Latest / Pop Culture Junkie® / Why We Love Horror Comedies

Transcript

Why We Love Horror Comedies · Pop Culture Junkie®

• 0:00
  ♪ Entertain me, Entertain me right now ♪
• 0:04
  - Hello and welcome to the Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
• 0:07
  I'm Olivia, here as always with my fellow Junkie.
• 0:11
  - Shauna.
• 0:12
  - And we are so excited.
• 0:13
  We are entering into the favorite season of all the seasons.
• 0:18
  It is a spooky season.
• 0:21
  (laughing)
• 0:23
  - You still need to decide if you're gonna come
• 0:25
  to Arizona for Halloween.
• 0:26
  You need to nail down your work situation.
• 0:30
  - I do, I do.
• 0:31
  I am gonna be there like two weeks before that.
• 0:34
  So it's gonna be a little difficult.
• 0:36
  difficile for me to go back for that as well.
• 0:41
  - That's it.
• 0:41
  - My best friend since I was 12 is getting married.
• 0:43
  So priorities.
• 0:44
  (screaming)
• 0:47
  - You sound, you have other friends than me.
• 0:49
  When do you even meet me?
• 0:50
  - But I'm your best friend since you were 25.
• 0:53
  - Yeah.
• 0:54
  - I love that you think I was 25 when we met.
• 0:56
  (laughing)
• 0:57
  - Total world was I, it's 28.
• 0:59
  - Yeah.
• 1:00
  - It was six years ago?
• 1:02
  - Yeah.
• 1:04
  - I don't know, I can't do math.
• 1:05
  - I was 28.
• 1:06
  - Yeah.
• 1:07
  - I was 25 when we met.
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  So I don't know.
• 1:09
  - Yeah.
• 1:10
  - Yeah, exactly.
• 1:11
  - We looked at it.
• 1:12
  We looked 25 and those other matters.
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  - I'm still trying to look 25.
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  I'm doing my peels and doing my bow talks,
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  doing all my stuff.
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  - Shubbin needles into my face, you know?
• 1:22
  - I am.
• 1:23
  - I am less needles and less needles.
• 1:25
  - So you're about to go to Europe?
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  Are you the best excited ever?
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  - Yeah, I'm so fucking excited.
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  By the time this episode comes out,
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  I will be back for my European excursion.
• 1:35
  We are going to Paris, London, and then Madrid.
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  And I'm so excited.
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  I have already tickets to the Louvre.
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  I'm gonna book tickets to the Catacombs in Paris.
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  - Oh my God.
• 1:47
  - I know.
• 1:48
  - You have to watch as above so below before you go then.
• 1:52
  - That's a great idea.
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  I've seen it before, but it needs to rewatch before we go.
• 1:56
  - Yes.
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  - 100% yes.
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  - Yes, has Andrew ever seen it?
• 2:00
  - I'm not sure.
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  - Probably.
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  - Well, probably.
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  - But I should force him to watch it again.
• 2:06
  - Yeah.
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  As above so below for listeners is a horror movie
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  about the Paris Catacombs and it is horrifying.
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  Just get you in the mood a little bit.
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  - I am so excited.
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  - One of my favorite things to do
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  is watch those TikTokers who like go into the parks
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  of the Catacombs that like you're not allowed to go into.
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  And it is spooky.
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  - We are gonna be following the trail.
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  - We are gonna be going exactly where we're supposed
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  to be going.
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  (laughing)
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  - Yeah.
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  - Well, as above so below, hopefully we'll reinforce that.
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  - That just be like, stay on the trail.
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  - The Paris Catacombs hold the skeletal remains
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  of more than six million people,
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  meaning there are hundreds of millions of individual bones
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  packed into the tunnels.
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  That is insane.
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  Yeah, six million to seven million human remains.
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  And they're all like built into archways and walls.
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  - That's the thing about Europe.
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  It's like, and a ton of people died here, you know?
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  Just like, it was terrifying.
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  - Yeah.
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  - Just person?
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  - Literally.
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  - Oh my gosh.
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  I do wanna go to some museums too.
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  - The Louvre is really cool.
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  - Oh yes, I'm excited for the Louvre.
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  - When we were in Japan, we went to a museum
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  and it was like a history museum.
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  And we got to the portion on World War II
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  and it was all about Americans and everything we walked by.
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  And we're like, sorry.
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  - Nothing to see here.
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  - Sorry.
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  - So we must say.
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  - Yeah.
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  - Sorry.
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  - Sorry about that one.
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  - Okay, so what else, what else are we gonna do?
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  And Madrid?
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  - Oh my gosh, in Madrid, I'm just planning on eating
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  everything in sight.
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  Majority is the one that I have the least like plans for.
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  I know we just wanna explore and eat.
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  Maybe go on like a little mini day trip at one point
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  to like this little town called Toledo.
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  Not Toledo, I-O.
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  - Yeah, definitely.
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  - That's a cooler Toledo.
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  - The cooler of the Toledo.
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  - The cooler of the Toledo.
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  - I mean, there's no hate to anybody from Toledo.
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  I'm sure it's a great place to live.
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  - Hate to people from Toledo.
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  - Sorry.
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  - Shout out to Toledo.
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  Our producers are literally from Toledo.
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  We love Toledo.
• 4:19
  - Oh, I love you, we love you.
• 4:21
  - We love you, we love you.
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  In London, we are Andrew and my husband
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  has to work for most of it while he's in London.
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  That's why we're going for him to work.
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  And I'm just like,
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  - Can I come and play?
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  I'm going to come bring me with you.
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  - And so I have like this whole itinerary of stores
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  and bars and stuff that I know that he wouldn't like
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  care to go to.
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  So I have like all my like punk and golf,
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  like bars and stores and restaurants.
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  - Yeah, and pubs, all the pubs.
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  When I say bars, I mean pubs, all the pubs.
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  - All the pubs.
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  - All the pubs.
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  - You'll have to test the,
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  the you can eat gluten in Europe theory for me.
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  So next time I go back, I can really understand.
• 5:03
  So you can let me know if you get voted.
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  - I will.
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  - Shana's lucky, she has a gluten allergy,
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  but it's not as bad.
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  - I know, I meant to tell you actually,
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  I went to the doctor yesterday.
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  I'm trying to do all of my appointments this week
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  for like my aesthetic treatments, my doctor,
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  'cause I'm gonna be gone for so long.
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  And she advised me to not eat gluten anymore.
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  - Ugh, yeah.
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  - But I did say, you know, maybe I'll stop for like this week
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  leading up to my trip, just cold turkeys.
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  You go, do not do that.
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  She's like, you don't have like celiac.
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  She's like, it just makes your tummy feel gross.
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  But she's like, if you go cold turkey all this week
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  and then you go to Paris and you eat nothing
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  but bughead and chrisson, she's like,
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  you will like gonna be one of your pants.
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  - Yeah.
• 5:46
  - Okay.
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  Okay, well good to know.
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  - Doctor, doctor.
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  - Yes, sure.
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  - So she's like, maybe not a ton this week,
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  but do not go cold turkey before you go to Paris
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  and eat every carb, you see.
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  I love it.
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  - Well, as spooky as a gluten intolerance is,
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  we are both big fans of horror
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  at the Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
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  And if you're anything like us, you are too.
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  And with spooky season and Halloween rapidly approaching,
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  we wanted to again look at some of our favorite scary movies
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  and we are no stranger to a spooky episode.
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  But this time we actually wanted to look at a genre
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  that brings together our two loves.
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  We're talking horror and we're talking comedy.
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  Horror comedies are nothing new.
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  We first saw them in 1948.
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  The film Abbot and Castello meet Frankenstein
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  brought the popular comedy duo face to face
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  with a universal movie monster like Dracula,
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  The Wolfman, and of course, Frankenstein's monster,
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  all for laughs.
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  That movie really did open the door for more films,
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  poking fun at specific horror movies
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  and their conventions.
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  Think movies like The Comedy of Terror's
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  Young Frankenstein, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,
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  that's spooky.
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  Student bodies, the Sumber Party massacre,
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  and then the Millennial Favorites,
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  Scary Movie, Shawna the Dead.
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  So, Shawna, why was your first introduction
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  to the horror comedy genre?
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  What sticks out in your mind?
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  - That is a great question because now that you've named,
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  like, it makes so much sense.
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  When I think horror comedy, my favorite of all time
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  is like the Evil Dead franchise and Shawna the Dead.
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  - Okay.
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  - But now that you've made me start thinking about it more,
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  like Abbot and Castello meet Frankenstein
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  and those early comedy horrors,
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  I think we could also throw in El Vira,
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  Mistress of the Dark, and then also the Monsters,
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  honestly, the Adam's family.
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  They're all kind of like living that horror genre
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  or spooky genre, but their comedy's at heart.
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  That's interesting that if we really brought it out like that.
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  But yeah, I love horror comedies.
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  I guess, Scary Movie as a Millennial is definitely
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  the classic that we all think of laughing, but then it's also,
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  it's making fun of Scary Movies,
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  not actually scary itself.
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  So I think that's like an important distinction.
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  There's some horror comedies that are still scary,
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  and there's some horror comedies that are just comedies.
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  - I definitely grew up on a Scary Movie.
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  I had an older brother, so I would always try to watch movies
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  with him, and Scary Movie was one that I would just be
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  in the playroom, like, "Let me hang in with you guys."
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  - So inappropriate.
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  - Yeah, so inappropriate.
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  I'm like, "Why did I see the Polaroid penis?"
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  So when I was in like third grade, you know,
• 8:41
  I didn't need to know what a micro-pean was at that time,
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  but it really set me on a trajectory.
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  - You say it follows you your whole life
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  through San Francisco.
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  - Yeah, I mean, I have told the micro-peanest story,
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  I think, before, but yeah, but it's my first--
• 8:55
  - She sound like a micro-peanest in San Francisco.
• 8:57
  - Yeah, I sound like a micro-peanest.
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  Like, one of the first weeks I ever came here for work,
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  and I was like, "Give that to me."
• 9:01
  - No, hey, give me a micro-peanest.
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  - Yeah, no, just out here, if you're from it,
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  if you're from Toledo and you have a micro-peanest,
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  extra love.
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  - No, but okay, so Scary Movie, I think that was such an
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  introduction and a love of horror for me, like, in general.
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  Like, I think I saw Scary Movie 3 before I saw the ring itself,
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  and so it had such, like, a love of,
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  and it was like making fun of it, but it really did have just,
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  like, this love letter to these Scary Movies that were so popular,
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  and took, you know, the '90s and 2000s by Storm,
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  and they had such a fun way of like weaving it all in,
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  and like, one line, or like, two characters could be, like,
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  five different movies altogether.
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  And so Scary Movie really does, like, stick out at me,
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  as, like, that first horror comedy that I remember,
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  but, I mean, Shana the Dead is just so good, and it's so dry.
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  - I am, I, it's such a British humor.
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  - Yeah, that is definitely one of my favorites.
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  I dressed up as Shana of the Dead, one Halloween.
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  I stuck pretty closely to his costume.
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  I didn't make it, like, sexy or anything.
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  I just had the white button up, and then my little name tag
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  that said Shana, and I had a, a cricket mat.
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  - Not cricket.
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  - Is it cricket?
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  - I don't know.
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  I don't know, British sports.
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  - Cricket?
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  - Well, is it a cricket mat?
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  - Yeah, cricket mat.
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  And then, like, a tie around my head, it was so good.
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  That movie's just so funny.
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  And, like, you said, just so dry.
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  I guess not, not actually Scary.
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  It's very gory.
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  So, I guess it could be scary to some people.
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  I guess, like, over the years.
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  - To little babies.
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  - Yeah.
• 10:40
  - To babies.
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  I used to not like horror movies, which is so funny
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  because I love horror movies now.
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  - What do you think that was that you didn't like horror movies?
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  - I was just so squeamish.
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  - Okay.
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  - I expected them to be scarier than they ended up being.
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  It was just, like, kind of, like, the unknown.
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  Like, I remember walking by the VHS section
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  and blockbuster and seeing the covers.
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  And just being like, "Well, I would anyone watch this.
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  This looks terrifying."
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  And then, like, you said, kind of, like, peeking at, like,
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  my family watching movies.
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  And I peeked at pet cemetery and poltergeist.
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  And I was just like, these were horrifying.
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  Oh, my God.
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  I hate horror movies.
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  My ex and I was 16.
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  I'm sure I told this story.
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  Made me watch, like, a scary movie with him.
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  It was House of Wax, but, like, the 2000s version
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  with Paris Selton.
• 11:28
  - Yeah.
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  - And it was so disgusting that I remember halfway
• 11:31
  through being like, "I'm gonna break up with this man,
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  with this guy.
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  I'm gonna break up with him.
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  This is terrible.
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  Why would he do this to me?"
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  - Some could argue House of Wax as a horror comedy.
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  - Unintentionally.
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  - True.
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  - I feel like I need to rewatch it
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  and just be like, "What was I so scared of?"
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  So when I started dating Andrew and he wanted to show me
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  some scary movies, I was like, "No, I hate horror movies."
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  I was like, "Are you sure you do?"
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  Or if you just not seen any good ones.
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  And his first thing that he wanted to show me was evil dead.
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  And I'm like, "That's a horror movie.
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  Evil dead, the dead are evil.
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  That's a horror movie."
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  And he's like, "You don't get it.
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  Just watch it.
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  It's not."
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  And we watched it, and I was like, "This is amazing.
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  I'm obsessed with this."
• 12:13
  - That's funny.
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  - So you actually got into it and dipped your toe
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  into horror from horror comedy.
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  - I guess that's true.
• 12:21
  - Yeah, I guess I had seen the kind of lighter horror stuff
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  like we said.
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  I guess I would just kind of consider those
• 12:27
  maybe Halloween movies then.
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  The Adam's family stuff.
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  Yeah, I guess horror comedy was really my first dip
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  into like, "Wait, I really like this."
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  And now I just love horror movies.
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  So.
• 12:40
  - I love that.
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  That's really, really cool.
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  Yeah, I think that sometimes we make scary movies
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  like more built up in our mind.
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  And there are so many different types of horror comedies
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  that we've seen.
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  Obviously we mentioned like the parody and spoof,
• 12:57
  which is scary movie, franchise, vampire suck.
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  We also have things like dark comedies,
• 13:05
  which are gonna be movies like,
• 13:06
  "Ready or not, the menu."
• 13:09
  - Heather.
• 13:09
  - All three of those are so good.
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  That like monologue from the menu is one of my like,
• 13:16
  vocal stems, I can't stop it.
• 13:18
  It's like, "I want a cheeseburger."
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  We could do a cheeseburger.
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  I don't think you can.
• 13:25
  I want some, not some avant-garde,
• 13:28
  deconstructed bullshit, a real cheeseburger.
• 13:31
  All making the best cheeseburger you ever had.
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  The kind of your parents could barely afford, like, so good.
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  - Yup, yup, she got it.
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  It's in there.
• 13:38
  - It's stuck in there.
• 13:39
  - I can keep going, but I'll show you all.
• 13:41
  American cheese is the best cheeseburger
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  'cause it can melt without splitting.
• 13:45
  - Okay, now we know.
• 13:47
  Now we know it.
• 13:48
  Camp Horror is a good one.
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  Like the Rocky Horror picture show,
• 13:52
  shout out to our boy Tim Curry.
• 13:54
  We did our last episode on him.
• 13:56
  And these are kind of like theatrical, exaggerated, ridiculous.
• 14:00
  Think Evil Dead 2, like we mentioned,
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  Rocky Horror, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
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  And then some slapstick horror.
• 14:07
  Also Evil Dead 2, and then Brain Dead Dead Alive.
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  So like the absurdity of the over-the-top blood
• 14:14
  and guts and gourd is what makes it funny.
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  And in any other, like in a realistic scenario,
• 14:22
  you know, somebody cutting off their own hand
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  and blood squirting everywhere
• 14:26
  and having to shut off their girlfriend's head
• 14:28
  with a, you know, chainsaw is subjectively not funny.
• 14:31
  Like if that happened to any of us,
• 14:33
  not funny, not gonna laugh.
• 14:35
  Not gonna laugh, yeah.
• 14:36
  Not gonna laugh.
• 14:37
  But in these situations, it's funny.
• 14:39
  - Yeah, and you see that, you know,
• 14:41
  kind of like gourd splatter comedy
• 14:43
  with like the terrifying to Dead Alive.
• 14:46
  And then like there's also the absurdist humor.
• 14:50
  And I absolutely love this series
• 14:54
  where it's silly, it has monsters within it.
• 14:58
  But what we do in the shadows, just absolutely amazing.
• 15:02
  Energy vampires, you know,
• 15:04
  really kind of taking those typically scary monsters
• 15:08
  and turning them into something really,
• 15:11
  just absolutely hilarious.
• 15:13
  And then also kind of falls into this,
• 15:15
  but I would say it's in its own category
• 15:18
  with more of like a absurdist humor,
• 15:21
  but also like a commentary.
• 15:23
  Cabin in the woods.
• 15:25
  - That is one of my favorite movies.
• 15:27
  I've watched it while in a cabin in the woods.
• 15:29
  And if no one's, you haven't done that highly suggested.
• 15:32
  - That is always the scary movie.
• 15:35
  - Yeah.
• 15:35
  - I will pick when people say they don't like horror movies.
• 15:38
  - Yeah.
• 15:39
  - I'm like, let's watch Cabin in the woods
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  'cause it's really like low stakes.
• 15:44
  It's not super, super scary.
• 15:46
  But it really just kind of makes fun of all
• 15:48
  of the horror tropes and makes like a joke
• 15:51
  about these things and flips it on and stuff.
• 15:53
  - And what big corporations will do for money
• 15:55
  at this sake of like the safety of people.
• 15:58
  Yes, yeah.
• 15:59
  And so it's kind of like a silly goofy story.
• 16:03
  - Yes.
• 16:04
  - Really just a commentary on things.
• 16:06
  - I think we could put these next kind of categories together.
• 16:08
  Like monsters, zombies, vampires, and werewolves,
• 16:11
  comedies that have to do with those.
• 16:14
  So we have Fright Night, Rynfield,
• 16:16
  Zombie Land, things like that,
• 16:18
  American Werewolf in London.
• 16:20
  I should rewatch that before I go to London.
• 16:22
  One of my like main comfort movies is Warren Bodies.
• 16:27
  I've talked about that in this podcast before too.
• 16:30
  That one's almost like a romance.
• 16:32
  Like a comedy romance horror,
• 16:35
  which is like a weird little three way.
• 16:39
  We'll stick with that.
• 16:40
  We'll stick a bit.
• 16:41
  Oh, and next up on the list is Three Way Horror.
• 16:44
  - Hey.
• 16:45
  - What happens when there's too many limbs?
• 16:47
  Okay, that's a good one.
• 16:49
  - What was that one scary movie that we were talking about?
• 16:52
  Where is she like chops her own arm off?
• 16:56
  - That's not a comedy, but it was The Sisters.
• 17:00
  The Sisters.
• 17:01
  - Oh, The Sozka Sisters.
• 17:04
  - Yeah, there we go.
• 17:05
  - Yeah, oh my gosh.
• 17:06
  - Still have a Mark and Mary.
• 17:08
  - America Mary is not a comedy.
• 17:09
  (laughing)
• 17:10
  Not a horror comedy.
• 17:11
  - She must have cut her own arm on.
• 17:13
  No, it's a horror movie.
• 17:15
  She has identical twins,
• 17:17
  and she cuts off both of their arms.
• 17:19
  One of each of their arms then switches it with the other one.
• 17:21
  So they'll always have like part of them with each other.
• 17:25
  Which I think you and I should do like honestly.
• 17:27
  Like, I think you can find me.
• 17:29
  - Yeah, you know, we can really say,
• 17:32
  you know, we're twins.
• 17:33
  And the types and the tropes don't necessarily end.
• 17:36
  But, you know, you even see it like go into like serial killer
• 17:40
  comedies, which you know,
• 17:42
  sounds like an oxymoron there.
• 17:44
  Like, bodies, bodies, bodies, which is a great movie.
• 17:47
  - At least you did.
• 17:48
  - The final girls, tragedy girls.
• 17:50
  So really, I think that it's such a good way
• 17:53
  to just like dip your toe into the world of comedy and horror.
• 17:58
  - Yeah, exactly.
• 17:59
  And then the family friendly, like I mentioned,
• 18:01
  poke his poke his beetle juice in the Adams family.
• 18:04
  That's like, if you have a kid who's a little weird,
• 18:06
  you want to kind of get them into horror,
• 18:08
  but you don't want to just throw them in the deep end
• 18:09
  with pet cemetery.
• 18:11
  Show them, show them, yeah.
• 18:13
  Little spooky, spooky things.
• 18:15
  - Little spooky things.
• 18:16
  - Little spooky things to it.
• 18:17
  - Little spooky scary.
• 18:18
  - And we're going to take a quick break.
• 18:20
  And then we're going to come back and talk about why we think
• 18:22
  horror comedy has persisted since 1948.
• 18:26
  (dramatic music)
• 18:31
  Welcome back before we dive deeper into our topic.
• 18:35
  I'd like to take a second to remind you
• 18:36
  that we do have a Patreon.
• 18:39
  That small pledge makes a huge difference.
• 18:42
  So go to patreon.com/popculturejunkiepodcast
• 18:46
  and subscribe so you can receive a special members only reward
• 18:50
  like uncut early access to each episode
• 18:54
  or a special shout out from each of us.
• 18:56
  You'll be glad you did because it helps us keep the lights on
• 18:59
  here at PCJ away from all of the scary, spooky monsters.
• 19:04
  And so, Shawn, why do you think that horror comedy
• 19:09
  has been redone so many times and reimagined so many times
• 19:14
  and stayed in the zeitgeist?
• 19:17
  - It's like what I mentioned.
• 19:19
  In theory, some of the things we see in horror comedy,
• 19:23
  like if this was happening in real life,
• 19:24
  it would not be funny.
• 19:26
  - Right, if A Zombie was showing up and like,
• 19:29
  like in Shawn of the dead, he has to shoot his own mother
• 19:31
  in the head, right?
• 19:33
  That's not, yeah.
• 19:34
  That wouldn't be a funny situation.
• 19:36
  So I think when you, it's all like,
• 19:38
  we see it through the absurdity
• 19:40
  and because we expect a scary movie to scare us
• 19:44
  when it makes us laugh or makes us chuckle,
• 19:46
  it like alleviates the pain.
• 19:48
  I don't know, we're laughing through the pain of existence
• 19:51
  and through the pain of life.
• 19:53
  Like, I think people watch horror movies in general
• 19:55
  like actual traditional horror movies.
• 19:58
  There's something in it that you think,
• 20:00
  well, my shit might be bad,
• 20:02
  but at least I'm not going through that.
• 20:04
  At least I'm not possessed by the devil.
• 20:06
  At least I'm not, you know, being harassed by demonic presence.
• 20:11
  And then, you know, it kind of makes you feel
• 20:13
  a little better about your situation in your life
• 20:16
  on some subconscious level.
• 20:18
  So I think that's, you know, horror comedy.
• 20:19
  Like, it makes us feel better about our situation,
• 20:22
  but then also it gives us something to kind of chuckle at.
• 20:25
  Especially if it's, you know, a commentary on something
• 20:27
  or a spoon or something like that.
• 20:30
  - Yeah, it's almost like whenever you're like
• 20:32
  in an awkward moment and you laugh
• 20:34
  or you like giggle a little bit
• 20:36
  'cause you're like, I feel uncomfortable.
• 20:38
  Like, what do I do there?
• 20:40
  So that makes sense.
• 20:41
  And people have kind of wrestled with this argument.
• 20:44
  There is an article is,
• 20:45
  why do we laugh when we're scared by Anna Green?
• 20:48
  And in the case of horror movies,
• 20:50
  some theorists argue that we laugh
• 20:52
  because horror and humor have their roots in the same phenomenon
• 20:56
  in congruity and transgressorant.
• 20:58
  So we laugh when something is incongruous
• 21:01
  when it goes against our expectations
• 21:04
  or breaks a sort of social law a character does
• 21:07
  or says something inappropriate.
• 21:09
  But in another context,
• 21:10
  those same things are perceived as scary,
• 21:13
  usually when someone beers from harmless
• 21:16
  into potentially dangerous territory.
• 21:19
  And so, yeah, I think it's a bit absurd
• 21:23
  when you're watching a horror movie
• 21:26
  to be like, yeah, that's gonna happen to me.
• 21:29
  But it goes into the zeitgeist.
• 21:31
  So having that little bit of comedy
• 21:34
  or even in really serious horror movies,
• 21:37
  I think that there's always kind of the goofy character
• 21:41
  or to talk about cabin in the woods,
• 21:43
  amazing, amazing movie, amazing commentary
• 21:46
  on horror and horror tropes.
• 21:48
  Like, there is the fool almost always.
• 21:51
  And so there's a fool character within it.
• 21:53
  And you even see that going into like a Scooby-Doo, right?
• 21:59
  Like you have the stoner, the funny, like goofy guy,
• 22:03
  the bird.
• 22:04
  - Like the shaggy. - Yeah.
• 22:06
  That's interesting.
• 22:07
  That's a good point because even in actually
• 22:10
  really serious horror movies, like hereditary, right?
• 22:13
  I just said that that's the scariest movie I've ever seen
• 22:16
  and I stand by that.
• 22:18
  - Okay. - That movie is disturbing
• 22:20
  on so many levels, which is why it works so well.
• 22:23
  But there are moments where it is so disturbing
• 22:26
  that you chuckle like when he's in the classroom.
• 22:29
  - When she's in the classroom. - When she's in the classroom.
• 22:31
  - Yeah, you're just like, what the fuck is going on?
• 22:34
  And then you kind of like chuckle just because it's so like,
• 22:38
  this is horrifying and I can't imagine this ever happening.
• 22:41
  This is gonna make me laugh just a little.
• 22:43
  Same with obsession, right?
• 22:46
  That movie has its little funny parts
• 22:48
  just living in the awkwardness of her screaming in public
• 22:52
  and being embarrassing because he's done this thing to her
• 22:56
  and it makes, you know, the deem, like her act
• 22:59
  in embarrassing ways.
• 23:01
  It makes kind of chuckle.
• 23:02
  So, you know, something to kind of break the tension
• 23:05
  just a little bit.
• 23:07
  - Yeah, it's almost like if a roller coaster
• 23:09
  was just only going up the entire time.
• 23:12
  So we see it in serious movies, horror movies as well.
• 23:16
  But I think that there is just something so beautiful
• 23:19
  about a horror comedy because it doesn't take itself
• 23:22
  too seriously.
• 23:23
  And I think that a lot of the time within a horror movie,
• 23:27
  like you can be like, we went too far.
• 23:30
  Like I was talking about the new ass a little bit.
• 23:34
  It can get a little off the rails.
• 23:37
  Like I was talking about like M Night Shyamalan,
• 23:39
  which is making out of you seeing the new M Night Shyamalan,
• 23:44
  Nicholas Sparks movie that's coming out.
• 23:47
  - Okay, what is the name of it again?
• 23:49
  - I am hit and miss with M Night Shyamalan.
• 23:52
  I think that he's had some bangers early in his career,
• 23:55
  but then he's had some massive disappointments.
• 23:58
  I'm looking at you, Avatar.
• 23:59
  - Yes, to remain.
• 24:02
  - Remain, that's right.
• 24:03
  Andrew hates M Night Shyamalan.
• 24:05
  Like if he ever sees this man in the streets,
• 24:07
  he's gonna fist bite him.
• 24:08
  Like he was like a person laying the plane.
• 24:11
  He can't land the plane.
• 24:13
  He can't land an ending.
• 24:14
  - But you know what's a V.I.
• 24:15
  - It's hilarious.
• 24:17
  - It's so funny.
• 24:18
  I really liked the Josh Hartnet movie
• 24:20
  that just came out a couple years ago.
• 24:22
  - No, that was a horror comedy unintentionally.
• 24:25
  - Yeah.
• 24:26
  - For sure.
• 24:27
  - I think it was trapped.
• 24:28
  (laughing)
• 24:30
  - It's so dumb, but I loved it.
• 24:32
  Mostly because me and Alyssa went to go see it together
• 24:34
  and so I just have like fond memories of it.
• 24:36
  But an unintentional horror comedy.
• 24:39
  (laughing)
• 24:40
  - Yeah, I know what I think is very bad.
• 24:41
  - Is there a much more than a horror comedy?
• 24:42
  - There are so many of those horror movies
• 24:46
  that are not trying to be a horror comedy.
• 24:48
  They're taking themselves like incredibly serious.
• 24:50
  - They're too pretentious.
• 24:51
  - But they just go all the way around.
• 24:53
  And M Night Shyamalan is a really, really good example of that.
• 24:57
  And I do think that Remain
• 24:59
  is gonna be a really interesting case study
• 25:01
  because you have Nicholas Sparks
• 25:03
  who has written the notebook
• 25:06
  and all of these love stories.
• 25:08
  And then you have M Night Shyamalan
• 25:09
  who is this sci-fi horror writer.
• 25:14
  And can those two come together
• 25:18
  and actually write a good ending?
• 25:20
  And it's a horror movie.
• 25:21
  - I'm gonna watch the horror movie.
• 25:23
  - I'm gonna watch it.
• 25:24
  And the trailer looks amazing,
• 25:25
  which Jake Jell-in-Hole in it just came out.
• 25:27
  But yeah, I think that there are a lot of horror movies
• 25:31
  that are not intending to be a horror comedy,
• 25:34
  but are just absolutely freaking hilarious.
• 25:36
  - Like Barbarian.
• 25:38
  - Right?
• 25:39
  - Oh my God.
• 25:40
  - I think there are, Barbarian is one of those movies,
• 25:42
  like I mentioned where it's horrifying,
• 25:45
  but it gets so uncomfortable that you laugh.
• 25:47
  And like not that it's pretentious and up its own ass,
• 25:50
  but that it's just like,
• 25:51
  "Oh my God, what the fuck is going on?"
• 25:54
  And then it makes you chuckle.
• 25:55
  - Yeah, I totally agree.
• 25:57
  - Or like the parasitic twin one, what's the name of that?
• 25:59
  - Oh my God.
• 26:00
  I called that one so hard.
• 26:03
  Halfway through the day.
• 26:03
  It's like, it's a parasitic twin.
• 26:05
  - Belignant, belignant.
• 26:06
  - Yeah, belignant is trying to be so scary and so serious,
• 26:10
  but it is absolutely hilarious.
• 26:12
  Like it just cracks me up.
• 26:14
  Yeah, you know, we've talked about it a lot.
• 26:16
  So sorry to spoil it again,
• 26:18
  but if you do,
• 26:19
  - We talk about parasitic twins a lot, it's fine.
• 26:21
  - And Toronto's obsession with them.
• 26:23
  - Shout out, you know, we love you.
• 26:24
  If you have a parasitic twin,
• 26:26
  a micro penis and you're from Toledo.
• 26:28
  - All of the, all.
• 26:29
  (laughing)
• 26:30
  - If you have a parasitic twin, a micro penis,
• 26:33
  and you live in Toledo,
• 26:34
  we'll give you free clips around for you.
• 26:37
  - Please, I just wanna ask you questions.
• 26:39
  - Free clips around for you.
• 26:42
  - We need proof, though.
• 26:42
  We need photographic proof,
• 26:44
  for all free things.
• 26:45
  - Yeah, all of them.
• 26:46
  - All of them.
• 26:47
  - I don't know how you're gonna do photographic proof.
• 26:49
  You're in Toledo, but.
• 26:50
  - There has to be some monument,
• 26:52
  like welcome to Toledo sign with their macropenas out
• 26:55
  and their little twin.
• 26:57
  (laughing)
• 26:59
  - Yeah, you know,
• 27:01
  but I think that there's just so many within it.
• 27:05
  If you could only watch one horror comedy
• 27:08
  for the rest of your life, what would it be, though?
• 27:10
  - Hmm.
• 27:12
  - Sean of the Dead.
• 27:14
  - Hmm.
• 27:15
  - Yeah, I think so.
• 27:16
  I mean, like I said,
• 27:17
  Warren Bodies is one of my comfort films,
• 27:20
  but if I'm thinking just straight horror comedy,
• 27:23
  I can put Warren Bodies as my go-to romance film.
• 27:27
  - Okay.
• 27:28
  - But Sean of the Dead is gonna make me laugh
• 27:29
  holistically every time.
• 27:31
  I feel like there's little jokes and little bits in it.
• 27:33
  Like every time I watch it,
• 27:34
  that I'm like, oh, I don't remember that.
• 27:36
  That's funny.
• 27:36
  Or just like you discover something new
• 27:38
  every time you watch it
• 27:39
  or some little background character doing something.
• 27:41
  I don't know.
• 27:42
  - What about you?
• 27:43
  (laughing)
• 27:45
  - I feel like I gotta go scary movie too.
• 27:47
  I don't know.
• 27:48
  - I don't know.
• 27:49
  - Yeah.
• 27:50
  - Tim Curry said that.
• 27:51
  - Tim Curry, you're my boy.
• 27:53
  - A boy, but I'm gonna.
• 27:53
  - No, I do think close second what we do in the shadows,
• 27:56
  'cause like,
• 27:58
  then I get more, right?
• 27:59
  I get like 10 episodes of it versus like one movie.
• 28:03
  The movie's so good though, it's so perfect.
• 28:05
  - Yeah.
• 28:06
  - Yeah.
• 28:07
  - I'm putting them together.
• 28:08
  We get one big one.
• 28:09
  - That's fair.
• 28:09
  - But yeah, I think we've talked about it before.
• 28:12
  Scream is my favorite horror movie franchise.
• 28:15
  Which also falls into it.
• 28:17
  - That's more common to you.
• 28:18
  - Yeah, falls into it.
• 28:19
  - Yeah.
• 28:20
  - It's like a commentary of it.
• 28:21
  But I think it's more like meta horror.
• 28:25
  So it has this commentary on just the horror genre
• 28:29
  and general, but I do think it's funny.
• 28:31
  - But it's fun to be taken seriously in the beginning.
• 28:33
  - And I guess you're right.
• 28:35
  I could see that with Scream where it wanted to be taken
• 28:37
  seriously and it was spoofing other scary movies.
• 28:41
  And then eventually it started spoofing itself
• 28:44
  when it started taking itself less seriously.
• 28:46
  I think that's why it's such like a cultural phenomenon
• 28:49
  'cause they leaned into like,
• 28:50
  you know, we're gonna make it scary,
• 28:52
  but still it'll be a little,
• 28:54
  it'll be a little goofy too at the end of the day.
• 28:56
  - Yeah.
• 28:57
  - I mean, like, Nev Campbell running that,
• 29:01
  I mean, you can't tell me that's not horror comedy.
• 29:03
  - Yes, yes.
• 29:05
  - What are you waiting for?
• 29:06
  Oh no, that's a different movie.
• 29:08
  That's, I know what you did last summer.
• 29:11
  - What are you waiting for?
• 29:13
  - You see, you just did it.
• 29:15
  You took a scary movie reference
• 29:18
  and put it all into the movie.
• 29:20
  Yeah, that's what I think of.
• 29:21
  - I think of Anna Ferris doing it too.
• 29:24
  - Yeah.
• 29:24
  - From Scary Movie One.
• 29:26
  - Speaking of horror comedy,
• 29:28
  great goats, Anna Ferris.
• 29:31
  Have you been seeing her?
• 29:32
  - Got interviews lately?
• 29:33
  She seems a little...
• 29:35
  - She's a little...
• 29:36
  - She's a little...
• 29:37
  - Okay.
• 29:38
  - She's a little...
• 29:39
  - Like, cookie.
• 29:40
  - Yeah.
• 29:41
  - No, I think that she is definitely like,
• 29:43
  I haven't seen the newest Scary Movie.
• 29:45
  I think we've mentioned that before,
• 29:46
  but like, I heard it's not the best,
• 29:49
  but at the end of the day or any of the Scary Movies,
• 29:51
  like Oscar award winning.
• 29:54
  - I think they're all probably rotten,
• 29:55
  I think they were rotten.
• 29:57
  - I think they were rotten.
• 29:59
  - They were rotten.
• 29:59
  - We know horror comedy category at the Oscars this year.
• 30:03
  I do like that.
• 30:04
  - Demi Moore was nominated for an Oscar for the Substance.
• 30:08
  I think Indi Navarate should definitely be,
• 30:12
  like nominated for something with obsession.
• 30:14
  I don't know.
• 30:15
  They're kind of like, finally getting the recognition,
• 30:18
  like from as being, you know,
• 30:19
  oh, this is a really good movie during a word season.
• 30:23
  Black Swan, that's not a comedy movie,
• 30:25
  but I think that was one of like,
• 30:26
  the rare examples of a horror movie,
• 30:28
  like being nominated for Oscars.
• 30:31
  - Yeah, when do the nominations go out for the Oscars?
• 30:35
  - That's a good question.
• 30:36
  - I don't know.
• 30:37
  The award shows always in April,
• 30:38
  so maybe by the end of the year.
• 30:40
  - I know that MVs just went out.
• 30:42
  So it's kind of easy.
• 30:44
  Yeah, I think it will be really, really interesting
• 30:47
  to see if obsession makes it,
• 30:50
  I still haven't seen backgrounds of you.
• 30:52
  Neither have I.
• 30:53
  - We're sucking.
• 30:54
  - We're waiting for it to not be 1999 to run.
• 30:57
  - Or to download or whatever.
• 30:59
  - That's great.
• 31:00
  - Yeah, once it gets to like $11, then I'll pass the file.
• 31:04
  - Then I can check on up some pennies.
• 31:05
  Unless you subscribe to the Patreon, then we can go in.
• 31:09
  - Hey, plug.
• 31:10
  But no, I think it'll be really, really interesting
• 31:12
  to see if obsession does make it.
• 31:15
  I mean, Parasite 1,
• 31:17
  - Parasite 1, that's a good point.
• 31:20
  It was scary, but then also just,
• 31:23
  yeah, social commentary on, you know, classism.
• 31:25
  And that was such a good movie.
• 31:27
  I need to rewatch that.
• 31:28
  - Yeah, and I think that's the crux of like a good comedy
• 31:32
  in general, is like it's a commentary on the world
• 31:35
  or a situation or things like that.
• 31:37
  And so horror can really be a great way
• 31:41
  to also bring that into the fold.
• 31:43
  Comedy is absurd.
• 31:45
  Horror, when it doesn't take itself too serious,
• 31:47
  it could be amazing.
• 31:48
  And I think you just said comedy is absurd,
• 31:51
  but like inherently horror is absurd too.
• 31:54
  Like it's absurd and that these are things
• 31:56
  that are never gonna happen.
• 31:58
  Sometimes, some, you know, horror movies
• 31:59
  are more realistic where it's, you know, unfortunately,
• 32:02
  like people do get shot and stabbed and killed,
• 32:05
  but like people are gonna be flying through the air
• 32:07
  and floating from their beds anytime soon.
• 32:10
  Like it's absurd inherently.
• 32:12
  I think that's what scares us is like,
• 32:14
  I could never imagine this ever happening
• 32:16
  and that frightens me.
• 32:18
  And that's why I wanna see it.
• 32:19
  Like, I don't know.
• 32:21
  And I think we all are going through our own horror.
• 32:23
  We live in a capitalistic hellscape.
• 32:25
  So let's just skip and watch them.
• 32:27
  - We have to bring it back, yeah.
• 32:29
  - We always bring it back if any of the episodes
• 32:31
  of the capitalistic hellscape.
• 32:32
  I don't know, it's a way to escape.
• 32:34
  It's escapism.
• 32:35
  - Yeah.
• 32:36
  And whether your horror comedy is the characters
• 32:39
  or idiots, the horror itself is ridiculous.
• 32:42
  The characters don't realize they're in a horror movie
• 32:45
  or maybe they do.
• 32:46
  We are always laughing through the pain together.
• 32:50
  And I hope that this, if you are a horror novice
• 32:55
  or a horror skeptic brought you a little bit of courage
• 33:00
  to dip your toe back in.
• 33:02
  And so Shana, where can our spooky listeners find you?
• 33:07
  - You can find me, Shauna Trinidad,
• 33:08
  on Instagram and Threads @shaunatrinidad,
• 33:12
  S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D.
• 33:16
  - And you can find me, Olivia, on Instagram @livimariez,
• 33:22
  L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z.
• 33:26
  And you know that if you want more pop culture junkie,
• 33:29
  you can hit up our website, popculturejunkie.com.
• 33:32
  We have a ton of links to our platforms, our socials,
• 33:36
  some good blog posts.
• 33:38
  You can even get a spooky shirt,
• 33:41
  Pop Culture Junkie themed.
• 33:42
  And contact us.
• 33:44
  We have a Facebook group.
• 33:45
  And of course, as we mentioned, we have the Patreon.
• 33:48
  You can find that at patreon.com/popculturejunkiepodcast.
• 33:53
  Truly helps us out.
• 33:55
  And hey, give us a follow on YouTube.
• 33:57
  We're trying to, trying to grow that thing.
• 33:59
  You get to see us in the studio sometimes.
• 34:02
  And just check us out in our natural habitat as well.
• 34:06
  In our long distance love relationship.
• 34:09
  But come back next week for another hit of pop culture.
• 34:13
  [Music]
• 34:17
  The Pop Culture Junkie podcast is produced by Jeff Markin
• 34:20
  and Cheryl Lightfoot, for the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
• 34:24
  [Music]
• 34:36
  [Music]