Speaker 3 (00:03.672)
Lindsey Roberts.
Bart Shannon!
Lindsey, here's a thought. Yeah. This is our first film that is less than 20 years old. Yeah. I have spices in my cabinet that are older than...
I am absolutely thrilled. This guest is one of my favorite humans. This movie absolutely delivered. Ooh, it's gonna be a good one.
Cut the fat as they say. Let's get to this thing. Yeah. How about we just jump in and talk about this movie with this terrific guest. Let's do it. You can do it.
Speaker 1 (00:38.541)
Welcome to another episode of Die Laughing.
Speaker 3 (00:56.433)
All righty.
my gosh, I'm so ready. This is so exciting.
Hey, why don't you tell the people
Speaker 1 (01:08.974)
I tell the people, I get the honor of it. This week, we are watching Deadstream, the 2022 found footage horror comedy.
Boom, dead stream. A silly silly type of horror comedy, which there's plenty of room for out there.
Absolutely. Great choice.
It is a great choice, and this was our guest's choice today.
Yeah, it sure was. We threw three films at her. Threw them pretty hard. And we threw some good ones at her. And without hesitation, she texted back and said, ooh, can we please do Dead Stream? I was like, done.
Speaker 3 (01:35.175)
When we threw them hard.
Speaker 3 (01:47.884)
I'm excited about this one. I saw it maybe a year or two ago. I've only seen it once. And so I got to watch it again this week. And so I have a lot of fresh thoughts. Okay, here we go. Our guest today is a writer and director. We have both worked with her before. She's one of those people that I wish I saw more of. I'm always grateful for those times that I do get to see her. I'm sure you feel the same. Yes. I've always been a fan of her style of writing, not just the genre, which I would say is magical realism. She may disagree.
Let's hear them.
Speaker 3 (02:17.528)
She may tell me that I am totally wrong, but that's how I've always seen it. Touch of horror, touch of horror. But I'm more fan of how she crafts stories together. I'm just a big fan of her writing style. She's also the creator of You Can See Me in the Dark, a true ghost story podcast, which she hosts along with Nate Reisman, which you can listen to anywhere that you consume podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, Melissa Sweezy, welcome.
That may be a touch of horror.
Smidge.
Speaker 2 (02:47.886)
Hello, thank you. Can I just sit here and just soak in all these like beautiful amazing things you said about me? Thank you. What a nice way to start my afternoon.
I mean them all, all of it. Yeah, I thoroughly enjoy getting to sit to talk to Lindsay every week. And now today I'm getting to sit and talk with two fantastic people that I love just hearing words come out of their head holes.
Super fun.
I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Well, we are glad to have you and very excited. And we've already mentioned what movie, but we're going to talk about it bit. It's a dead stream. Lindsay, do you want to give a little backstory on this film?
Speaker 1 (03:28.59)
Happy to. Came out in 2022. Kind of found footage, horror, comedy, writer, director, editor, as like a husband-wife team, Joseph Winter and Vanessa Winter, and feature film directorial debut for both of them. World premiere at South by Southwest, March 11th, 2022, and released in the U.S. October 6th, 2022 via Shutter.
You know, before we get too in the weeds on this, let's all stop and let's watch the trailer together for Deadstream.
Awesome. Let's do it.
This is Sean Ruddy, coming to you live.
Seven years now, you have watched me face my fears for your entertainment.
Speaker 3 (04:14.698)
spending one night alone in a haunted house.
This is the most haunted house in the United States. Death Manor was built in 1880. Mildred lived here for eight years in this house. She hung herself at the end of this hall. We're gonna be monitoring three rooms, all of which have actual documented paranormal activity. I am committed to bringing you the most cinematic experience in live streaming.
Speaker 2 (04:49.666)
Shoot!
I meant shoot, please don't demonetize me, Livit. This is an intense situation. All of these infrared cameras are motion activated and will cut right into the field. come on, that doesn't even look real. I'm not falling for this Photoshop hack job.
Speaker 3 (05:15.18)
Is anyone else creeped out by this?
Speaker 3 (05:22.345)
This looks like some kind of ritual. She sold her soul to the devil. That's why she has so much power. Come to me, I summon thee.
He's gonna die.
is collecting souls to create the family she never wanted know what happens next.
Thank
Speaker 3 (05:55.126)
It is a huge pain!
Speaker 3 (06:06.343)
Speaker 3 (06:11.96)
That's a really good trailer.
It really is. I mean, it sets everything up kind of perfectly. You know exactly what you're getting into with this one.
Yeah, agreed.
Yep, edited very well. Like you said, you know exactly what you have in store. Yeah. Had you ever seen Deadstream before, Melissa?
Yes, I think Deadstream might be the reason I got a subscription to Shudder. Just because I was that stoked to see it.
Speaker 3 (06:35.744)
I didn't know anything about it and I do have Shutter and didn't know anything about it and just started it one night last Halloween or maybe it was 2023 Halloween. Yeah. At the very beginning, I was like, maybe this is not for me. There was the old curmudgeon in me and was like, then 10 minutes in I got it. I realized what they were doing and I was all in.
Yeah, can I say it just straight? I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
Lindsay, have you seen it before?
had never seen it before and I had never even heard of it. So Bart will send me a message and he'll be like, these I think would be really great for Melissa. So I was like, okay, perfect. And I just sent them over to you. Like, I'm just like, hey, which one of these films do you wanna watch? And you were like, duh, Dead's Dream. And I was like, Okay, everybody, what is Dead's Dream? I literally had never heard of it. And I went on and watched the trailer and I was like, boy.
boy, this is gonna be a good one. could tell, you know, I mean, you can just tell by the trailer. I was like, that was terrifying. I cannot wait to watch this movie. But I was like, Bart, the first like little bit, I was like, I don't know guys, maybe not, you know? And then it kicks in and you're like, I'm sold. I'm here, I'm here, I'm here for it, here. So yeah, loved it.
Speaker 3 (07:56.974)
I think he was so all in that after a few minutes, he's like, okay, he is really committed to the bit and to this character. And then I started enjoying it.
Can I ask you both real quick? both of you said the same thing, that like, you didn't love the intro. And what in particular about it was like, ew, I don't know if this is the right movie for me.
Personally, I think it was just the YouTuber influencer angle. It's like we see so much of it in our consumption that in our escapism movies, it was almost like, I see this while I scroll all day long. But then I realized the parody of the type of person that he was doing. And it didn't take long. I say 10 minutes, but it was during that intro.
Yeah. To me, it just kind of felt like a little inauthentic and forced, you know? I don't know if I necessarily buy Sean as an influencer. Honestly, he doesn't seem like the kind of person that a ton of people would follow. I don't know. There was just something about him that I was like, it just felt gimmicky. but then, you know, when you realize the great conduit that it is for the film, I was like, oh, it's fine. I'm fine with it now.
watched the trailer again and my 14 year old peeked over my shoulder. It's like, what are you watching? Is that Jackass?
Speaker 1 (09:11.374)
Stop.
And he like he actually that was a selling point. He was like, what, what is this? So I think if Sean maybe wouldn't be influencers, we would not be his target audience. But I can tell you the 14 year old on the house was like, who is this guy? And what is he selling? Because I am interested.
Interesting. Thanks to Jackson, I know what that is. But otherwise I would not know who Mr. Beast is. And now there's like a candy bar or something.
Is this Mr. Beast's cousin?
Speaker 2 (09:41.048)
We have Beast bars in the house. Like that's definitely a thing.
I was wondering if they were Mormon, because there was so much Utah. There's so much cognizance about cursing, even though he does a few times. God was mentioned several times. Interesting. And so I thought, they've got to be Mormon, right? So I went looking for it and I found their Reddit thread about the film. So where you could just ask them any questions and they respond. wow. Yeah, I was. It was from a couple of years ago. I don't think there's been interchanges in a while, but yeah, they were pretty engaged in answering questions. And I believe Joseph had said,
wow. that's fun.
Speaker 3 (10:14.058)
He described it when they were originally pitching it as Blair Witch Project meets Evil Dead 2.
Yeah, that makes sense.
And they said they got a lot of inspiration from House and House 2 and also from the movie REC, the found footage aspect of it. But yeah, I thought that was a great description. It was very Blair Witchy and even that beginning where you think it's a caption on screen about his character vanishing in the woods, pulls the t-shirt back and it turns out it's just merch. I did two, I did two.
loved that so much.
It's still for sale, by the way, if you go onto their website, you can buy that t-shirt. It's the Livid site.
Speaker 3 (10:46.21)
And did you see what their website is? It's the livid site. Brilliant. No mention of the movie. No movie for sale. It's just wrath of Sean merch. That's all.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:57.632)
I love it. I love how this movie is working on so many levels. Yeah.
I do too. You guys want to just jump right in? As Lizzie said, the main character, Sean Ruddy is a self-proclaimed wuss who has a YouTube channel called Wrath of Sean, where he does stupid tricks in an attempt to conquer his fears. We found out right away that he had recently lost his sponsors after an undisclosed controversy and was suspended from YouTube and the fictional platform, Livid. But here we are six months later and he's monetized again and his suspension is lifted.
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (11:28.128)
and he's spending one night in a haunted house called Death Manor. And Death Manor was built in the 1800s by this father of a social outcast poet named Mildred Pratt.
I love it. Yeah, Mildred. Good.
That's a good name.
Mildred would later commit suicide in this house and 11 more people died in that house before it was boarded up in 1956. So something is amiss in this house.
What a great location.
Speaker 2 (11:56.662)
And if you take in a back by the body count, 11 seemed a little high to me personally.
And mostly children. Yes.
Yeah, like what the heck was going on in this house? huh.
I never got an answer of the couple is Mormon. A lot of times I thought if they're Mormon and they're minding their P's and Q's about cursing, when it comes to the violence and the dead kids, they get no folks.
Yeah, they ain't Karen Neer.
Speaker 3 (12:22.03)
It was like Prancing is Jehovah's Witness. Like I'm Jehovah's Witness, except when it comes to sex, then I am all in just not Jehovah's Witness.
Yeah, the body count is insanely high. Yeah!
I think my I did take an issue with the 11 because I'm like if you're gonna have that many I Wanted to know who were they and why and I wanted to see those ghosts And I feel like we saw like maybe three or four of them, but we didn't get to see all 11
I think we got five or six and we can talk about that later, but definitely a budgetary restraint.
Yeah, so then why not just go with five or six? Yeah. Yeah, because then it then it could be like a family situation, you know, like a murder-suicide and I mean 11 is just an exorbitant
Speaker 2 (13:00.078)
Bye.
Speaker 3 (13:11.278)
So Sean's outside, he's armed with a plethora of GoPro cameras and a live stream. And so he locks himself in the house so that way he will not check it out and leave. He locks the door with a padlock, throws the lock down into a vent in the floor. And once inside, he, I thought this was a cool aspect of it, that he would share those videos of previous encounters in the house. That way.
we could see the other paranormal activity that happened. So he shares that encounter with a ghost called Corner Man, where he says the pond is still. I thought that was a nice way to relay that information of all the shit that's happened in the house before. And they do it multiple times throughout the film.
Can we
Take a second just to dig into that because I think that's what I really truly loved about this movie was that not only was he playing a character as an influencer, he was going to use those tricks of I'm going to use the commentary from my viewers. I'm going to use other footage. I'm going to use as many types of video and media as I can. I was so impressed with how clever this movie was.
Did you guys do what I did? like I said, I started a year or two ago and then when I watched it this week, I got obsessed with reading all of the comments on the right. Somebody took the time to write them and they were pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (14:27.021)
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:30.382)
where I sat in my living room, I couldn't see them. I was like, I don't have any idea what those, I was relying on Sean repeating them. I mean chalk it up to me being completely old and my eyes not really working. But I mean, in my living room sitting across from my TV watching it, I was not gonna pause it so I could read every single comment. I was like, I can't read any of those. And I'm thinking maybe you could read them in a big theater. Obviously you can.
Sure. then to me, don't know if that doesn't really translate, I don't know as well to just a viewing at your house, right? Because it's small. Like I really could not read any of them.
That's so interesting because to me, that's what made this movie work for me on another level. Like, okay, so we have so much ADHD in this house that closed captioning is always on our TV. So we're always reading. We're reading everything. So I think we're just, we're used to always having words on the screen, but there was a level of tension that ratcheted up for me because I'm watching what Sean's doing and then you're seeing audience commentary.
four out of five comments is just dragging Sean, saying something awful and then be like, my God, Sean, what is that behind you?
Yeah, yeah, you're so right. It's like a news crawl, right? So you're watching the news and you're hearing the story, but then what's going on down there and what's happening in, you know, this part of the world and this part of the country and what happened to Brad Pitt? You know, I mean, just like watching the crawl and trying to up with the story totally.
Speaker 2 (15:54.83)
But it's so smart to me because it got me like, you know, we watch movies and we like look at our phones We're distracted. I was riveted. I was glued to the screen because I am reading captions I'm watching what's happening It worked on so many levels to make it scary to make it interesting and then just keep my attention. Yeah
And I figured there would be a lot that weren't just throwaways. A lot of them were like this dumb.
This is dumb.
That's hilarious.
This fake AF
Speaker 1 (16:26.466)
Now I've got to go back and watch a movie and just sit like really close to my TV. yeah. I'm so blind.
Wrath of yawn. I think that was one of my favorites.
Y'all, okay, now I gotta go back and rewatch it.
As he gets into the house and he starts exploring, we find out pretty quick that Mildred, who the house had been built for, she had fallen in love with this man who she corresponded with for two years. But just before she was to leave the house and be with him, he died. And she hung herself the very next day. And legend has it that everyone who died after her in that house has never left. 25 minutes in, we see our first ghost in the hallway. So he's live streaming and he has cameras set up all over the house and they're sensor triggered and
One of his viewers tells him that there's a ghost in the hallway. He doesn't believe it and he thinks it's Photoshop and then he pulls back the footage and sees that there is a ghost walking through the hallway right outside the door. I enjoyed the exploring the house. I never felt like in 25 minutes, I'm like, come on, something needs to happen because it was a spooky house. And I think this is the celebration of low budget horror where I'm just enjoying seeing the set deck.
Speaker 1 (17:33.794)
Yeah, a thousand percent. We gotta get our bearings. We have to figure out what room is where, especially given, you know, the different cameras and the different setup. And you're like, wait, which room is this again? They really have to nail you understanding the bedroom versus the hallway versus the closet that he hides in and where these things are in the house. that when later when he starts to go towards those rooms, you're like, no, please don't, please don't do that.
Please don't go in there. You know what I mean? But you have to know the house and you have to know the location. So I totally agree, Bart. That setup was really important. And I never was like, like I was always like looking in the corners. Do I see anything? I was exploring with him.
And I enjoyed the viewers as this third or a secondary character. So they were always there, always commenting, always making suggestions, another set of eyes when he was doing something else. Again, just well thought out, a great device to have someone for him to talk to without there actually being someone there until three minutes later when Chrissy shows up.
Chris.
Chrissy.
Speaker 3 (18:38.424)
Chrissy shows up just three minutes after we see our first ghost. Chrissy appears as a diehard Sean fan who's tracked him into the house and wants to join in on the fun. That's Chrissy. Chrissy right off the bat is way perky for a haunted house.
She, yeah, way perky. She's like, great, this is great. She has, yeah, zero qualms about being in that house. She is never, ever scared.
She is cool with it all.
She is a super Sean fan. And so she figures out where he is, right? And she's less concerned about the scariness of the house, which sort of shows you, I think, the importance of this influencer community, right? Because she doesn't care about the haunted nature of the house and what the hell is going on there. She's like, I found Sean. I'm in the same room with Sean. You know, she's so excited about that, much more excited. So it's like, it just kind of shows you the power that these people have.
I love how Sean plays it because he's one, terrified that a stalker has shown up, and then two, just thrilled to have another human being in the house. And so I love that level of like, I'm scared, but I'm maybe more scared of the ghost. So I'm willing to take a stalker.
Speaker 1 (19:49.614)
Yeah, yeah exactly. She may have shown up with a knife, but that may be better.
I'm play my odds here.
Speaker 3 (19:58.23)
And from a casting standpoint, she's adorable. adorable.
door. so cute. Her hair.
Her hair, her hair, her little buns on the top and she's so like perky and cute in her little cute little outfit. was like, I'm here for Chrissy.
I honestly was wondering like what her audition process was like, just knowing the multiple roles she was going to have to play. yeah, she works as stalker, Chrissy is adorable.
Well, obviously she was game because the couple also directed a segment in that VHS 99 and she's in that as well. Yeah
Speaker 1 (20:28.718)
She's in that too. Melanie Stone is her name.
She's their muse.
that are like, Melanie will do anything that we ask of her.
Yeah. Let's rope her in again. They didn't.
Put Melanie in that bathtub. That's all I'm going to say. We can talk about that scene later.
Speaker 1 (20:45.358)
yes we can.
But back to the viewers on the side, when Chrissy shows up, like, Chrissy hot. Look at those lips. Chrissy stays.
Chrissy stays!
Yeah, he does a poll, so he does his poll, right?
Yeah, he does a poll and there overwhelmingly they say Chrissy needs to stay. So Chrissy stays. And then Chrissy immediately starts leading him in directions. So she helps Sean find a secret set of stairs hidden in a wall and which they go down into. And in that basement room, they find a chest that contains a lock box and a book of Mildred's poems and a locket that Chrissy immediately puts on without discussion, without thought. just puts it around her neck.
Speaker 3 (21:29.006)
So again, Chrissy's so comfortable. That's a woman who's just very relaxed in her own skin.
And she also does not listen to Melissa's podcast because anybody who does listen to you can see me in the dark would know don't put the necklace on.
Definitely don't put the necklace on.
unless you have intent.
or you don't mind being possessed.
Speaker 3 (21:51.928)
So I think it's the second time in the movie so far they spin the stupid things to do wheel.
So good.
Another clever device just to force him to do more dangerous things and it lands dead center between spirit board and EVP and EVP has talked about earlier. What is it electronic voice?
Phenomenal. know.
Yeah, so they they pull out the Ouija board and start playing the recordings of this phenomenon So that way there's two things going at once and did you notice and I'm sure you did the very top of the Ouija board? Clathu Verada Nick toe. Yeah
Speaker 1 (22:27.704)
Yep.
and see that.
Yeah, so Clatue Verada Nicto as Eddie Horfan knows, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness, Bruce Campbell, Clatue Verada... But I know it because my dad, his favorite movie from his childhood...
I know what you're going to say the day the earth stood still.
1951 and he used to walk around the house always saying Klaatu Veradanikto Gort which in Gort was the giant robot and Klaatu would use Klaatu Veradanikto to incapacitate Gort or to deactivate Gort I guess I should say. But Lindsay Roberts, Star Wars fan, Melissa are you a Star Wars fan? There's a Star Wars mention of this that I had no idea about until I was looking up the spelling of
Speaker 2 (23:05.632)
I am a Star Wars fan.
Speaker 3 (23:12.078)
of Clatu Verada Nikto, which is sometimes Clatu Berada Nikto. I've heard both of them. But in Return of the Jedi, one of Jabba the Hutt's employees is Berada with a B. A member of the Clatu-enian species, both the character and the species being referenced to that phrase. In the Star Wars universe, there's also a species called Nikto. Another of Jabba the Hutt's employees is a character named Clatu, himself a member of the Nikto species. How about that? Fucking rad, I think that is.
at.
I didn't either.
Yeah, that's definitely a phrase that if you're like a horror film or a film junkie, you probably have that tattooed on you somewhere.
It will always provide fond memories of my dad too, because he would say it for no goddamn reason whatsoever. Just like I say, stupid shit that I've stored into my brain for...
Speaker 1 (24:01.3)
thanks to my dad, I speak a little Klingon. You're welcome. Okay.
same. was my outgoing voicemail message in college was inkling on that. Afraid to announce that.
That's amazing. Anyway, Melissa, this has been fun, but we're gonna have to let you go now. That's amazing.
Alrighty, where were we there? So they pulled out the Ouija board and we're listening to the ghost sounds and Chrissy is adamant that Sean read Mildred's poems out loud. She must just love the poems. While they sit at the Ouija board, he says no. And Chrissy says she knows a chant. Of course, who doesn't? But especially this perky little woman Chrissy knows a chant that always works. She said it always works and wants Sean to say it as an offering of peace to those not in peace. She knows her shit for some reason. And he repeats the incantation.
Not smart. Not smart, Sean.
Speaker 3 (24:51.72)
So Sean follows Chrissy to the bathroom where she jump scares him. A lot of great jump scares in this. In fact, I think to me from a scary standpoint, it's mostly jump scares. I'm mostly dead inside. So I don't get scared too often, but low budget, practical effects, sometimes, you know, the rubber. I think jump scares always work. So I was always scared by jump scares and there's a good maybe 10.
Because I'm an idiot, right? And so I would scream really loud and then immediately start giggling because I was so happy that it scared me. It was the creepiest thing. It would be like, You know what I mean? But the jump scares were unbelievable. But then also it was really good at these like little things if you're watching the background, like you saw the feet of the person go into the ceiling or something in the corner move. You know what I mean? So there were some of those like, you know.
Never saw the feet go into the ceiling. The only reason I know it is because I was reading the viewers and one of the viewers says, did you see those feet go into the ceiling? And I thought, I wonder if that really happened. You saw that.
Yeah, same.
Speaker 1 (25:57.72)
can't remember exactly when it happened, but yeah, you can very clearly see the feet go into the ceiling. That's what I've
loved about the camera work when he was moving around the house because it was setting you up for that all of a sudden you're just trapped in his point of view. And so you can't see anything to the side behind and you're just at the mercy of what's going to jump out. And I loved it.
Yeah, it makes you feel very claustrophobic. That's why those limited view shots are so good because you can only see from here to here.
Yeah, you're just bracing for what's gonna happen.
So she does the jump scare and Sean gets pissed at her and tells her to leave. He says he's gonna exercise the ghost children and Chrissy says, I don't think that's a good idea. And then she bites his neck. She lurches at him and bites his neck.
Speaker 1 (26:43.052)
I don't know where. Scared the crap out of me though. And takes a big ol' chunk.
Sean grabs a loose board in the wall and drives it through Chrissy's friggin neck, killing her.
That's right. that's right. That's right. Yeah, that was terrifying.
This silly comedy has taken a dark turn at the 42 minute mark.
That, I don't think I was expecting it to get that dark.
Speaker 1 (27:05.902)
I don't remember where that piece of wood came from, but man, it was right in the right place at the right time. Oof, went right into her neck.
She was squirting
She was squirting blood. I loved it. Great effect there.
But then immediately I was like, how do they do this in a practical, like as the horror movie director brain kicks on and like watching the blood spurting out and like how many takes do they do? Do they do that in one take? Because it looked really real and convincing.
They look good.
Speaker 1 (27:32.526)
I mean, I realize he was saying we need this duct tape and it comes in handy and it does come in handy in a couple of different places, but he had a pretty significant bite mark on his neck and I'm pretty willing to say that that duct tape might not have really
helped. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lindsay, never underestimate the versatility of duct tape.
So, well, you know, and he was right. He was right. But that was a pretty significant neck wound.
Artery schmarrteries. It was only a flesh wound!
Speaker 1 (28:02.014)
Exactly.
Right. Was this the first appearance of the duct tape? I put that in my notes that like duct tape was the unsung hero of this movie.
He said it earlier, he said duct tape solves most of life's problems.
Yeah, was definitely solving shards throughout the movie.
yeah yeah, yes.
Speaker 3 (28:22.626)
He was using it to hang up GoPros and things like that. But yeah, it was such a haphazard, he just took his piece and just slaps it on his neck. So he's killed her.
Exactly. He has killed his biggest fan on a live stream. So much for monetization now.
Exactly, he's killed a super fan. mean, this is going to destroy his fan base. He's distraught, bleeding with duct tape on his neck and he tells his viewers that he's going to turn himself into the cop.
Can I say real quick though, that from a character note kind of surprised me that there was not any hesitation on Sean's part to just turn himself over to the police. There wasn't a, can I hide the body? What can I do to salvage this? It was just straight up, nope, I killed somebody and I'm turning myself into the cops, which kind of surprised me. Well.
he didn't have much choice since his viewers saw it live.
Speaker 2 (29:12.3)
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, he immediately had like a conscience and was like, let me do the right thing, which kind of honestly surprised me from what we knew of Sean up to this point, that he was willing to just be like, no, I'm going to do the right thing. thought that was interesting.
absolutely, absolutely.
I think it's like when he did the poll earlier of Chris, should stay or go. And we saw these got like 200,000 viewers. So 200,000 people just saw him kill someone. So it's not a lot he could do at that point. In fact, he goes straight to them and says, guys, you 200,000 people that just saw me murder someone, I'm gonna turn myself in. Yeah, I don't think he had a lot of choice. I didn't see it as like a character arc yet. I just saw it as sort of necessity. Like, you guys saw me murder that woman. So he goes back out into the hall, she's gone. The blood's still there though, know, ghost blood.
Next he sees Mildred's ghost hanging in the hallway, blocking the stairs, so he hides in the closet. And so while he's in the closet, and this again, great, this is a great device to keep piecemealing him information on what's going on. A viewer sends him a video from a kid who figures out what the symbol painted on the board at the beginning was that was hanging in the closet when Sean first got into the house. It's a hamsa, an ancient symbol used to ward off evil. I thought that kid was so cute, like reading that and then he pronounced Pagan's patients.
Is that part Polish and part Cajun? That kid was absolutely precious. Adorable!
Speaker 2 (30:30.904)
love that too.
Speaker 3 (30:35.458)
I thought, know, they could easily fix that, but I think they thought the same thing. Like, he's 12.
I love that they let that in.
my god, I did too.
So this 12 year old tells Sean that that was in the house to keep the evil spirits at bay. But Sean stomped on it in a panic earlier while it was on the floor. So it's gone. So his protection is gone.
Way to go, Sean, you dumbass.
Speaker 3 (30:54.306)
Yep. With prompting from some of the viewers, they said, get out of there. And so he tries to sneak past Mildred in the hall.
I loved the effect of the seeing her body on the screen and not seeing her in space. was so friggin' scary.
I mean, he moving, moving just up and down. So she's gone. She's there. She's gone.
I loved it
yeah, I love that. That was great.
Speaker 3 (31:18.488)
So many good techniques in this. So Sean tries to sneak past Mildred in the hallway, but she attacks him and shoves her, her gross ass fingernail up into his nostril.
Oh my god, why? Why? It was terrible.
not joking. I had to go blow my nose.
I had to look away. This was the second time seeing this movie and I knew it was coming and I couldn't look. Why did not?
I've forgotten all about it.
Speaker 1 (31:49.688)
So gross. I definitely twitched my nose, right? went, correct up to the knuckle. And she had a long fingernail on the end of that thing too. So we're talking, it went pretty far up there. Yeah. I'm just sitting there thinking, I don't understand. I don't understand why.
up to the knuckle.
Speaker 3 (32:04.782)
I felt a phantom pain in my nose for about an hour. As he gets away from her, he then reaches up into his nostril. He sees blood dripping and he pulls the whole entire long fingernail out of his nasal cavity.
Yeah, which was horrifying and wonderful. And yeah, that they went there. It was awful. Also shout out to this indie budget team. had two stunt people. Two people. At least we see one person fall down the stairs and then one is at least implied. And I'm like, is Chrissy also a stunt person? Because holy shit.
to grow.
Speaker 3 (32:29.967)
Fall down the stairs?
Speaker 3 (32:42.158)
She took a full tumble down the stairs.
And that was a one-shot tumble.
And that was not a rubber practical effect. That was a human being. So he yanks that disgusting thing out of his nose and he finds an old key and he opens up Mildred's lock box that he found earlier. And inside that lock box is a photo of Mildred and her severed finger. Disgust.
No, it was not.
Speaker 1 (33:05.646)
Gosh.
Speaker 2 (33:10.922)
enough with severed fingers.
So Sean gets chased by this figure under the bedsheets. which I thought was a cool effect. You know, he walks into the bedroom, sees like a lump under the bed. Oh yeah. So he goes back to the closet, hides in the closet and where he gets yet another fan video, the viewer translates the incantation he said earlier to mean, I give thee my soul and forfeit my will. So he has given his soul to Satan.
Yeah.
and you hear the crying.
Speaker 3 (33:41.346)
He sees this and he's in the closet and he looks down his lap. He's got a bunch of old clothes from the closet laying around his lap. And we see Mildred's head at his crotch and she takes a healthy bite of his crotch. So he bolts from the closet, runs to the house and jumps straight out that second floor window, which is another pretty great, was that the other one you were talking about, the other stunt? Yeah. huh. That's a long fall.
That was so good. That was a terrifying fall.
I don't know if you plan those, like I'm fascinated by that house because I'm assuming they just got kind of lucky with location scouting and choosing that house that happened to have creepy stairs that went into a basement and perfect set deck. Like we could have a whole other podcast episode just about that house because I was fascinated and jealous with that location.
It would have been fascinating to be on this set just watching it happen. But I would have been scared as shit in that house. Still knowing it's a film set.
Yep. Some of the set deck was great. Some of the set deck was theater. Yeah. Like the bathtub was very theater and dirtying that bathtub. It's like this effect is not for close up scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (34:50.092)
Yeah, I wonder what research they did because the house that was the same house that the 1999 HBO film made men. It's the same house that movie stars Jim Belushi, Michael Beach and Timothy Dalton. It's the same house.
Has anyone seen that movie? I don't think I Was the house, I wonder, was it in good shape or was it part of the film being a shitty old house?
I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1 (35:13.388)
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It just says they filmed it at the same house.
Unfortunately, there aren't computers yet, so we can't look it up and find out. We're just going to let the mystery be. One of life's great unanswered questions. But then again, a lot of Jim Belushi movies are great unanswered questions.
That's true. Correct. Yeah, I guess I could have looked at a... Sorry.
Yeah, I derailed you. Yeah, so Sean jumps out of that second story window. Great stunt.
Blats on the ground possibly breaks a leg has a huge gash in his leg.
Speaker 2 (35:45.592)
Thank God for duct tape.
I was just going to say thank God for Doctape.
I liked being out of the house. There was a little brain fatigue after a while of being in that house with the same spotlight and it was ginger. It was a pallet cleanser to go outside. So when he's outside, he's trying to find the spark plugs that he had thrown into the woods earlier to keep himself from checking it out and driving away. So he's looking for the spark plugs and a state trooper shows up. I guess that uniform is a state trooper, right? is that a sheriff? But immediately you notice the carpet doesn't match the drapes. The face on the
Thanks, Sue.
Speaker 3 (36:18.89)
on the sheriff is very haggard and grizzled and he needs a good shave.
There's something not quite right about the old sheriff there. Quick!
we realized that the sheriff is yet another one of those ghosts. His voice is all graveled and he starts coming at Sean and said he doesn't like when Sean hurts people and then Sean kicks him in the gonads. He kicks him in his ghost balls.
The Ghost Balls.
Let's talk about this for a minute. So these, just want to know the rules. Right. And if I don't know the rules, I get confused. so let's, Evil Dead, anytime they're fighting a creature that has a physical body, it's a reanimated corpse. But here, Mildred and the other ghosts can take human form and they can wear clothes of their choosing. And Chrissy can know about the internet and things like that. And this.
Speaker 3 (37:09.73)
ghost can have a full uniform. So I just I'm a little a little muddy on what the rules are here.
think they are too.
do think it's one of those things where this is the type of horror film because I think it's so successful that I will forgive story, I will forgive writing, I will forgive the fact that he's bit in the neck and is using duct tape but still fine and falling and hurt his leg and still using duct tape, still a highly functioning person. There is so much I will forgive because I think this movie is a very good horror film. Yeah.
think that's totally fair that I think what works in his favor with Sean being so over the top and so not a real person tonally that it's so over the top that I think I'm willing to accept. Okay, these ghosts aren't really going to play by rules either because he's kind of creating, he's setting the tone from the beginning that we're going to be kind of loosey goosey with the rules as well. But yeah, Bart, I'm like you, like I'm very forgiving.
to a point, like I want to know what the rules are, then let's stick to the rules. But with this one, I was kind of like, I'm too entertained at it.
Speaker 3 (38:15.854)
I don't think the first time I saw it, bothered me as much. The second time it did. It's like, Chrissy's the cat's meow, as nobody says. but, uh, she's just a ghost. So Sean is back in his car and another viewer sends of a video of an old lady who used to be a nanny in the house when she was a teenager. She was the one who put the Hamza in the upstairs closet to keep Mildred at bay. She tells Sean that Mildred sold her soul to the devil. And that's the reason she's so powerful.
She also says, worthwhile occult rituals require a sacrifice of flesh, which we should all remember at all times about everything. The ghost cop attacks the car and this was like the one evil dead complete tribute that I kind of fanboyed out about. So Sean is looking for a weapon and he was moving all the trash on the bottom of his car and utters the phrase, tater gun.
which is an homage to Bruce Campbell saying, I thought that was cool as shit and I did not notice it the first time I saw this movie. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even hear the word Tater gun, I guess the first time and had to watching it. like, do you say Tater gun? He said Tater.
Chainsaw.
Speaker 1 (39:24.652)
He said tater gun.
He did. It was Chekhov's tater gun.
you
because he totally set it up in the first act and then it pays off in the third.
So he loads up the tater gun with a wrath of Sean Bobblehead and kills the ghost zombie cop thingy, shoots him in the chest and then the very Shaun of the Dead shot slides down the tater gun.
Speaker 2 (39:48.878)
The slide was amazing.
The slide was so good.
This is where I think maybe the last third of the movie, all of his lights should have went out and he would have had to use infrared. And so infrared would be grainy. You wouldn't have seen how plasticky these things were. So I think infrared for that last third would have solved all that. And it would have been scary and not, good for them. That's a well done theater prop.
Speaker 2 (40:17.214)
Yeah, you're right. I think that would have been a perfect solve because yeah, it was just too bright.
I mean, it would have helped, but it didn't really bother me the way that it was.
And obviously when he does slide down the tater gun, it's not even a real shirt anymore. It's a rubber shirt. The creature is made of rubber. Little infrared goes a long way as they say, as nobody says.
So Sean opens up Mildred's book of poetry and finds a poem about pond water and discovers she's making the other ghost memorize her poetry and realizes, now I thought this was fucking clever. Realizes that she wants an audience just like he does. The great line, she's not creating a family, she's building a following. That's one of those lines. like.
The movie's enjoyable, it's adorable, it's funny, it's silly, fun. But when they said that line, was like, this couple, when I say these guys, this couple, they're talented. These are those types of lines that you remember. And his arc is happening too, so now he gets that he's just like her. Except not maybe murdering
Speaker 1 (41:23.694)
I loved this arc for him. It was really fun to kind of see him switch from this sort of cowardly, constantly screaming all the time, completely scared, terrified person to, wow, I get this, I get this person, she's speaking my language and I can speak to this, I can do something about this. mean, he had a real, the switch was flipped as they say.
He decides he's going to use the unholy hand of power that he found in Mildred's book to get his soul back. And yet another very evil dead-ish line. Let's demonetize this bitch.
Mm-hmm
I literally stopped and wrote that down in my notebook, taking notes. I loved it.
So Sean has a mission now. He breaks back into the house and puts the silver knife on a stick with a GoPro atop it and labels it spear cam, which I thought was pretty damn clever and again comes in handy later.
Speaker 1 (42:15.584)
I really enjoyed the names of the cams. They made me laugh. I did too. Really pretty hard. Christy's cam and all the different names and the Spear cam. I mean, it just, I thought that was, that was really funny.
misspelling and changing the name.
In fact, if you want to go to his merch store, you can buy a t-shirt that says beef cam for the the beef stick camera that he did in the car
my God, that's great.
so he's got his beer cam and he also takes a note. of the old junkies syringes that's laying on the floor and soaks up some of the holy water into the syringe and saves it for later.
Speaker 2 (42:51.534)
You think?
do have a question. Whose car was that? His? Why didn't he just leave? I didn't remember that for some reason.
or he pulled the spark plugs out.
He made sure that he wasn't gonna be able to leave.
At the very beginning, when he gets there, he pulls out the spark plugs and throws them into the woods. And then that's what he's looking for when the, the sheriff shows up.
Speaker 1 (43:11.64)
How did I miss that? That one totally got by me. I don't know how.
He finds them right away too. They're laying there perfectly as if they are there to be found.
to the guy in the another rubber practical suit? Is that when we see the little guy out in the woods?
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:26.552)
Yeah
very like basket case head and upper torso.
And I was like, it needs to be darker. It's like you can almost see the zipper on the back.
Suit.
And rubber eyes, you know, they didn't even bother to like put eyeballs there. It's just painted rubber eyes that are part of the rubber head. So he's looking for Mildred. He's walking down the hallway looking for Mildred and he wanders into the kid's bedroom where a this I thought this was a pretty cool effect. And again, with a little less lighting, it would have looked even cooler. There's a demonic kid sitting in the bed and the kid turns around and he's got this other creature hanging from his abdomen.
Speaker 2 (43:45.57)
So good.
Speaker 1 (44:07.128)
Absolutely terrifying. Another moment where I just completely screamed.
So Sean runs back into the hallway and he stabs at Mildred with the spear cam and she takes it from him. And then the whole shot changes and now it becomes like a video game with the spear right in front of the, of the camera lids. And she stabs Sean.
because that was bloody.
Right, yeah.
I it would be on a video game. His headlamp goes out and so he's in total darkness and we hear Mildred say, Sean, I want you to know something. And then immediately we cut to the lights back on and Sean is sitting in that murky ass bathtub and his eyeballs are white.
Speaker 2 (44:45.73)
Yes, we are at the bathtub. Jesus Christ, that bathtub.
my gosh, that bathtub.
Are there interviews on the internet? Because I need to know what do they have in that tub that that poor man had to have his face come into contact with.
was very oily and dirty and flat out gross. You know, the white contacts, you you can see his irises. That was what they struggled with in Shaun of the Dead and then had to spend some time in post going ahead and whiting them out even more because they were showing through.
I mean, it still worked. It was disgusting. Either way.
Speaker 3 (45:20.492)
Yeah, I'm not trying to shit on it. Again, it's just like when light is so bright, you see the flaws, especially in HD.
I'm gonna be honest, I thought that aspect made it creepier looking. Really? That there was like a previous human behind those eyes. You know, like they had a life. When he came up out of that bathtub, I about lost my ever loving mind. I almost had to change my shorts, but we didn't get quite there. But my God, that was just terrifying when he showed up in that tub.
Sean's in the tub, just sitting in the murky waters of the tub under the trance of Mildred. But he keeps getting shaken out of it and then pulled back in. But while he's under the trance, this was the one for me that got me that turned my stomach. He reaches down into the murky water and finds an eyeball. Talk an eyeball and pops his mouth and starts chewing on it.
Fuckin eyeball.
Speaker 1 (46:10.762)
I got ya.
okay. So real talk, I've grown up watching horror movies. I love horror movies. I've never been great with gore. And as the older that I've gotten, the harder it's been for me to stomach. I legit had to get up and go spit into the sink the first time that I saw this movie, cause it was so fucking nasty. Yeah. Not a fan.
way he was chewing, he kept going like, mm, mm, like it was so good. And then he comes to it and realizes what he's doing, spits it out, but then the contacts come back and he says, the pond water is still. And donks his face into that disgusting.
Very still.
Speaker 2 (46:52.492)
Nasty. Water. Nasty water.
And Meldon starts trying to shove his head down, trying to drown him.
For me, it felt like a moment of who's gonna be remembered better. This is my house. This is my pond. You may be the influencer in your life. I'm the influencer in this house. And I win. yeah.
Yep, same here. And then we get another practical effect that would look great. And this would be the last time I say it in night vision. But it pops its head out of the water and he stabs in the eyeball with the junkie syringe filled with holy water.
So fucking evil dead. You know what I mean? Like, just so evil dead.
Speaker 3 (47:31.842)
Yeah. And its head explodes.
yeah, I was making pancakes for breakfast this morning. And I was like, as I was doing the batter, I was like, I wonder if that's what they used for that effect because that stuff does all over his face. And I'm like, looks like pancake batter.
totally pancake batter consistency. On his face. And he was just kind of sitting there.
for his sake it was pancake batter.
Speaker 3 (47:58.798)
They should have added just a little blue to it so it would have been gray, I think. Yeah. That color does not really exist in the horror realm. It's pancake batter.
I just kept thinking about him too, just like what is the main actor, what he's willing to subject himself to.
took it in like a champ, know, just along for the ride.
eating fake eyeballs, having goo on your face.
light on the neck and the leg and the pancake batter in the face and Just all of it
Speaker 2 (48:30.338)
More parity.
One effect, can't remember what explodes. don't, it wasn't the pancake batter, and it wasn't the one we're about to get to, but something explodes on his face and he's screaming. You could see it all over his tongue. You can see it on his teeth. So they splattered it with his mouth open and.
I mean, and you have to think like, you know, you're sitting there thinking this is disgusting, but you know, it was probably like the best tasting stuff on the planet. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, probably neutral. Was that the?
neutral
Bug spray?
Speaker 3 (48:59.628)
He did the bug spray as well, there was another, he stabbed something and blood sprayed out onto his face and it went into his mouth when he was screaming.
That's right. do. do think it was the bug spray on his space that Mildred uses against him that fucking slayed me. It just was really funny.
So let's get to that part. In the hallway, Mildred attacks him again and he hits her in the skull with a meat cleaver. And then goes back into the safe room where she follows him and he hits her with a chair, knocking her out. Again, I just want to know the rules. Right. Knocks her out. He knocks a ghost out cold.
This was one of those moments where, again, I think it's just sort of this forgivable thing and it was funny. It almost felt like it harkened a little bit of the frighteners. The ghosts can be knocked out and that sort of thing. It didn't bother me, I'll say that.
and is this when she has the like GoPro on her head so he can see where?
Speaker 3 (49:53.484)
Yes. Yeah, when she was laying in the hallway with the meat cleaver and a side of her skull, she's laying on the floor with the GoPro on her head and then wakes up and then comes into the other room. It was a funny gag though. He takes his pants off and his shoes off and puts them on the other side of the desk. So then when she walks in, she sees his legs and she attacks his legs and then he pops out of the closet in his underwear and hits her with a chair.
What is happening? I'm like, why does he not have pants on? Why did this happen? Why am I exposed to looking at this man with no pants on? I don't know if I needed to see that.
Funny bit. my first thought immediately was, ghosts get knocked out? Wolfman's got nards? Yeah.
That was ridiculous.
There are just no rules. There are no rules at this point. But it's okay.
Speaker 1 (50:39.438)
Right, it is sort of one of those things where you're like, why'd you get the garlic and why did you get the spear and why did you didn't need any of it? Apparently you just needed this chair like Steve Martin. All I need is this chair.
So he drags her into the center of the hamsa and does his incantation that he had been told by one of his viewers, but it doesn't work. And Mildred gets up and then knocks him unconscious. And then while he's laying unconscious, she again shoves her fucking fingernail into the other nostril.
That was so fucking gross.
Sogros in this point, he even says, why?
He speaks for all of us. He does. Just why?
Speaker 1 (51:23.394)
Like he needed another finger in the nostril.
And this is where she sprays the spray on his face and then water boards him with a bucket of his own piss. Which that was again, his mouth wide open. I think they probably had fun with that one because he's like gargling his own piss. He's screaming with it.
was like that moment, Melissa, where you were like, couldn't watch the fingernail go in. That didn't bother me. The waterboarding with the piss bucket about had me. was, I had to look away. That one was hard to watch. And he was like gargling with it. was like, don't open your mouth!
game. He's just like, I mean, kudos. Could not do it.
His mouth at this point is filled with his own pee as he-
Speaker 1 (52:05.743)
It was terrible, but amazing.
Amazing.
he manages to get away from her again.
That's when he falls down the stairs. falls down the stairs. And now we're getting to the finger.
One more time and
Speaker 1 (52:22.701)
Yeah.
He tries to retrieve the key to get out of the house. That's right. Instead, he finds a key that's a much, much older type key. And one of the people in the live stream says, use the key in the box.
He opens that box and then...
There's a photo of Mildred and the finger. He sees the severed finger. Then he realizes, because he sees the finger, that the ritual requires a sacrifice of flesh. So that's the reason the incantation didn't work upstairs when she got up and cold cocked him. This time, Sean says the incantation, but to make it work, this time he chops off his own finger, which is pretty, it was pretty gnarly effect.
I thought it was great. The effect was great. The timing was great. The speed with which things were happening. It just felt so jarring.
Speaker 3 (53:13.014)
I like the, there was something very milky brown red about the blood that I dug. was not just some- It was very well done. Very well done. Exactly. Which was probably two people.
Shout out to the special effects team for that.
Speaker 2 (53:28.142)
It was probably Sean.
It was probably a shot. Yeah. We haven't talked about this either, but he made the music. my. Anytime he plays like his mix, that's music that he has made.
guide.
Speaker 1 (53:38.232)
So clever. I loved his mix with the little cassette player.
We did not talk about that. That was one of my favorite parts of the entire movie that he had his own soundtrack and I love that in the world of this movie that made perfect sense. was funny every time he did it. It was effective every time he did it.
They really thought through the influencer angle would allow them so many fun vehicles. Sean can make this whatever he wants. It's his podcast, you know? So I think that really worked really well. I loved it.
There were a few music cues outside of the cassette player, but the fact that anytime he was going into a room where it was about to be spooky, he would press it and play his own soundtrack. And it worked so well, and it went with the kitcheness of it being a cassette player and all that.
Chrissy at one point, or Mildred, she takes it out and turns it over.
Speaker 1 (54:34.094)
She's like, wait, where's our soundtrack?
Yeah, she plays it like, yeah, when she goes to attack him, she presses play and walks in there with it playing. He called it his Sean Carpenter Halloween. And yet another one of just as soon as you see it, like, these guys are really talented. Yeah. So once he does that, it sends Mildred back to the bowels of the house. And I guess into the bowels of hell, because we see all this blood liquid and then he gets sprayed in the face with all of the blood.
and military.
Speaker 1 (54:45.442)
Yes. Right, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (55:05.846)
splashback of a milder being sent to hell. Again, a very evil dead shot when her fingernails on the floorboard as she's being dragged to hell.
It was great. I loved every second of that. think that was kind of like the quintessential Evil Dead moment in this film for sure. Yeah.
And then as everything we've learned about Sean's character to this point, he starts to gloat on the live stream. Yeah. Saying I did it. We beat this house. He starts bragging just before being surrounded by all of the remaining ghosts in the house.
They all just sort of descend upon him, right?
remaining rubber suit.
Speaker 3 (55:40.364)
all these rubber suits just step by step, inch by inch, and we lose a stream. Stream goes black, and that's it.
And done. And I'd like to thank the Academy.
I noticed a lot of flaws this time that I didn't notice the first time, but that's just because when you see this practical effects and stuff, they don't hold up well under scrutiny.
think they did a great job with the effects. I really do. I mean even like the plastic ones, the lighting could have helped in some cases. You know, yes, as we've talked about, but I don't know. I'm pretty proud of everything that they did here. I think it was pretty stellar.
But as for the fun of the film, the enjoyment of the film, it didn't waver. I just thought it was great.
Speaker 2 (56:23.754)
I did too. I, in fact, I took a screenshot of it and I have to read it. It was kind of a throwaway line, but it wasn't. There's a lot of nice people on the internet that like to help. And I think that's the messaging that I liked about this movie is that everything's done for clicks. All of it's for money. His entire body, soul is monetized for viewers, but ultimately it's his fans.
that help him solve the mystery. It's his fans that help come to the rescue. And it's supposed to be this kind of ironic throwaway line that there are nice people on the internet, but even in the world of this movie, there are nice people on the internet that want to see him win. And I just, I don't know, we're recording this in 2025 and it's a lot harder to find a lot of nice people on the internet, but I just, kind of liked that, that little redeeming little nugget.
You're totally right, Melissa.
Speaker 2 (57:20.28)
that there are still nice people on the internet that even want to help Sean succeed.
he couldn't have done it alone. No way.
And for the most part, yeah, I think we talked about this earlier, but as you read the comments, most are trying to help him in the journey and trying to solve these mysteries for him. then there's the...
I'd most, maybe not. I'd most of them are just ragging on it.
Yeah, the shitheals of the comment sections just criticizing everything. The first time I saw this film, the previous time, I was living in a house with a lot of space between my house and the neighbor's house. And I felt very comfortable watching this movie at high volume, whereas I am now in an apartment and he screams so much through this movie.
Speaker 1 (58:05.614)
my god Bart, a thousand percent.
At the top of his lungs, anytime something comes out, he screams 50 times, 80 times a lot.
was like, somebody has to tell this person to stop screaming. It was constant. It was annoying.
And it was the same every time almost. Yeah. Uh-huh. It was just riding the remote control, you know, it's like, it's late. Somebody's going to think someone's getting murdered over here. Other than that, needing to know the rules of how these ghosts can embody someone and pick their clothes and their vernacular and all of that. I don't have a critique. They made a well-crafted, funny, spooky, gross horror comedy. And I think it's going to stick around for a long time.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (58:50.669)
I do too.
loved it. You you guys razzed on some of it, some of the effects and all of that, but, and I get it, you you see some of that, especially like on a second viewing or when you're really paying attention, but it really authentically scared the crap out of me. I really liked this film a lot.
I mean, to me, there was such a joy in watching it. You and I have made low-budget films, and you could just feel the joy of the filmmakers, I feel like, throughout the entire movie. They did so much with so little. And it truly was inspiring. It had that feel of like, hey, gang, let's put on a show with just like one location and a handful of people. And like, it has no business being as good as it is.
Yeah, 100%. It works. He's funny. Some of his throwaway lines are the ones that make me laugh. Like one of the comments says something about his acne scars.
He's acne. Yes. Did they call you crater face in high school? He goes, no, cause he was still acne. He had this like Ryan Reynolds vibe before Ryan Reynolds became like super famous and had all this money. was like Ryan Reynolds who lives next door. was great.
Speaker 1 (59:52.846)
Hmm
Speaker 1 (01:00:01.056)
Yeah, yeah.
I can see him being an actor in a lot of other people's Films that he and his wife don't produce or write or direct. I think we're gonna see a lot of them.
Yeah, that like next up is Amityville Horror.
Amityville freaking horror. Yes, they are.
I don't know whose franchise this is, that they're doing a remake, a reboot, but I'm thrilled to see what they're going to be able to do with a little bit of money. Maybe a little bit more crew. They're crazy talented. I'm excited to see what's next.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26.606)
This is
Speaker 1 (01:00:30.51)
I love it. All right, Melissa, we usually wrap it up with kind of a few key questions that we have. Bart, you may fire when ready.
Okay, here it is. Is Sean intentionally unlikable and does that deepen or detract from the narrative experience?
I would say yes, he's intentionally unlikable because it does create an opportunity for him to have an arc. Being an influencer, I don't think there's a way to have a nice sympathetic influencer. You're just naturally gonna hate them from the onset and he leans into that and I love it. And I think it also then helps with the ending. He does seem genuinely sympathetic and apologetic and then he gets his comeuppance at the end.
would say Sean is clearly designed to be obnoxious and I think that choice is pretty divisive. mean, on the one hand, he kind of has these childish antics that kind of makes his suffering funnier, know, almost like hate watching. But on the other hand, making him really unlikable, you're at the risk of alienating the audience. So I think you've got to find the good balance. But his shift at the end is what made it work for me.
That was one of the reasons it was off putting to me for a few minutes. was because we know these people, so many like that, that are so unlikable and they do have so much success that you're like, why do these people have so many followers? So yeah, it took me a little while to get used to it. But they did such, again, such a great job of painting the picture at the beginning that he had screwed up recently and got in trouble.
Speaker 3 (01:02:08.364)
that maybe he was a little shallow and not thinking things through. And then he even had that mouthpiece, which during the meeting he said, I've been racially insensitive and I'd like to dedicate this segment to.
And I'm just undid any sympathy you might have engendered from any of us. So well done, Amazing.
Yeah, Something we like to do is sort of figure out where this film lands on the scale of horror comics.
You mean terms of just genre-wise?
Yeah, so like if you could give it a percentage, would you say it's right down the middle, 50 % horror, 50 % comedy? Do you think it leans more horror or leans more comedy, in which case you'd give it 70-30 on the horror meter or 80-20 or, know, so just in terms of that.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01.664)
I'd say way more comedy. I'd say seven, eight comedy just because of the tone from the onset and the complete like, we're just making up rules as we go. think, I don't know, I think we've joked about it, but I think had they been more, not intentional, because obviously everything about this movie was intentional, but had they been harder.
on themselves with we are going to set up rules where our ghosts behave a certain way. I think it would have been more of a horror movie because I think you would have taken some of those aspects more seriously. Where this was no, we're just, this is broad and it's campy and it's silly. Yeah. I would say way more comedy than horror, even though I mean some really solid scares, but way more comedy.
Yep, I totally agree. I'd call this a, like a nine on the comedy scale with 10 or less percent horror. But the jump scares are great. But I think we'd already established that tone and the tone was very well done from the beginning that it was gonna be a silly, fun film. even like when he kills Chrissy, it's it's dark, but it doesn't take us fully out because he's still this frantic, freaking out about everything main character.
So it'd be a comedy horror. Yes. Not a horror comedy. Lindsay, do you disagree with that on your meter? On your own personal? Your personal meter.
Guys...
Speaker 1 (01:04:23.842)
I absolutely disagree. I think I laughed maybe a handful of times at most. There was a few moments where I laughed out loud, you know, and we've talked a little bit about some of those, but I think this is much more of a straight horror film. I'm sorry, I was kind of surprised that it was categorized as a horror comedy because the scares and tension to me far outweighed the laughs.
That's just the way I saw it. I'm sorry all that I love you so much. I'm not the filmmaker, so I'm definitely wrong. that's the way I saw it. scared the shit out of me, Bart and Melissa. It scared the shit out of me. I was screaming my head off.
You know, the rubber practicals for me were what kept it in the comedy realm. It was almost like, because it's a comedy, it's okay that these things are so unrealistic. If it were like more leaning towards horror, I think they would have said, these can't happen.
Yeah, I get it, I get it, but I have to say I was just in that mode where I was just, I was horrified. And so I just, that's where I was. Maybe it's because it's the first time I've seen it. You know, and like you were saying earlier, Bart, this is your second viewing. And so you were watching for some of those things. And I was just all in on the horror. I was like, oh man, just went into the ceiling and watch out behind you. Oh my God, what's going on? He's gonna get the car. I mean, like the whole time, that's just what's.
My shoulders were in to my brain by the time the film was done. I was horrified. And I loved every second.
Speaker 3 (01:05:52.814)
Would you say 90 % to whore to you? Even more than 95.
Yeah, I mean, for me, I'd probably say 90 is fair. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah, and I did the total opposite.
Wow, am I a wimp? Is this where we are? You know what it is? No one will watch horror films with me, so I have to watch them by myself. And so therefore sometimes I don't watch them because no one will watch them with me. So I guess when I do, I'm like just primed.
One more question since we've taken way too much of your time. So the ending, what do you think happened to Sean? Lindsay?
Speaker 1 (01:06:29.58)
I think it was a perfect ending. I'm so glad that they didn't do anything kitschy or weird. I feel like maybe this is where he becomes a part of the haunting, essentially the next sort of monster trapped in that house, you know, and in that sort of twisted way, he's still generating content, right, but not as himself.
think Sean is the 12th dead body spirit in that house.
Let's see, does the ending feel like punishment, poetic justice, or just a bit?
that's a good question. I think it is poetic justice. Yeah, I think he had to die. I really do. I think he, that was kind of the whole point of his trajectory. He was a bad person who wanted to monetize his life. That's what he set out to do. And I think he succeeded.
Sean had no real redemption and no escape. We had that moment earlier in the film where he was clearly possessed that shows that he's sort of easily controlled, right? Which makes sense for his character and the way it's written. So I think it makes sense that Mildred and sort of the spirits absorb him and that in a way he kind of becomes a part of the haunting. Yeah, you're right, Melissa, total poetic justice. I can't think of a better way to end the movie.
Speaker 3 (01:07:46.818)
Yep, I think there's plenty of ways to fuck up this ending and one of them would have been for him to get on the outside of the house and then a lot of his viewers there to cheer him on. That would have been bad filmmaking, bad writing and it could have easily have happened, you know? And thankfully it didn't. All right, that is it for Deadstream.
Melissa, you're just the best. Thank you so much for being on the show. You're so amazing. Likewise.
You're the best and you're a gift. You're a gift to direct, to get to work with as fellow writers, performers. So this was a treat for me today. So thank you.
my gosh. And the same for you. You're such a powerhouse yourself, my friend.
You can hear Melissa on her amazing podcast. can see me in the dark, but next year, 2026, you have something coming.
Speaker 2 (01:08:36.974)
I do. My first novel, The Sisters of Crimson House, will be coming to a bookstore near you, which is just wild to say that out loud.
my gosh, I'm so excited about your book coming out next year. So excited.
This has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid and I cannot believe it's finally happening. And all things Memphis, I mean, I'm talking to you from Memphis. It's definitely inspired by a certain street in Memphis. There's just a lot of Memphis in the novel, but it's just a good old fashioned ghost story too. Super, super stoked that that'll be out spooky season next year.
I am absolutely thrilled.
I can't wait to read it. That would be fun. As I said at the beginning, you're one of those people I always wish I could see more, but then when I do get a chance to see you, I'm always grateful and it's always fun. Thank you. Bless. was a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:09:17.809)
my God. I can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (01:09:30.062)
That was so much fun. absolutely adore getting to spend time with you. Don't have you enough in my life, my friend.
Likewise.
You too.
Thanks. Bye. Love her. Love her. Knew she would be. Not disappointed.
He was great. Did not disappoint. Didn't think she would, and she did not. Lindsay. That was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:09:50.946)
Bart, how about that? That was a lot of fun. Great movie. Great choice.
I knew she would have a good take on it because of the stuff she's written in the past.
films are all totally fascinating to me. I love her scripts. I love the way that she writes. I've had more fun working with that lady.
Alright, that's it. Another episode in a can, my friend. How about that?
Awesome. So proud. So proud of her, so proud of us. I mean, I don't know what you think about it, but I absolutely do.
Speaker 3 (01:10:19.156)
You want to do this again next week?
Speaker 3 (01:10:24.152)
Hell yes, awesome. See you next week.
Hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:10:31.608)
All music for this podcast is provided by MKE. To hear more of his music, visit his band's website at detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.