Latest / Citizen Frame / Halloween Month and a 1/2 episode 5: Barbarian

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Halloween Month and a 1/2 episode 5: Barbarian · Citizen Frame

0:00
We need to go. We need to go now. What are you talking about?
0:03
Why were we in the basement? We got locked in the basement, and there was this
0:05
hidden area. There was this room.
0:07
There was a hidden room? There was something bad going on here.
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Tess, Tess, relax. Relax. You're okay. You're safe. You're safe, all right? You're safe.
0:16
I don't think I am. What's down there? What did you see? Okay.
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I was in the basement, and I found this hidden passageway, and there was this
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room, and it was like a dungeon. Like a dungeon? What was on there?
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Or is it bad? A camera? A camera. And a bucket.
0:52
Alright, everyone. Welcome back to another exciting episode of Citizen Frame.
0:56
As we continue Halloween.
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And three quarters a month. So, yeah, as we told you last time,
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we've extended our podcast for Halloween, month and a half. It's now a month, three quarters.
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Because we added- It'll probably end up being a month, you know,
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two months. Well, here's the situation. I'll bring it up one more time.
1:15
We're going to do definitely Stephen King's long walk.
1:18
And then we're going to end with Suspiria. But first we're doing the two Kroger
1:22
films, Barbarian and Weapons.
1:26
Then Frankenstein's coming out. Now, it's supposed to be coming out on the 7th
1:30
on Netflix, but it might get a Theoretical release first.
1:34
But I believe it's going to be the 7th. So we're going to do Frankenstein at
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the end of Halloween three quarters, month and three quarters,
1:44
because it'd be a transition period for the Christmas month.
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Most movies have not been picked yet, but we'll end Halloween three quarters,
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a month of three quarters, fuck, I'm getting confused, with Suspiria,
1:58
because we started with Italian cinema. So there you go.
2:02
And then we'll just sort of, we'll just blend nicely into more horror Frankenstein.
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What we'll do is that we always pick one horror film for Christmas month,
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and we already got that one picked.
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So we'll be doing that one at the
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end. So we won't be, so we got to start getting other genres out there.
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So, but yes, and the Halloween Christmas picks, we said the Christmas picks
2:24
will be announced soon. All right.
2:27
Before we start, I have a correction to make. We already talked Black Phone 2.
2:31
I'm a classy person, very classy.
2:34
And your own head. Go ahead. Speaking of not classy, I was talking about Atticus Derrickson.
2:44
Who did the score for Black Phone 2. It's the stupidest mistake.
2:48
And I say his music sounds like Nine Inch Nails, which is Trent Reznor and Atticus
2:53
Finch. Well, it's actually Atticus Ross.
2:56
Atticus Finch is the fucking protagonist in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird.
3:02
Yep. Harper Lee. Yeah, Harper Lee and Gregory Peck, I think, played him.
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So, whoops. But you know what? I own it. I own it. So there you go.
3:14
Classy. Classy here at Citizen Frame.
3:16
Have you any corrections to make about werewolves? No.
3:20
No. No, everything's good. You're in love with Lou Diamond Phillips. We got that.
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Fair enough. But, you know, go chivet. Oh, my God. All right.
3:33
We're going to talk barbarian. No, there's a new kid in town.
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He's an actor first. He's some comedic stuff. He's in his films.
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A guy's named Zach Crager. He just hit it out of the park with one of the most
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successful horror films ever produced with weapons which we'll be talking about
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next but his his first i mean he's had a couple.
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Shorts and a couple tv stuff and so forth but
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his big first outing would be his first film which
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is barbarian which came out a couple years
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ago and not much trivia on this one came out
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and came and went and became a little cult favorite once
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it hit certain markets and it's finally
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finding a home on blu-ray and 4k took a
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while for it to get released but i think thanks to the success of
4:15
weapons that's why we're getting it now and yeah
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you know what this guy i like i'll put my cards on the table he's
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two for two and he's so
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much more talented than the guys that i don't like
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i won't mention the names because i give them enough grief but
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these new young filmmakers coming that really
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understand you know what you know what zach krigley does i read a review on
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weapons i don't really like quote reviews and stuff but i will this one he says
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What works for Zach Krager is that he brought back horror where jump scares are needed for.
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Without the film being a horror film as becoming lazy as they have become.
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Yeah, I agree with that there. Yes, there are jump scares within his film,
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but there's also story, and they also work in terms of the plot.
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You know, there's a point to them, and they actually forward the plot.
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So yes, I would agree with that, definitely. But yes, I know that a lot of his
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background is in comedy,
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and I would say as well that just to back up what you said earlier about Barbarian
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not really getting much traction until recently after the release of weapons,
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that was the case with me I hadn't seen weapons but after seeing weapons I intentionally
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went out and seeked it out because of weapons so yeah.
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No I mean Barbarian was a cult hit, I mean it was a small little hit believe
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it or not, it did find its footing when it first came out but for some reason
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traction it didn't get the media release, which was weird.
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Yeah. So, but yeah, you know, I'm watching this, even with Barbarian,
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it's definitely in weapons.
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He's got a Tarantino edge to him and I don't, and even a Sam Peckinpah edge,
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he's got, and this one has a massive Hitchcock feel to it in the first half.
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A lot of rope and rear window in this. And so- Cycle?
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He definitely is an homage to horror
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in a lot of his stuff and like tarantino is more to the his i believe it or
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not most of tarantino's homages are more to uh exploitation films from the 70s
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and or mob films and stuff like that so but anyways he has a style to him where.
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He peppers in violence, but like Tarantino, he adds humor within the violence.
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So you're having a laugh with it and you're not being disgusted by it.
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So that's where Tarantino shines, where there'd be some impressive dialogue going on in an argument.
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Someone actually blows their head off and then they're still arguing and this
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poor bastard's got his head blown off in the backseat of the car.
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But you're laughing with it he has the
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same approach but with monster violence and
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horror violence I would
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say about Zach Krieger overall his influences
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are definitely there on the table which I would also include Carpenter to a
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certain extent but at the same time while his influences are visible he also
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has his own style and puts his own stamp on it and they are original stories
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by himself Yes, they have, you know,
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influences and they've been influenced by some of the greats,
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but they're very much his own unique spin on them.
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And that's the way to do it. A couple of years ago, they were talking,
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I can't remember who the writer was, famous writer, could be King for all I know, I can't remember.
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But they said in cinema, everything's been said and done. All you can do is enhance.
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So what they're saying is, you know, you're going to step on people's toes.
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Something that you remember as a kid you just don't remember as you're filming
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it but you just tweak it and make it your own and so.
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That's where we are right now with this and that's why you get these filmmakers
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like Eggers who's done Nosferatu and now he's doing The Wolfman so he's taken
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from some classic cinema and making it his own not.
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What I like but he's doing whatever he's making it like I said he's making it his own but so.
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And so Zach Craig are here. We'll start with Barbarian,
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Yeah, small cast, which I like. We got Georgina Campbell who plays Tess.
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Bill Skarsgård is Keith. Justin Long is AJ.
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Matthew Patrick Davis as the mother. Boy. Oh, I'd like to say Trevor's girlfriend.
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Oh, she's hot. Yeah. Yeah. I bet. God, her knees got any lower.
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Why do I blew it? I blew it.
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I suppose if her tits got any lower, you call them knees. Okay.
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Richard Brake, who I like to see as Frank. Very creepy in this,
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even though it's a small part.
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That's it. You got Doug, Andre, Bonnie, Meg kind of bring out the rest of the cast.
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Well, the story's very simple. Tess, got an interview. Going to rent an Airbnb.
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Now, this whole opening sequence is so fun. It is, to me, the best part of the film.
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Believe it or not, before we get any action or any monsters or whatnot or tunnels
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being found, this is the best part of the film is the first act. It's very tense.
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It is very tense because you don't know when she meets Keith if he's a good guy or a bad guy.
9:39
Yes. You don't know really who she is, to be honest with you.
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There's a beautiful shot when she goes into this neighborhood and she finds
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out that the key's missed, the key's gone, and how's she getting into this house?
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And she looks around, and all the houses on the whole streets have streetlights
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or anything, so it's very dark. So we don't really see the neighborhood, and so she's all alone.
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And what's going on in these other houses that are so dark?
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So it already puts her in peril, and nothing's really even happened yet.
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But we obviously get this nice banter between Keith and Tess.
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And Keith said, you got to stay here with me. You take the bed. I'm a gentleman.
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Please go ahead. And just really good conversation.
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Well, it's a double sort of reference for me, homage to Psycho.
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Whereas, you know, Keith, it's Keith or Kevin, the Skarsgård character.
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Keith, yeah. where he is very much the sort of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates
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type, mild-mannered sort of gentleman.
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So you're expecting him to be the intern or not.
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But then there's also, obvious big spoiler, when he gets bumped off at the end
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of this opening segment, it's the whole Janet Leigh in the shower.
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Who you think, who the audience thinks is the lead, gets bumped off very early on,
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Which of course Wes Craven did With the original Scream as well With Drew Barrymore
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Yeah I mean you do see a lot of that I didn't see the psycho element but that's
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a good shout See I paid you a compliment You're welcome,
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That's a first? Yeah, it's definitely a fucking last. This is a landmark?
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Yeah, it's a fucking last too.
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But yeah, it does. Even the opening, one of these shots where she's trying to
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get in the house, and then he says, we have some banter on the porch before
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she actually goes into the house.
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And the transition shot, when she walks into the house from the side,
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we see from the side, and as she walks in the house, we go into blackness,
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and then we see the title barbarian.
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Because that means the minute she's in that house, this is where things go wrong.
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And it's just a wonderful introduction to both characters who the audience and
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themselves can't trust.
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And the dialogue and the performances are bang on. Yeah.
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You know, you really sort of buy what's going on here.
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And then there's the whole sort of, she refuses to drink the tea because she
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didn't see him pour it, you know, in case he's drugged it and stuff.
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It's just very it's quite realistic how
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someone would actually act in a situation
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like this it's it's just excellently played all
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around yeah and then they kind of
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there's always tension every time someone one
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of them opens their mouth there's always what does
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he mean by that even though it's something we would take it as an
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everyday kind gesture they see it as maybe
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a form of an attack we don't know it's really
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playing with the audience and doing it superbly yeah
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exactly and so it takes that scene with them he finally gets her to have a little
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bit of wine and it kind of loosens the mood a bit and then as they're drinking
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on the wine during quick cuts and so forth we as the audience members are lighting
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up ourselves because we're thinking okay these guys are okay.
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Yes, but then there's the stuff whenever they go to bed, you know, where her doors open.
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And there's a very quick and very brief shot where she goes out into the hall.
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And if you look in the background, you see something going on in the distance,
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you know, with the door that leads to the kitchen and the cellar. Yeah, it keeps opening.
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Yes, exactly. And then she wakes up at night and her doors open in the bedroom.
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Yes. She lagged because, again, she still doesn't trust Keith as of yet.
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And so she, she asked him, did you open my door? Because she was,
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she was woken up by his nightmares.
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Yes. He was talking on his sleep. Yeah. So he was having flashbacks,
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kind of like a PTSD maybe or something like that. So we don't know Keith's background.
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And so her doors open all of a sudden. He's having these violent dreams or nightmares on the couch.
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So first we had a little sense of calm there for a minute while they're having
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their wine. But as both of them get some sleep, things start getting a little edgy. Yes.
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So when she leaves, she goes to the next day.
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And I do love the shot when she goes outside the next day.
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She finds the note, you know, where he's gone for the day. So she leaves to go do her interview.
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But when she leaves, we finally see the housing community at night during the
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day. And it's a fucking shithole.
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Yeah, it's run down, big time. Yeah, they're playing on the old abandoned neighborhoods
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that they have in Detroit.
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This is where this is, I believe, based, which they kind of played on that too
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in the movie called Don't Breathe.
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And so here's this nice Airbnb that is in the middle of the shithole,
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which we find out is a really terrible place to be because when she's doing
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the interview, she tells her, no, I rented an Airbnb.
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Don't you worry about me. and the interviewee goes, where are you staying?
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And she tells her and she goes, Jesus, you really don't want to be there. Are you going to be okay?
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Be careful. Yeah, kind of tells her, listen, you probably want to go somewhere else.
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But she didn't listen. Although that woman who takes the interview,
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if she actually knows how bad it is and what's going on, surely she should have
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been more pushy and said something like, you got to get out of there.
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But maybe she just knew it was a rough area and didn't actually know about what exactly was going on.
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I like the little red herring, or the little twist where, more of a red herring
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actually, where she gets out of the car from the interview and she's going back
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to the house and you've got this homeless guy running after her.
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Yes. And then when he's reintroduced, he's actually the good guy.
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He's trying to help her. Yeah, exactly.
15:44
Yes. Yeah. But a set up like he's actually like a threat. Yeah,
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well, we're judging a book by its cover.
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Like we would all do. But no offense, the fucker's yelling at her,
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screaming at her, so I'd probably shit my pants, get the fuck out of there, too.
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When she's walking around she goes down to that locked basement or
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I like to call it Trevor's basement can I
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just say first of all you know the way she goes down for a
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toilet roll I could be wrong but I think this is actually another reference
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to Psycho because Psycho was apparently the first at least Hollywood mainstream
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film that ever showed a flushing toilet when Marion Crane is flushing I think it's the,
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newspaper and stuff down the toilet,
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so apparently that was the first mainstream film to show a flushing toilet so
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I do think this is another reference to Psycho because there's a couple of times
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she's on the toilet actually and again I just think it's playing into the whole
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Psycho vibes subtly, more subtly this time,
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maybe, maybe I think sometimes we might overthink it,
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we might think everything's good but maybe there's something there,
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I don't know but when she goes down there and she goes into the basement and
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she finds the rope, she pulls the rope and the door opens. We find your bedroom.
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I believe this is where they built your bedroom, which is a dirty old bloody
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mattress and just a camera.
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I could pay good money for them using it. Leave me alone. Or as Trevor likes
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to call it, a Saturday night.
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Leave my bedroom alone. Of course, that's an old mattress, a brand new top-of-the-line
17:26
video camera and a bucket. Jesus.
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Yeah, that's gross. Jesus. It's the mattress and also the shit stains on the walls and stuff. Yeah.
17:38
They really need to get to a Kia real quick.
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Yeah oh my god isn't that nice,
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the minute I saw that I would have fucking ran well Justin Long sits on the
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mattress and it's like oh you dirty bastard although to be fair when he realizes
17:56
goes yeah you know so she gets locked,
18:01
in there and then he helps then he can't get in the house because she's got
18:05
the key so yes he you know gets to get the window open and whatever.
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But yet, despite all this happening, you still don't trust Keith for a bastard.
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And I think that's what's great about the film. Because when he goes down the
18:20
tunnel further, and he goes a lot further than what she thought, you can hear him.
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And then he's walking toward her in this dark, and she's got this little flashlight.
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And as Keith- I think he's play-acting? As Keith- Lure-a-ren? Hold on for a second.
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As Keith is coming toward us and coming toward Tess, we suddenly see the mother
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looming, coming toward him and bashing the poor guy's skull.
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And until that moment, we had no trust in Keith.
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Yeah, especially here. Yeah. But what I liked about it was when Keith does get
18:53
it, you go from, oh man, this guy's up to something. This guy's up to something.
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And the second he gets it, you're like, oh, poor Keith.
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Yeah. As they were wrong about Keith. Keith was all right. The poor bastard.
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Keith was innocent. But we'll get that in his next film, Weapons.
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He plays a lot like that too He's very good at Misdirecting who's who and who's
19:15
what And who's not and who is The best films are always I think Tarantino even
19:20
said it Films are all about subverting the audience Expectations and that's what's happening here,
19:27
Yeah So we're introduced to,
19:29
The mother. Wow. Creepy. Yeah. Creepy.
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Really, I wish he had a robe or something. That would be nice. Fuck.
19:39
But once we're introduced to her, it's all pure chaos. And then we cut to, we meet AJ.
19:45
It's a great cut. Yeah. And then, you know, it's funny, so far with his two
19:51
films I've seen, Zach's, he always This manages now these two different direction
19:57
styles in between weapons in this one.
20:00
But they all have the same goal.
20:04
All the characters.
20:07
Eventually end up at the one house and yeah
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so he does it more of a tarantino you
20:14
know a mixture of different stories blending into each other
20:16
and weapons but in this one it's you know it's
20:19
pretty straightforward we cut to the next character aj and now his story is
20:25
getting him to this going get back to the airbnb we find out aj's a famous actor
20:30
he's up for rape charges being accused of rape he did it he's a prick it's nice
20:35
saying yeah He's generally a complete dick. Yeah, but you know, it's funny.
20:38
It's nice seeing Justin Long play this kind of character because he's always the nice guy.
20:44
He's really good at it. In fact, I would go as far as saying Justin Long is
20:48
probably the most memorable out of all the main characters, even who were Skarsgård.
20:53
No, I'm going to go with the mother.
20:56
Well, I mean, obviously the mother is a big monster, but in terms of the more
21:00
human characters, Justin Long, I think he plays it really well as this complete prick.
21:06
But he's good in it. They're all good in it. But I'm still going to stick with Mr.
21:13
Horror himself, who always plays a bad, Richard Brake.
21:17
He plays Frank, who's the serial killer. Very small part. God, he's creepy.
21:22
But we'll get to that in a second. So AJ finds out he's going to sell this house
21:26
because he's got financial issues, because he's losing con movie deals.
21:30
He's going to probably be sued by this woman.
21:33
And so he's going to sell. He's going to visit the house. he's going to sell, which is his Airbnb.
21:38
Yeah, he owns the house, essentially. And that's what, you know.
21:42
And there's even a conversation when he meets his friend when he gets back to Detroit.
21:46
Played by Zach Krieger? Yeah, played by Zach. Like I said, he was an actor originally.
21:52
And pretty much tells him, yeah, it's the way he says it. No, no, he was mutual.
21:57
Well, at first it wasn't. And then, you know, he describes the rape. I'm like, you sick fuck.
22:02
Yeah. He basically says it. When I get excited, I can't stop type of thing.
22:08
And this is again Zach Krieger playing with the audience
22:11
expectations there is the later on
22:14
the sort of we're led to believe that there's going
22:17
to be some sort of redemption arc for the
22:19
character but then it pulls the rug from us again and it becomes even more of
22:23
a prick yeah and that's what I like about this because it's the same in grace
22:27
of the film because the third act kind of falls a little for me but doesn't
22:31
kill it obviously but because we in the first act we had Keith who we all thought
22:36
was, ooh, I don't trust him.
22:38
Well, wait, I do trust him. Oh, no, I don't trust him. And then when he gets
22:41
it, we're like, oh, per Keith.
22:42
When this one, you're like, he's talking about, yeah, we fought,
22:46
but it took some convincing is the line he uses. It's a disgusting prick.
22:50
But then you're like, this prick, I want him to get it. But you're right.
22:53
It's because he starts helping Tess, starts listening to her.
22:57
And then you think, oh, okay, maybe there's a human, we'll humanize him in here
23:03
a bit here. Maybe there's some redemption here.
23:05
But now, there's a great scene for the character after they've escaped the mother
23:11
and they're with the homeless guy before the mother sort of bursts in and he's
23:16
talking about like regretting what he did and,
23:19
you know, trying to make things right and stuff.
23:22
But then the rug is pulled again where, like I say, he becomes an even bigger asshole.
23:27
It's almost like a leopard can't change its spots. Yeah, exactly.
23:31
But again, it's another kind of rug pull like we got from Keith.
23:35
Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, definitely. So the writing is brilliant in this. It's bang on.
23:41
It's the guy, just wonderful storyteller so far. And he doesn't cheat.
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No, there's no cheats. There's really no cheats here. And he also doesn't try
23:54
to play the whole make your own.
23:57
I know you're kind of into that, and the elevated market likes that.
24:03
You know, oh, it's interesting. I'm not elevated. Let me finish.
24:07
Don't interrupt. You know what I'm fucking talking about.
24:12
And the elevated fans who, oh, make it your own mystery.
24:17
It's a choose your own fucking adventure. you don't
24:20
need to know the twist you figure it out but
24:23
this guy treats his audience incredibly smart
24:26
like and but he gives
24:29
you the A B and C's he's not
24:33
gonna fucking play he's not gonna fucking oh
24:36
choose this and you know you're thinking oh no maybe it is
24:39
or maybe it isn't I don't know no he knows
24:42
both of those types of storytelling can work on
24:45
their own terms and Krieger certainly works.
24:48
Here but people like lynch and stuff their work
24:52
works on its own terms as well for me so i
24:55
don't think it's a it's a fair comparison no it is 100
24:58
this guy this guy is definitely
25:01
so far i mean tarantino is
25:04
probably one of the best writers out there right now we all rear that and
25:08
by far this guy's up there so far and
25:11
he's just two for two and this guy blows any
25:14
of these new market these new these new market writers out
25:17
there now in a heartbeat because he doesn't say
25:20
he doesn't cheat the audience he doesn't cheat
25:23
by coming up with i don't know let's throw
25:26
this in here and they'll think it's something smart that's exactly
25:29
what these other all the filmmakers are doing so now i'd say zach krieger i'm
25:35
a i'm not a big fan of zach krieger by the way and i would say he's up there
25:38
you know he's he has a very great future ahead of him you know yeah um so i
25:44
I would say he's way head and shoulders above the bulk out there in Hollywood,
25:48
and not just within horror.
25:49
Right across the board, I would say. That's what I've been saying.
25:52
I mean, Tarantino's in horror. Yeah.
25:54
Yeah, I know that. Yeah. Sam Peckham. I mean, yeah.
25:58
I mean, but I put Adam Wingard up there. I really like his stuff.
26:05
And I hope he comes more grounded and gets back to independent horror besides
26:09
doing, I think he's doing fucking Godzilla's or something.
26:13
Ben Wheatley, I think, would be up there. Yeah. You know, you've got some real talent.
26:18
And this kid's up there with it. I say kid. He's my age almost.
26:21
I think he's been around for a while. He's like 43 or 44 Yeah,
26:25
he's about my age Fuck you Minus 10 years or so Fuck off,
26:33
He's more close to my age, you know. Oh, yeah, whatever. A young man,
26:36
like myself. Yeah, you're a fucking smoker. You look 90.
26:41
Sure, I don't. Someone commented to me not that long ago that I looked in my
26:45
30s. So there you go. Okay.
26:48
Oh, so you went to the blind academy.
26:51
I mean, the fact that I paid her 20 quid to say it is completely irrelevant.
26:55
But, you know. Nobody said you look like you're in your fucking 30s.
26:59
They did, I'm telling you. They fucking did. I promise you I'll tell you who
27:04
it was you know the person I don't want to mention the person's name on R because
27:08
I wouldn't be far but I'll tell you off the R No oh fuck,
27:13
and if somebody know and that I can approach I'm going to come off on him.
27:18
My mum thinks I look younger than I am oh my god what's your mum no there was
27:24
somebody else it wasn't my mum but there was somebody else I'll tell you I'll
27:28
tell you once we're off R fuck this yeah whatever,
27:31
So I do like when the whole sequence, when AJ is kind of measuring everything. He's kind of an idiot.
27:38
He goes to this house and you can see all the dollar signs because he starts
27:42
measuring, he starts measuring the house, you know, to sell it,
27:46
to put on the market. And then he finds these hidden tunnels.
27:48
He starts measuring the tunnels. Oh, look, more square footage.
27:50
And it's like, you're a fucking idiot. Do you know where you're going here?
27:55
Well, Tess, as soon as she saw the underground hidden rooms,
27:59
the first thing she said was, nope.
28:01
The first thing he jumped to was, I can make more money in the house for this.
28:05
And so he gets out his measuring tape and starts sort of running about and stuff.
28:10
So yes, aside from being a complete creep and an asshole, he's also thick as shit.
28:16
So when he finds Tess, that's when we cut to, now we're in the 80s.
28:19
This is a flashback. Yes, 1980.
28:22
And we mentioned Richard Brake, who's Frank. Like this is his house at this moment.
28:26
And he's picking, it's really creepy. He's picking up plastic sheets and diapers.
28:30
And yeah. And you got this clueless salesperson who's like, oh, can I help you?
28:35
Yeah. I'm looking for some plastic sheets and diapers and oh.
28:38
The woman's helping him. Yeah.
28:39
And he betrays this guy called Carlos, the maintenance guy.
28:42
Yeah. Cause he looks like a Carlos, but it's so creepy. Cause he kind of,
28:48
he doesn't have a huge part, but it shows you the birth of this,
28:52
of the tunnel and where he brought his victims.
28:56
And there's one scene where he pretends to be this maintenance man and he goes
29:00
in this woman's house and she just lets him in, you know, carefree.
29:04
It's a everyday neighborhood. Don't really think about it. Yeah.
29:08
And then, then he leaves the house. It's just the way he, his,
29:13
how he works and how he will go back to get her and what has happened in that basement.
29:19
Because as. And there have been multiple victims as well.
29:22
Yeah. Because we see later on with the videotapes, they're all labeled,
29:26
you know, like girl from the store and all different names and stuff.
29:30
So they're, but again, again, great story, visual storytelling and that we don't
29:36
need to see all the victims remains or we don't need to see everything that happened.
29:40
Just those videotapes with all their names on it is enough.
29:43
You know, it's really not a really graphically violent movie.
29:48
No, it's not. It's more suggested.
29:51
Yeah, like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yeah, this does have a grind.
29:55
Which there are some parallels to. The second act, after we were introduced
30:00
to how these tunnels are made through Frank,
30:03
the Sierra Killer, in the 80s, we cut back to AJ's now in this little cell with Tess.
30:11
This is where it almost has a grindhouse feel to it.
30:14
And this is where you're talking about Texas Chainsaw, Last House on the Left, that kind of cinema.
30:21
Yeah, yeah. Even, although it's nowhere near as good, Rob Zombie's House of
30:26
a Thousand Corpses, that sort of thing.
30:29
Yeah, yeah. And that's what Zombie was going for too, so. Exactly, yeah.
30:34
But it's just little quick moments where the mother just wants to have a child,
30:39
and she tries to bottle feed Tess, and Tess takes it, and she tells him,
30:45
just take it, just take it.
30:46
I will say that's disgusting. For somebody who's been, I have to say,
30:49
for somebody who's been in that house for a couple weeks, Tess looks pretty good.
30:54
Well, that's all that healthy milk. She's drinking some teddy milk.
30:58
And then she goes, she's giving her the bottle, there's a hair on it. It's like, oh, oh.
31:02
And she's drinking, and you know where it's coming from. It's coming from,
31:05
you know, Jesus, those things.
31:07
Yep. So. Or big others. Then she tries to give the bottle to AJ and he's going,
31:13
fuck you. I'm not touching that shit.
31:15
Then he grabs her out of there. You know, she grabs him and then makes him suck her teat. Oh.
31:23
Yeah. But he deserves that. Yeah, he does. And that is a reversal of him. He did, yeah.
31:29
Yeah, of what he did. Yes, exactly. So that's like part of his comeuppance.
31:33
You know where he he becomes sexually
31:36
assaulted by mother so so
31:40
this is when when when tess
31:43
gets out of the house and we meet
31:46
andre this was the guy who was trying to warn her the first time who we thought
31:50
was like the homeless guy yeah the homeless maniac guy we thought that's again
31:53
a misdirection of of what a character really is in this film and and he explains
32:01
to her We know about this house.
32:04
She comes out at night. You better run. You better run now. And.
32:09
She goes what happened there's a
32:12
nice shot when aj is
32:17
escaping the mother yeah and tess goes
32:20
back again you know brave gets her out gets him out of the window is the window
32:28
is where he comes out of right yeah i believe so yes gets him out and then you
32:32
see the no she gets out aj escapes because the mother is going to chase Tess to get out of that house.
32:40
She gets out through the window, because she remembers the window,
32:43
and we see, as she's running away from the house, we see the full figure,
32:47
not full figure, but part figure through the window, the basement window. Very creepy.
32:51
Yeah. Very creepy. No, no, it's very well done. And in the meantime,
32:55
while AJ is still in there,
32:56
that's when he meets the Richard Brake, the serial killer guy,
33:01
who's much older, and ends up committing suicide that's where he gets a gun
33:06
but Tess who is honourable and a good person,
33:10
can't leave him there she says no I can't leave him there so she wants to go
33:14
back first of all she wants to get the cops but the cops don't want to know
33:17
they think she's a crackhead and a lunatic.
33:20
But she to her credit says I can't leave him there I have to go back and get
33:24
him yeah that's what I'm saying I mean you got Keith who had you know,
33:30
was a decent guy Tess is obviously clearly a good woman You got Andre,
33:35
who's a decent guy, but it's the cops who won't do anything about it.
33:42
You have these, technically, these guys should be helping you.
33:47
And the one person you can rely on is the homeless guy.
33:52
Yes. I mean, even the mother character has to be petty in a way.
33:56
She's not really the villain here, though. No, no. And technically-
34:02
She only killed Keith, well, she did kill Keith, to protect Tess.
34:07
In a fit of rage sort of thing. Yeah, and almost like protecting her domain type thing.
34:13
No, she's a result of generations of incest and all sorts of weird, creepy shit.
34:20
So, yes, the mother's more to be pitied, in a way. Yeah.
34:26
Yeah, I think so. Serial killer guy. Because is she one of Frank's victims?
34:33
Well the homeless guy Basically explains to Tess That,
34:38
Oh yes he's one of the Well that he
34:41
was basically Bringing girls down to his dungeon And getting them pregnant And
34:47
then they were having children This has been going on for decades They were
34:50
then having children And he was getting them pregnant And so this was a result
34:54
of Years of rape and incest essentially So that's why What happened to all the kids then?
35:02
It's not explained possibly it's not really a plot hole but maybe they were
35:07
died in childbirth or they were bumped off or something like that you know it's
35:12
not explained so it's not well the ending kind of loses me a bit doesn't ruin
35:17
the film obviously it's wonderful enjoying the film is,
35:21
you can see some of this playing out you can see this
35:24
playing out these kind of characters and so forth
35:27
and the mother character was an inbred of an inbred
35:30
of an inbred of an inbred you know and so essentially a copy of a copy of a
35:34
copy yeah exactly so when they take the car and hit her to kill her so they
35:41
can run away she should be dead I mean now we're getting to more it does turn
35:46
into Rambo yeah we're getting more fantasy element,
35:50
and Evil Dead it goes through Evil Dead at the very end with the eye gurgling
35:54
and stuff yeah but I do like that where they're on top of this water tower and
35:59
they're trying to hide and.
36:02
Andre, God love him, is still trying to protect everybody.
36:05
And he gives this wonderful speech. AJ goes, I'm an asshole.
36:09
And you really thought, wow, this is a really powerful moment for you. This is really good.
36:13
And then we find out Mother's coming. He's like, oh, fuck that. And he shoots Tess.
36:18
Yes. And shucks her over. And then the mother. Has it diverse?
36:22
Yeah. And then the mother jumps into the.
36:25
They both should have been dead here. Here's. Here's.
36:28
And I'm not. Okay. Maybe I'm nitpicking. But I don't understand how Tess ended up on top of her.
36:35
Well, I'm more concerned about how Tess survived it on the mother. No, no, no.
36:40
I can see Tess surviving it by landing on the mother. But Tess went down first.
36:45
Maybe the mother did land on her and then they rolled over her or something
36:51
because they're both still alive.
36:52
I was okay with that. I was more a bit sort of, how did they survive that?
36:57
Especially the mother, who's just like being smiced with a car and all sorts as well.
37:02
But I get it. It's a horror film and there has to be a sort of,
37:06
you know, more and more scars.
37:09
Yeah, it becomes a little more... Evil Dead.
37:13
It almost doesn't even deal with Evil Dead. I think there's,
37:15
Actually, the whole film really
37:16
does play like a Tales from the Dark Side or a Tales from the Crypt.
37:20
Yeah, I mean, that type of anthology type horror, you know.
37:24
Yeah, I mean, there is a lot going on here in terms of the sort of images and
37:30
the influences on Zack Krieger, but at the same time, he's putting his own stamp
37:33
on it, and it's very much his own story.
37:36
And that is the correct way.
37:38
Yeah, there's that moment where after Mother kills AJ.
37:42
But with his eyes out, that's pure evil dead. That's what I meant more about
37:46
the Evil Dead thing. There's a moment where Tess regrets it,
37:49
but she ends up killing Mother.
37:51
That's right. And there is a brilliant cut into, you know, whenever she shoots
37:56
some other, and then it just cuts into the credits, and it's Be My Baby.
38:01
Perfect song choice, and a perfect, you know, effusion into it,
38:05
you know, with the gun crack, and then...
38:11
Brilliantly played. You'll find that in Two Weapons. He knows how to choose
38:15
music for the right scenes.
38:16
Oh, it's a great ear for music. Like Tarantino, actually.
38:20
Yeah, I'm sure we all know about this one. Guys, check it out.
38:23
I think a lot of people who listen to our podcast have probably already seen
38:25
Barbarian, or you might not have. Like, it came and went.
38:28
Now it's getting a massive resurgence thanks to the success of weapons.
38:31
Certainly should check it out. We probably spoiled it for you.
38:34
But, hey, it's still enjoyable to watch, no matter what.
38:37
Again, I have actually found it. I watched it twice.
38:41
First time for myself and the second time for this podcast. And I actually enjoyed
38:45
it better the second time, even though I knew everything that was going to happen and all the twists,
38:51
and well we'll get to it I'll say the same about weapons which improves on rewatch
38:54
so again more kudos to Zach Krieger yeah if you can do rewatchability for films
39:00
you've done something right,
39:01
100% so there you go I've seen this movie three times now and I definitely will
39:07
buy it when they finally do release it on 4K,
39:10
but give it a check out alright guys up next we're going to do weapons,
39:14
his sophomore outing and I look forward to it. That's all we got.
39:18
Listen, give us a shout on citizenframe underscore podcast on Instagram and of course Facebook.
39:25
And that's how we really have. We're going to end this one.
39:28
Guys, have a good one and we'll chat weapons. We'll see you.