not great.
But I feel like it was trying tostraddle a line between the two
different trends. And it didn't really land either
of them. And maybe if that movie had come
out a few years later, it would have been more woven.
Yeah. You get, I think it's the year
House of the Devil comes out. You're getting like Ty W like

(21:57):
follow up to the roost and it's kind of the movie that puts Ty
WI think on the map in a big waylike that.
I think that was my favorite horror movie of the year, the
year that came out like beating paranormal activity.
It's also like the final destination four or the the
final destination. So part 5 and Jennifer's body.

(22:20):
Yeah. It's a huge year, like it's
sneakily might be the best year of that decade in terms of you
might not have like the best overall film from that year for
horror, but just in terms of like the scope and the breadth
of all the offerings. Drag me to hell from Sam Raimi,
like his return. The horror is well that year.

(22:42):
So and then the 4th kind as well.
Oh, I like the fourth kind. That movie is not well loved.
Is that the one where like NeelaDjokovic comes out at the
beginning and does like an out of character, like as a herself,
like introduction of the movie you're about to see?

(23:03):
Yeah, and. OK.
It's a mockumentary, but it really commits to the bit.
Like it shows you dramatized footage and quote UN quote
actual footage, but none of it'sactual footage.
It's all, you know, fictional. I think the fourth kind is wild.
I love it. I have not watched it since

(23:26):
seeing it in theaters with my wife and friends.
Like it's been a long time. I remember liking it in parts
and then it kind of falling apart.
I've been at the end, which a lot of times these mockumentary
films do, but what I remember the most is her coming out like
Edward Van Sloan at the beginning of Dracula and

(23:46):
Frankenstein, like telling people like it's only a movie,
don't worry about it. You know, we're going to just,
you know, we're here to shock audiences and like her doing
that like it's a classic Universal monster movie.
That's what I remember the most from it.
I got a baby. Like put that one back on.
I know I. Haven't watched it in years.

(24:09):
Ethan Hawke does a film called Daybreakers that year, which was
directed by a pair of Australianfilm makers, the Spearig
brothers, Michael and Peter, they were with.
Jigsaw. Yes, you are correct that
connection here and Daybreakers was like their Hollywood debut.

(24:34):
It was a follow up to a film they had done just a few years
before that was like a micro budget movie.
And I'm just trying to, I think it was called The Undead.
And it was like a kind of while,yeah, Undead from 2003.
It was like a wild kind of action zombie movie that was

(24:56):
like really low budget but really inventive.
And I remember seeing Daybreakers in theaters and
thinking like, you know, wantingmore from these guys.
And they would go on like the Winchester House and Jigsaw kind
of is what it is. Predestination, like, But
Daybreaker, Sister Peak, it's a vampire film with Ethan Hawke.

(25:18):
It's worth a watch. It's been again when I saw on
the theaters. I just remember really digging
it. Probably might have to dig that
one up in the near future. Willem Dafoe's in it.
Sam Neil's in it. Oh, wow.
That's, you know, so you have like a, yeah, pretty strong cast
kind of headlining it. All that to say, like there were
a number of offerings from 2009 that weren't wrong.

(25:43):
Turn 3. Right.
Probably would have been a more enjoyable watch.
Part of the problem with this I think is like the the CGI in
this movie is really bad. It is, and I'm saying that like
I we love practical effects here.
I'm willing to put up with a lotof bad CGI in the name of a fun

(26:06):
movie, but like this movie combines what could be really
inventive kills with bad CGI. Like there's one right near the
beginning where it's like a jigsaw level trap.
Like, I don't know if our villains went to like a jigsaw
seminar to learn about trap setting, but it's this thing

(26:28):
that snaps up and slices a man in three.
Kind of like if you remember, itused to be trendy to have like
egg slicers that you put like a hard boiled egg in and you press
down and you get your sliced eggs.
I feel like moms in the 90s did that.
It does that to a guy. And I was like, oh wow, that's
really inventive. And then it's the trashest CGI

(26:51):
of the guy's body sliding apart.And that you can't not compare
that to the beginning of Wrong Turn to when Kim gets cut in
half. And that looks incredible.
Yeah, it's when they they had the money to build a full like,
you know, take their actor and like make a full body cast of

(27:13):
her and then put everything in. And you know, they just like, we
just hope we get it in one take,you know, and you have a little
bit more money to play with. I feel like CGI, it's not
necessarily used because it's like cheaper in the back half.
It's all cheaper on the front half of the film because you can
say we'll just fix this later on.

(27:34):
We don't have to like spend a whole day filming if we don't
get like the blood splatter right or if it doesn't fall the
right way. Like if you do that three person
cut and it just kind of like flops over, you're like, oh, now
we have to reset it up, clean everything, clean the actor
who's going to be covered. You probably need costume

(27:57):
changes. So that's why you're using CGI,
so you can fix it later on. And unfortunately, like it
always suffers for that. It does, and the rest of the
movie is not good enough to makeme look past it.
No, the same thing happens lateron.
Like there's a scene, it's when Willie, who is the undercover

(28:19):
cop, like the 21 Jump St. cop, he gets his face like cut off by
a sickle. And it should be like a really
cool looking scene. And it's again, it's just like
PlayStation 3 rendered graphics that just like do this.
Did you notice in this movie that like everybody kind of

(28:41):
looks like a lower rent version of a more famous actor?
Like, as I'm watching this movie, one of the things that
jumped out was like Tom Frederick, who plays Nate and
he's playing him as a cop. I'm like, oh, it's like low rent
Nathan Fillion from Castle, you know, like, yeah, that's kind of

(29:04):
what he looks like. He's even playing a cop.
I'm like, it's like if you took if you took the hunky build,
like the smoldering good looks and the hunky build and the
charisma away from Nathan Fillion, Yeah, you would get.
Yeah. Do you remember, like, growing

(29:25):
up, did you ever see they were like comic strips?
Like they were advertisements for like Charles Atlas Fitness
magazines? No, I don't.
Know OK so like it was like always like a three it was like
always like this really scrawny dude getting picked on by like a
bully and he was like I'll show the getting sand kicked in his

(29:47):
face at the beach was usually itAnd he's like I'll show you guys
like I'm going to get the Charles Atlas workout gear and
then he would like work out and get buff and then like at the
last panel like beat up all the bullies and get the girl that
sounds. Very familiar.
OK, you probably would have seenit.
Yeah, you probably would have seen it growing up.

(30:08):
It was definitely a thing. I feel like Tom Frederick and
Nathan Fillion were like the real life version of that.
Like you see the guy playing Nate and he's like super scrawny
and pasty, and then you get Nathan Fillion.
I had more talking about this guy more than I anticipated at
this point. Tamar Tamir Hassan plays Chavez.

(30:33):
I'm looking at him and I'm thinking like, oh, it's like a
young Eric Estrada, you know, like, but it's not Eric Estrada.
We couldn't afford him. I'm trying to think who plays
the white power dude in this movie?
I off the top of my head I don'tknow but I remember thinking wow
he looks really familiar so I wonder who he reminds me of.

(30:58):
I was thinking Goldberg or SteveAustin.
He does, especially because he'sgot the Fu Manchu.
Mustang. It it lends itself.
And he's a big guy. Yeah, he looks like a wrestler.
How much more entertaining wouldthis movie be if you had
Goldberg in it playing like a white power anti semite racist?

(31:21):
Well, the Hulk Hogan would make more sense.
Oh, my God, that is very true. Hogan would be like, yeah, I
think this guy's the hero of themovie.
He's just like it is. Yeah.
Hoof, brother, Oh my God. But it would be a much more
interesting film if you could have gotten.

(31:42):
Yeah. How much could Steve Austin cost
for a movie like this, do you think?
I haven't a clue, did he do movies?
He did some. OK.
I mean, he's in The Expendables as like one of the main bad
guys, OK? He's like one of the main hench
men. And then he had a couple, I want

(32:05):
to say like Collateral is one ofthem.
But he he there was a point where he was like going to try
to make a run for it in Hollywood.
And I think really early on discovered like that's just not
his thing. He's in the Longest Yard remake

(32:25):
as well. And he's pretty good.
Like he's good at the supportingguy typically.
Like if you put them in there, the condemned, not collateral,
the condemned. The 2007 kind of like action
thriller. Like he plays like a convict
that I think it's kind of like atake on like the what's the

(32:46):
movie with Ice T like, Oh, now we're hunting the real game
humans. Where you're going I cannot
follow. So the Condemned is basically
he's on death row in a Central American prison and he's
purchased by ATV producer to basically fight to the death

(33:07):
against killers from Everest. So it's like kind of like Battle
Royale or even the Running Man in some ways.
That sounds like I would enjoy it.
Yeah, maybe for the patrons and that was O 7 like that was after
he was done wrestling, like whenhe was done his in ring career.
I feel like he's like, I wonder if I could be the next action

(33:29):
guy. And I think now his thing is
more, I would rather hang it on my ranch, like, make Instagram
videos for my cat. And every now and then do, like
a kind of reality show where, you know, he takes people on,
like, ATVs and have them. Do we?
He's basically, he's living his best life.

(33:51):
Like he is just like, yeah. He's producing beer.
I I think he has several craft beers that he makes and.
Yeah, and he loves his cats. That's very nice.
It's just like if you would havetold me in 1998 that Steve
Austin would be a cat guy, like I would.
Yeah, hard to imagine. Yeah, I would have been like,

(34:13):
you're lying to me. But now I love that for him.
Yeah. I never even asked you.
John Cena's heel turn. Yeah.
What are your thoughts? So I've only seen it like I
didn't see it live. I've only seen it like since.

(34:33):
And I John Cena is such a good actor and he's so committed that
I'm like, OK, I buy it because you're selling it.
But also my whole entire existence with John Cena, his

(34:53):
his whole in marine career, he'snever been a heel.
Like most wrestlers go kind of back and forth.
They have multiple heel and faceturns throughout their careers.
And that was never the case withJohn Cena.
He's just always been pretty much a good guy.
And so I'm kind of like, it's kind of hard to believe for that

(35:15):
reason. But also John Cena is such a
strong performer that I do believe it.
But I'm also like, why now? What are we doing now?
Like, I love it for him if that's what he wants to be
doing. But like, I really believed him
when he said he was going to retire.
And I know I shouldn't believe anybody when they say they're
going to retire. When you say why now, yeah, do

(35:38):
you mean like he should have done it 10 years ago?
I think that there were opportunities for him to do it
earlier, but also like why not retire as the good guy?
Like unless he just wants to wrestle until he kicks the

(35:59):
bucket and if he does then good for him.
But I really kind of thought he was winding down his in career
and doing more movies and that. And so I'm kind of like, why do
a heel turn when you're so near the end of your career?
But maybe he's not as in near the end as I think.
So my understanding he's wrestling through the end of
this year is my idea. He's like this is my last year

(36:22):
as an in ring performer, but it wasn't ending at WrestleMania.
Like it he was committed to wrestle for the full year.
So you what we're going to see in like when is WrestleMania
like 2 weeks? I feel like it's coming soon.
It's really soon. My understanding is like that
was not going to be the last we were going to see of him.

(36:43):
I find it fascinating. Like, I don't think anything
will be bigger than, you know, Hogan going heel in 96 and then,
like, joining the NWL like that is still going to be probably
the most shocking he'll turn into history.
Yeah. And probably the most important
one in terms of like what it like kicks off for pro

(37:04):
wrestling. The the history that comes after
it, yeah. But I I kind of like, love
seeing as, you know, like you'reall a bunch of toxic fans and
you've kind of, yeah, I have an abusive relationship.
And this idea of like, I'm goingto win this title and retire
with it. And I know they've made Cody

(37:26):
Rhodes, like the face of the company, and it'll be
fascinating if they're like, Nope, we're going to end your
reign after one year. But I kind of feel like they
have to with this scenic character.
Like, it doesn't make sense to have Cena do this and then lose
at WrestleMania. That's just another that then
Cody Rhodes really has become Hulk Hogan.

(37:48):
Yeah, I oh man. So it used to be like the more
old school wrestlers, the, the, the understanding was you go out
on your back, you lose on your way out.
And I could see John Cena havingthat old school mentality that
that's the honorable thing to do.

(38:10):
But if he's going to wrestle through the end of the year, it
wouldn't really make sense for him to lose at WrestleMania.
Yeah, I'm just, I'm like, wow, you're going to retire as a heel
like that is that is shocking tome.
Yeah. Would be great, be great if he
stopped doing like make a wish Oh my God and like just started

(38:33):
to break kids. I mean at this point he can
retire from make a wish and he'll still probably be the
person forever who's done the most make a wishes so he could
quit. I guess it'll be interesting.
Like will the make a wish request keep coming in his heel
era? I imagine so just because, like,

(38:53):
people know what this this is a soap.
I mean, like, the pretense at this point.
Yeah, the pretense of there's not even a pretense of Kayfape
anymore. Like, they openly ignact.
Like, I am an actor that acts ontelevision and then this is who
I really am. Like, you know, the idea that
even 10 years ago, I can't turn heel because of like make a wish

(39:16):
or I can't turn heel because I'mtrying to make it in Hollywood
playing like these comic performances.
And if I'm supposed to be a bad guy, how am I supposed to do
that? You know, that's all gone away
at this, which I kind of hate. I.
I, I love kayfabe. It's still real to me, damn it,
you know, but in this day and age with social media and like,

(39:41):
there's much like the Indies aremuch more well known, like
independent wrestling has such amoment now, which is a wonderful
thing. So it's hard not to understand
that there's, you know, there's a divide and, and I suppose
that's good. But like, I cried like an
absolute baby when I was like 11or 12 and I thought ivory broke

(40:03):
China's neck for real. And I like my dad had to sit me
down after that and be like. Wrestling is acting and China's
OK and she's going to come back,but I was distraught and, you
know, not that I want to be distraught, but like the
emotional investment that comes from Kay Fav is really fun.

(40:23):
Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it's,
you know, now it's more about this person's getting the
headline because they deserve it, right?
Because they have been around for so long, not because of like
who they feuded with and who they've quote UN quote beaten.
And I, I do miss those days. Back to wrong turn 3.

(40:44):
We take another sorry, yes, we know I'm the one that took us
down that path. No apologies.
The less we talk about this movie Ariel, the the better we
are all are for it. So we talked a bit about some of
the we got on that tangent because of like looking at like
who the actors look like. There was like a a good number

(41:06):
of them. I think think the one
fascinating character in this movie is like Brandon, like Tom
McKay. Brandon is the convict that we
think might be wrongfully accused, that he is the one that
he's the veteran, from what I understand.
And he's also been accused of, like, killing.

(41:26):
It was like, I think manslaughter.
He got in a fight with someone that was like having an affair
with his wife and he accidentally killed him.
But others, like, don't buy it. Yeah.
And others don't buy pushed him over and the guy like, either
hit his head or who cares? I mean, like, guy died.
Whatever the none. He's the one character that's a

(41:48):
little bit intriguing just because depending where you are
in the movie, you just don't know where his allegiances lie.
Like is he going to be throwing in with the Convex in order to,
you know, have strength in numbers?
Or is he on the side of like Nate and then later Alex when
she shows up because they're thequote UN quote good guys?

(42:09):
Like he plays both sides of it. He does, and he becomes even
more intriguing at the very end of the movie with this
nihilistic ass ending. Yeah, one of the most.
Nihilistic endings I've ever seen in a movie.
So Nate, Nate and Alex survive, they get saved and before that

(42:33):
happens, Nate let's Brandon go and just says like, hey, we'll
just say you died in the crash, nobody's going to look for you
go be free. And Alex, we don't see what
happens to her. Presumably she's fine.
Nate goes back to get the money in that armored like truck that
we were talking about and he's like my South Beach, here I

(42:55):
come, like going to have his dream of, of living the high
life. And then out of nowhere, Brandon
shows up behind him and kills him.
He shoots him, I think. Shoots an arrow through his.
Back shoots an arrow and so likewe're we're like, OK, that
doesn't mean Brandon did or didn't commit the crime before.

(43:16):
We still don't know that. But I think he even makes the
comment like you've, you know, did the thing.
You're not supposed to never trust a con.
So you're like, huh? And the sad thing is, there's
enough money there for both of them.
Right, right. So then Nate, our hero who
survived the ordeal, gets killedat the end, maybe for his greed.

(43:40):
The movie almost makes a point, but not quite.
And so then Brandon is sneaking up to get the money.
And at this point we think all of the cannibal family is dead.
But then we see one of them approaching with like a sickle,
I think, or a knife, hunting knife, and we hear the cackling
and we hear Brandon screaming. And so presumably Brandon is

(44:02):
also dead. So everybody's dead.
Nobody got the money. The cannibal family lives to to
kill another day. Nobody will get the money
because the cannibal family presumably doesn't want it or
use it. Yeah, they're anti I, I'd
imagine they're pretty anti capitalist living out there,
they seem. Quite libertarian sovereign

(44:22):
citizens. So yeah, I was just like, and I
had forgotten that the movie ended that way.
And so again, I was just like, what?
What's the point? What are we doing here?
And I don't mind an unhappy ending, but usually they feel
earned and like, you know, like a culmination of events.

(44:43):
This just felt like a fuck you tagged on at the end.
Yeah, this movie doesn't necessarily care about any of
its characters. It doesn't care about the
audience. It just is like we need a
Stinger at the end of it. And you can't even say that the
because like this money that's like sitting there in the truck,
like it doesn't at this point belong to anybody, right?

(45:06):
It's just been sitting in this rusted out armored truck for a
year or so by taking it. It's not like Nate is like, oh,
there's these bags of money thatare marked to the orphanage, you
know, like it's not a something like that where it's like, do I
steal from an orphanage and livea comfortable life or do I not?

(45:27):
It's like, no, taking it would have hurt absolutely nobody.
So it's almost like neutral. Yeah.
It's like, hey, you know what? Every now and then it's like,
you walk down the street and youfind a $20 bill and you pick it
up and you're like, oh, I found 20 bucks.
It really is. I that happened feeling a few
months ago while I was watching walking my dog and I've walked

(45:49):
past that same spot so many Times Now and looked for money
and I'm like, I'm literally likea dog right now.
Like my dog will be like a rabbit Was here once and I'm
like a $20 bill was here once. For the sake of being a
completist, For the sake of like, getting it right.
Gil Corin is the gentleman who plays Floyd the White power huge

(46:15):
like bear, and that dude is a bear of a man.
He's a big dude. Is he in other stuff?
So he's got like a couple dozen credits as an actor looking at
some other things here. Nothing that he's in, like the
return to the house in Haunted Hill, like the sequel to the
yeah, he's in that. Everything else is like security

(46:38):
guard, Tai chi man, Occupy camp protester, paramedic, so soccer
bully, which I feel like that's his calling.
Like if you look at this dude, that is he's found it.
He's found his calling in that. Yeah, not exactly a, you know,

(47:04):
not exactly calling out there with a massive filmography, but
he's just a big jacked. And what do you think of the the
inclusion of like, hey, we're going to our group, we're going
to follow this whole movie. It's going to be a cartel
Mexican who's like he's just waiting for his drug buddies to

(47:27):
come rescue them or a white power guy, you know, a guy who's
like super racist from the get go and this is who we have to
follow for 90 minutes. Like who are we supposed?
Or a cab? The cops like right?
Who are we supposed to root for here?
Alex, I guess, although she's it's hard to root for her.

(47:50):
She's quite obnoxious in the film.
But yeah, this, that's one of the things that makes this movie
hard to watch is like, who do wecare about?
And the convicts, the prisoners,they are the they're so
stereotypical. They're saying racial slurs.
And maybe, you know, I'm not saying those things don't happen

(48:11):
in prison, but just like they took all the stereotypes they
could and jammed them onto this one bus.
And if we've learned anything inhorror movies, it's don't do
prison transfers. Just don't do them.
The bus is never going to make it.
Yeah, and it's like, oh, we havethis super wanted felon, we're
going to transfer him early in the middle of the night with no

(48:34):
other protection down this road.And even like the local sheriff
was like, they're on what Rd. Like that can't be true.
That's like not the right. And I do appreciate that that
they at least try for a little bit of continuity in that you
have like, the radio tower from the first film, like it's been
burned down. And they're like, at least you

(48:56):
can kind of place this in terms of like where it is and when it
takes place. Yeah.
And I appreciate that. Like we're 3 movies in and even
though it's done poorly were three movies and like the first
film it's about campers that arekind of like trying to go on a
camping site and they get caughtup in this.

(49:16):
The second film it's a reality TV show crew and the third film
it's these convicts. So they're at least trying to
mix up like the situations a little bit.
It's not something like the Friday the 13th movies or it's
like first movie we're in a campsite, second movie we're in
a campsite, third movie we're ina campsite.

(49:37):
And you just do that over and over and over again.
So the situation changes, like the situation that gets them
there at least changes a little bit.
Unfortunately it's just not likesuper well executed.
I agree. Yeah, I appreciate that they're
trying to do different things. And like, if you take a step

(49:59):
back, it makes the cannibal family more interesting too,
because it's like in the second film we get some more background
on that family and how they ended up where they are.
And so like adding to that lore of like, they'll hunt anybody
and like they keep their eyes oncertain roads and they have
certain traps. It's sort of like they're,
they're really working their asses off like a lot of the time

(50:23):
for whatever it's worth. So yeah, not super well
executed, but some good ideas inthere.
Yeah, I think Alex even makes the point to say like, there are
no animals here at all. Like there's just us.
That's why they're hunting us. Like they're hunting us to eat.
So Speaking of Alex, there was like a particularly like nasty

(50:44):
scene towards the end of this, like when Alex is kidnapped by
three finger and I kind of want to talk about like the makeup
job on three finger in a little bit.
But when she's kidnapped and she's brought to that shack,
it's I've said this before, likeI'm not a huge fan of like
horror words, like I'm completely helpless.

(51:05):
The other woman in there, was she supposed to be the other
cop? Or is that just like a random?
That's a good question. I I thought it was the her
friend from the beginning in theblue bikini.
Was it not her? Possibly did her friend get she
didn't get shot through the eyesshe.

(51:27):
Did. Yeah, she did.
And this woman had both eyes, sothat would be that.
Must be the cop. Yeah, but it's just like, for no
reason, you have this like, bound topless woman who's just
like, help me and then dies. And I'm like, like, this is just
a kind of nasty I'm not looking for.

(51:47):
Yeah, yeah, that that seems really rough.
That that seems feels like it took some of the worst lessons
from the decade about dragging, screaming women around and
binding them up and in in the first wrong turn.
We don't see much of that. They're very business like

(52:09):
humans are meat. They're covering up meat.
And the second one, they get a little bit more interesting and
creative with it. But yeah, to just have someone
bound up topless for no reason is is a new thing for this
franchise. Yeah, there's a a sadism that's
there that's not really in the first two movies.

(52:32):
And the other thing is there's not like the second one has like
the the first one, you have the three mountain men and you, you
know, when you have three finger, he's like obviously like
a lot more slender and he can move around quicker.
It's not just a big brutish dude.
And then in the second one, you have this whole family and you
get to see the family dynamics there and how like the parents

(52:57):
interact with the kids, how the the children mutants interact
with each other and how Devon points this out.
And when we were recording on wrong turn to he's like, who are
these people praying to? Like they're sitting at the
dinner table saying grace, you know, like, what are they doing
here? And it's like a really get kind

(53:17):
of like a tongue in cheek fascinating look at like the
nuclear family here. You have like 3 toe.
And is that supposed to be the baby from the first one?
Like all grown up? Are the second one like or is
that just one we haven't really seen before?
I I honestly hadn't even given him much thought.

(53:37):
Because he's killed so quickly, like he's in it, and then he's
killed in a hot 2nd and all that's left is 3 finger and the
makeup on, on three finger here.It's bad.
It's like rubber Halloween mask levels of awful.
Yes, and I wonder why because it's not that way in the first

(54:00):
two. It must just be budget.
They just have no money and they're like, it's going
straight to DVD. It's kind of like, who cares?
We'll cut corners where we can. And we'll say like Declan
O'Brien, who directed this. He directs the next two.
Yep. And you assure me Part 4 is like
a big step up. Like it's a much it.
Really is and So what makes me think like, you know, every film

(54:25):
is a is a outcome of whatever circumstances surrounded and so
whatever constraints were put onwrong turn 3 made an impact and
maybe those same constraints aren't there for the 4th one to
make a better. Movie and then he also did 2
Marine movies, parts 3 and 4. So he's kind of like a direct

(54:45):
video guru. Like, he just does these like
quick and easy and Joyride 3. I think that was his last
directorial. He unfortunately passed away in
2022. But his last like, movie he
directed, he wrote and directed Joyride 3, which if you go back

(55:05):
into our archives, I know that'sa film that like our initial
host Jerry, like really loved. Like, really, really thought
Joyride 3 was a lot of fun. I was, like, more in the middle.
Yeah. I mean, it's a fun direct video
movie. It's, you know, nothing to write
home about. I mean, maybe you write home.

(55:26):
You're like, dear Mom, I watchedJoyride 3 today and all is well.
Send money. I don't have much else in this
movie, Ariel. A couple.
There were a couple good references that I'll point out.
So someone early on mentions a banjo playing freaks.

(55:46):
So we've got a Deliverance reference again.
We've got an arrow kill that went straight through like a
hand and a breast. And that reminded me of Bay of
Blood and Friday the 13th. And there are two times where
there's, I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it was
very Cannibal Holocaust when there's like a pole down through

(56:10):
the mouth and into a person thathappens twice.
And I was like that. I also thought happy birthday to
me when they would throw the skewer down as.
Yes. So I was like, you know, this
movie, it knows it's genre, it'sreferencing as genre.
It just made me think about someother movies that I'd maybe
rather be. Watching, sure, yeah, there is

(56:30):
definitely some tongue. There is definitely some like
tips of the cap to some other horror movies and part 4 is that
now become a prequel like our four and five prequels to the
first film and then 6 is a straight up like reboot. 4 is
not completely a prequel, but four explores some origins.

(56:56):
I don't remember what 5 is. OK, that's I, I, my
understanding is like 5 is a prequel for sure.
And then 6 is a soft reboot. And then there's the remake,
which I quite liked. And it doesn't have anything to
do with like this universe at all.
It's a completely different animal at that point.

(57:19):
Well, Speaking of like sequels and reboots, like, I guess we'll
end, you know, I kind of wanted your opinion on nothing to do
with this movie. But since we've last spoken, Saw
11 looks like it's completely onhold.
Maybe even like Jacob Marley, like dead as a doornail.
And I first wanted to make sure you're OK.

(57:41):
No, I'm not. Thank you for asking.
How are you getting through these days?
So I'm like, OK, like, I mean, I'm kind of joking and saying
I'm not OK. Like, I can, I can be OK about a
movie not coming out, but I am sad about it.
And the thing about it is, is like, I felt like 10 was a

(58:02):
goodbye. I remember walking out of the
theater thinking that was a great song.
Swan for songs, swan song for Jigsaw because he there's even a
line in the movie where Amanda says I'm not ready to do this
without you. And he says yes, you are.
And I was like, OK, And then the11th one got announced and I was

(58:23):
like, well, who am I to complain?
Like I'd love to see another one.
And it sounds like there's lots of production issues and
personal issues getting in the way.
And so it's it's always possiblethat we'll get it in the future.
Maybe it'll look different than it was planned.
Maybe it'll have different people involved.

(58:43):
But also like, how long is TobinBell going to want to do this?
I don't know. How long will he be able to do
it? Right.
And so I am sad about it, but I also reserve hope for the
future, that there will be more to come.
And there's been so much, you know, it's one of those things

(59:04):
where I'm like, ah, don't be sad, it's over.
Be happy it happened. That's what I'm trying to do.
Well, it feels like Lionsgate just has no money.
Like Saw 10 did really well and that's why they announced at 11,
like saw ten, they make it for, I don't know, 10 million and it
makes over 100 million and change in theaters.
And at that point, even though they kind of announced it as

(59:26):
like this is a one off, it's thelast one we want to go on a high
note and they really did like it.
Like most people would say 10 isprobably the best one since part
6, I think is what most people would say.
Like, I mean, I'm one that I really like.
I know you and I like disagree about spiral like where you hate
it and I really like it, but I'min the minority there.

(59:49):
Like and I understand that if this was it, it's like that is,
like you said, a great note to go out on.
But like, commerce being what itis, when you make like 10 times
more than it cost to produce typically, all right, we're
going to make this, but it sounds like a Lionsgate has no
money to make it because they just like they had films like

(01:00:12):
Borderlands and all these other films that just tanked.
And like you said, some behind the scenes drama about what
should this movie be about and other executive standing in the
way. It sounds like it would be
similar to Six in that it would take like a very timely issue,
like at that time, healthcare executives and what they're

(01:00:35):
doing to kind of like decimate person's health and the high
cost of insurance and denying people insurance.
And it would be very similar in story and tone in that like, I
mean, would it be about like doge, you know, would it be
about that kind of, you know, would it be, you know, in a
world where we already have likeLuigi's out there, would it be

(01:00:57):
like developing another like cult like following?
So I, I'd like to see another Saw movie, which I not something
I would usually anticipate saying, but if it only went to
10, it would not. At least it went out, you know,
at least it didn't go out like on a note where everybody was

(01:01:17):
like, well, that was disappointing.
Yeah, at least it didn't end on the 7th one like we thought it
had for so long. And yeah, if I'm not even OK, if
we do more from the book of and spin off like we could do more
of that, I'd be here for that. Yeah.
So would you be interested if like 5 years from now they

(01:01:40):
reboot saw completely like OK, we're just going to reboot the
series from the ground up like they've done with like Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, which anothermovie that like we're going to
rebuild this. 1. 4th time, yeah.My God, and I'm going to watch
it. Yeah, of course, because we're
suckers. We're suckers.

(01:02:02):
Well, my goodness, we're barely over an hour.
This is like shocking for us. We talked about John Cena for
like 20 minutes. We did.
We talked about the Stone Cold Steve Austin Uvra.
We've talked about pretty much anything but wrong turn.
But this is like when Steven andI did our French Connection

(01:02:23):
commentary about anything except.
Or our Sharknado commentary. Yes, you.
Know. Oh my God, yeah.
We didn't talk about Sharknado hardly at all.
This movie is thin. There's not a lot to dissect.
And I'm saying that I can pull anything out of any movie and
I'm like, oh, this movie's pretty thin.
So I think we've given it its due.

(01:02:45):
You said it almost made the cut for millennial nasties, but
didn't. So what I'm fascinated by in a
more general sense is like, whatwas the criteria?
Like what did you determine? Like what would make the cut
versus something that you felt was less worthy to talk about?
Yeah, that's a good question. So I needed to have enough to

(01:03:11):
say about the movie. And so for Wrong Turn 3:00, I
could not figure out how to write.
I wanted to write at least 1000 words, and I couldn't figure out
how to even get close to that. I couldn't without really,
really stretching and sort of compromising my own, like how I
want to write. So that was part of it.

(01:03:33):
And then like, I didn't include The Amityville Horror remake
because it didn't feel nasty enough.
It didn't feel like it fit the genre.
That feels clean. I didn't include the I Spit on
Your Grave remake because that movie's quite nasty, but it's
less to do with being a millennial nasty than it is just
to do with being in the I Spit on Your Grave universe.

(01:03:55):
And so I wanted to find movies that I confidently say this is a
millennial nasty, and I have enough to say about it.
And even then there are movies Icould have included that I
didn't because I covered 40 movies.
You know, like you got to cut itsomewhere.
Yeah. Well, on that note, where can

(01:04:16):
listeners pick that book up and where can they find you?
Yes, if you're interested in millennial nasties, you can go
to incycleapocalypse.com and order it directly from them.
They ship internationally, or you can go to your local library
and request it. You can find me on all the
socials at RE Under Score Hellraiser and I will post all

(01:04:38):
my writing and podcasting there.Excellent.
You can find me at Mike Snoonianover on Blue Ski and Mike Chump
change over on Letterbox. You know, I'm not the hugest
social media person. I do post everything in a
letterbox right away, usually with some brief review.
And I was like, my social media feed has just been taken over

(01:05:00):
with politics and I'm not quite sure how that happened.
Like, and I don't mean I know why it's happening, but like I
feel like that's all it's become, which is a little bit
like I'm tired of living in interesting times.
Like let's fix things and get back to being boring for.
You and I, we care about politics and also you don't have

(01:05:23):
to look 24/7. It's OK to also have fun.
Find your joy and say I said this other places like finding
joy and doing joyful things is like an act of resistance.
Right it. Absolutely is 2 things you can
do to resist that everyone should do was like find your joy
and also just be nice to people.Like that's the most punk rock

(01:05:46):
thing you can do right now is just be kind because it's really
easy to not right now the times we live in.
Leave it at that for right now. You can find our show at pod and
pendulum on Blue Ski same over on Instagram, but also go to our
site pod on the pendulum.com where we have all of our back
episodes, 280 plus at this point.

(01:06:11):
Drop us a note there if you're interested in being a guest and
you have like a podcast, A blog you write for another site, you
want to come on and talk movies like reach out to us.
And we have a number of guests that are lined up for the coming
next few months and some of these shows, which is going to
be really fun and interesting and we kind of can't wait.
I think we have two guests from part 4.

(01:06:33):
Next. Week so kind of got jammed up on
that one which would be great and that is really it this is it
you know different structure a little bit more free form a
little bit looser this time around but sometimes you know
you just got to talk John seeinghis heel turn more so than bad
CGI Ari it's always a pleasure of.

(01:06:55):
Course, thanks for having me as always.
Bye.