Latest / May The Review Be With You / CLAYFACE AND THIS YEAR OF HORROR REVIEWED
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to May the Review be with you,
- 0:03Speaker 1: with Nick and Joe. I'm Joe, and today we are
- 0:06Speaker 1: reviewing Clayface, and I am without Nick. It is not
- 0:10Speaker 1: just Joe, however. I am joined by a good friend
- 0:13Speaker 1: of mine, a huge fan of horror, and if I've
- 0:15Speaker 1: ever met a final girl, it is most certainly her, Eleni. Eleni,
- 0:19Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining the show today. Tell
- 0:22Speaker 1: us all about yourself. What is it about film and
- 0:26Speaker 1: horror that you like so much?
- 0:28Speaker 2: I think movies kind of like allow me to like
- 0:31Speaker 2: kind of express my feelings in a, in a way
- 0:35Speaker 2: that is not, that doesn't feel as, as personal to me.
- 0:39Speaker 2: So it's like, it might be hard for me to
- 0:41Speaker 2: express something. Like if I'm just talking about myself, but
- 0:45Speaker 2: I can definitely pinpoint that feeling that I've experienced in
- 0:49Speaker 2: a movie. And I think that horror, like, horror has
- 0:53Speaker 2: no bounds. It's not held to the same standards that like,
- 0:58Speaker 2: or it's not grounded in reality the same way that
- 1:02Speaker 2: traditional drama or like another, another genre would be. So
- 1:09Speaker 2: I think that visually like horror allows for like visually
- 1:13Speaker 2: and thematic ways to understand concepts and feelings in a
- 1:17Speaker 2: more digestible way.
- 1:20Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, I really resonate with that, with what you
- 1:23Speaker 1: were saying. I think that's why I love horror so
- 1:26Speaker 1: much is I think it allows you, like you said,
- 1:29Speaker 1: to to explore some really some really thought provoking ideas
- 1:33Speaker 1: in really creative ways. And for me, I don't know.
- 1:38Speaker 1: I've always felt like horror is horror kind of is
- 1:42Speaker 1: the original story. Right. Like from like way back in
- 1:45Speaker 1: the day, like don't go over the hill. There are wolves. Right.
- 1:48Speaker 1: Like that's scary. Right. And like every good story has
- 1:51Speaker 1: elements of horror. So it kind of feels like horror
- 1:56Speaker 1: is like the reason we tell stories, right? I'm right
- 2:01Speaker 1: there with you as far as like the creative outlet
- 2:05Speaker 1: that horror brings you. I mean, that's why I get
- 2:07Speaker 1: so interested in different horror movies. But yes, that is
- 2:12Speaker 1: exactly why I wanted you in on our Clayface episode,
- 2:16Speaker 1: but also our episode to talk about horror itself in 2026,
- 2:21Speaker 1: because it's really having a moment this year. I mean,
- 2:25Speaker 1: we've certainly seen this happen before in recent years. But like, man,
- 2:29Speaker 1: the box office is just producing horror movie banger after
- 2:32Speaker 1: horror movie banger. And we'll certainly get into that. But first,
- 2:37Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, we are talking about Clayface today.
- 2:39Speaker 1: I got to watch Clayface with Eleni. And before we
- 2:44Speaker 1: dive into that, it is time for our 15 second summary. Eleni,
- 2:51Speaker 1: you will be our first guest doing the 15 second summary.
- 2:54Speaker 1: So this is a great honor. I just want you
- 2:56Speaker 1: to know that. OK.
- 2:58Speaker 2: OK.
- 2:59Speaker 1: So for for anyone who has not heard of the
- 3:01Speaker 1: 15 second summary before, Eleni is going to have 15
- 3:04Speaker 1: seconds to summarize Clayface in the fastest way. most accurate
- 3:08Speaker 1: way that she can. And at the end, I'm going
- 3:10Speaker 1: to grade her. Um, and it's going to be harsh.
- 3:12Speaker 1: All right. I hope you're ready. Uh, when I say three, two, one, go,
- 3:17Speaker 1: you're going to go for it. Three, two, one, go.
- 3:21Speaker 2: Matt Hagen, a handsome actor has everything until his looks
- 3:24Speaker 2: are taken away from him. Um, then he goes through
- 3:28Speaker 2: experimental surgery with unintended side effects and takes revenge on
- 3:32Speaker 2: those responsible.
- 3:35Speaker 1: And with, Three seconds to spare. Damn. I really wish
- 3:40Speaker 1: Nick was here. Cause he's going to watch this later
- 3:42Speaker 1: and he's going to be really upset that your first
- 3:44Speaker 1: time was actually like crushing that. Well done.
- 3:48Speaker 2: It is a pretty simple film to summarize.
- 3:51Speaker 1: I mean, for sure. But like, I thought the thing
- 3:54Speaker 1: with the 15 second summary is like most people, like
- 3:57Speaker 1: most people, it's me and Nick. Most of the time,
- 3:58Speaker 1: me and Nick like bum rush through details that do
- 4:02Speaker 1: not matter, but nah, you were bullet pointed. You, Got
- 4:05Speaker 1: all those nuts and bolts out there. Well done. I
- 4:08Speaker 1: give that an A +. And that's not because I'm biased. Oz,
- 4:11Speaker 1: your first time, I am genuinely impressed with that. That
- 4:13Speaker 1: is the finer strokes of this film. But like you said,
- 4:18Speaker 1: it's a pretty straightforward film. So, Eleni, I'm curious just
- 4:24Speaker 1: as far as... Okay, so like, this is a bit
- 4:28Speaker 1: of an unusual film for a few different reasons. So...
- 4:33Speaker 1: It is a body horror film, but it's a body
- 4:35Speaker 1: horror film that takes place in James Gunn's extended DC
- 4:40Speaker 1: Comics universe, right? And as far as superhero horror movies go,
- 4:48Speaker 1: we don't really have a lot of those. And in
- 4:51Speaker 1: James Gunn's attempt to build his universe, this is the
- 4:54Speaker 1: first one. If there is going to be more, we
- 4:57Speaker 1: have not heard about it. Now, I know that the
- 5:00Speaker 1: superhero genre is not necessarily your cup of tea. But
- 5:04Speaker 1: this one kind of blurred the lines. So what did
- 5:08Speaker 1: it do for you? How did you feel about it?
- 5:11Speaker 2: Oh, man, I feel as far as body horror goes,
- 5:13Speaker 2: that film, it went very hard, like which I was
- 5:16Speaker 2: expecting because I've seen some of James Watkins work before,
- 5:21Speaker 2: mainly being like Eden Lake, which is very much like
- 5:24Speaker 2: a disturbing horror film. But yeah, no, as a horror,
- 5:29Speaker 2: as a horror film, I think it does work.
- 5:33Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I, I think I told you this,
- 5:36Speaker 1: like on the day that we saw it, I was
- 5:38Speaker 1: honestly surprised at how hard the body horror goes. Um,
- 5:44Speaker 1: I mean, I honestly, there, there is a point where
- 5:47Speaker 1: I think it could go perhaps just as far as
- 5:50Speaker 1: like it's mechanic goes, it could go a little harder. Um,
- 5:53Speaker 1: but we'll get to that later. That's really more of
- 5:55Speaker 1: a narrative issue that I have, but as far as
- 5:57Speaker 1: like the actual like horror of it goes, um, Yeah,
- 6:01Speaker 1: I really honestly thought that they were going to water
- 6:03Speaker 1: this down for general audiences who, you know, they've been
- 6:07Speaker 1: watching Superman. They watched Supergirl earlier this year, right? And
- 6:11Speaker 1: it's like, whoa, it's the next James Gunn DC thing.
- 6:14Speaker 1: I got to keep up. If you went in blind
- 6:16Speaker 1: without knowing exactly what this is, I don't know how
- 6:18Speaker 1: many of those people exist, but it certainly would have
- 6:21Speaker 1: been a big surprise early on in the film. Because
- 6:25Speaker 1: like you said, it really... How bad could it be? Um, no, it's,
- 6:31Speaker 1: it's pretty, uh, there were a couple of times where
- 6:34Speaker 1: I was, I was, uh, feeling very small in my seat. Uh, yeah,
- 6:39Speaker 1: it made me cringe a lot, but not in like, Oh,
- 6:41Speaker 1: it's cringy in the disturbing way. Yeah. Um, was there,
- 6:46Speaker 1: was there anything in particular that like really stuck with
- 6:48Speaker 1: you as far as, as far as that kind of
- 6:50Speaker 1: horror goes?
- 6:52Speaker 2: I guess like definitely the, the plane sequence that is, uh,
- 6:56Speaker 2: teased in the trailer, um, where he's got to cut
- 7:00Speaker 2: open his eyelids, that's definitely a highlight as far as
- 7:06Speaker 2: the gore goes. But also, all of the medical procedures
- 7:09Speaker 2: that were happening in the intro after he has his accident,
- 7:15Speaker 2: and they're cutting into his face, that stuff went hard.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Yeah, it did. As far as getting very close and
- 7:24Speaker 1: uncomfortable to Matt, as he's going through his transformations. Yeah,
- 7:32Speaker 1: it does. It doesn't hold back. And the plane scene
- 7:35Speaker 1: that you mentioned, I mean, it's easy to see why
- 7:37Speaker 1: they put that in the trailer, because I do think
- 7:40Speaker 1: as far as the horror goes, that's probably one of
- 7:41Speaker 1: the stronger scenes in the entire film. I think that
- 7:45Speaker 1: there's like a genius to that scene as turbulence is
- 7:49Speaker 1: going off in this closed bathroom and he's attempting to
- 7:53Speaker 1: cut his eyelid, right? You're waiting for, for the scissors
- 7:56Speaker 1: to get jammed in his eye, which, if you think
- 7:58Speaker 1: about it, of course that wouldn't matter as someone who
- 8:01Speaker 1: can displace and repair his body at any given time,
- 8:04Speaker 1: but it's the idea, right? It's the idea of the
- 8:07Speaker 1: scissors going into his eye that never actually happened. That
- 8:12Speaker 1: makes that scene terrifying. Yeah. Another thing I wanted to
- 8:20Speaker 1: bring up is I was... As far as that body
- 8:23Speaker 1: horror goes, I mean, the body horror really only works
- 8:26Speaker 1: as well as the effects go. And the effects were fantastic.
- 8:32Speaker 1: I would actually say it's probably the strongest point of
- 8:35Speaker 1: this movie is watching Matt transform at any given moment,
- 8:40Speaker 1: whether it is something disgusting or if he's transforming into
- 8:43Speaker 1: another person. I felt like that was pretty seamless and
- 8:47Speaker 1: extremely believable. What about you?
- 8:50Speaker 2: I thought it was mostly practical effects, with the exception
- 8:54Speaker 2: of the end scene. I think that there was probably
- 8:57Speaker 2: CGI that was used in that. But yeah, no, I
- 9:00Speaker 2: thought the special effects work was incredible.
- 9:04Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm glad you brought up James Watkins earlier, because
- 9:09Speaker 1: I thought I was unfamiliar with his work until we
- 9:14Speaker 1: started recording, or right before we started recording. I was
- 9:17Speaker 1: taking a look, and I realized he... was behind one
- 9:20Speaker 1: of my favorite, uh, black, black mirror episodes. Uh, it's yeah.
- 9:24Speaker 1: The season three episode. Uh, it's a fantastic episode of,
- 9:28Speaker 1: I think it's called, uh, get ready to shut up
- 9:30Speaker 1: and dance, shut up and dance. Um, yeah. Amazing episode, uh,
- 9:35Speaker 1: from a clearly a storyteller who really knows how to, uh,
- 9:41Speaker 1: hold his cards until the right moment until climactic moments. Um, I, uh,
- 9:48Speaker 1: do think now might be a good time to transition
- 9:51Speaker 1: into what maybe doesn't work in this film and I
- 9:57Speaker 1: think for me okay so there's a moment toward the
- 10:03Speaker 1: end of the film that I think was absolutely necessary
- 10:06Speaker 1: for this narrative. And I was a little upset that
- 10:12Speaker 1: it didn't choose to go into a more terrifying place.
- 10:17Speaker 1: And I think I know why. Um, but we'll get
- 10:21Speaker 1: to that. So the scene is, uh, Matt, uh, of course, uh,
- 10:26Speaker 1: he has, he has a love interest, uh, play my name, uh,
- 10:28Speaker 1: Naomi Todd. Uh, and she's the doctor who's been giving
- 10:32Speaker 1: him these treatments. Uh, they, they develop, uh, chemistry as,
- 10:36Speaker 1: as the movie goes on. Uh, he puts forth, uh,
- 10:38Speaker 1: his feelings to her. She shuts him down as she's
- 10:41Speaker 1: dating a Gotham city detective, uh, engaged to a Gotham
- 10:45Speaker 1: city detective. Right. Um, anyway, toward the end of the movie, um,
- 10:50Speaker 1: we see that she comes home. The Gotham city detective
- 10:52Speaker 1: is waiting for her. Um, and I feel as though,
- 10:57Speaker 1: I mean, even though I was expecting this scene, I
- 10:59Speaker 1: was waiting for it. I feel as though the scene,
- 11:01Speaker 1: it is very clear. It's very obvious early on that
- 11:05Speaker 1: that is not her fiance. It is Matt, right? Um,
- 11:09Speaker 1: I've just based on the, like the structure of the
- 11:11Speaker 1: narrative and the way that he's speaking. It's clear that
- 11:14Speaker 1: it's Matt and that's fine. I'm okay with that. That's
- 11:16Speaker 1: not the part that I have an issue with. The
- 11:18Speaker 1: part I have an issue with is, um, he does
- 11:21Speaker 1: not go in for something romantic in this moment, right?
- 11:25Speaker 1: He doesn't go in for a kiss. Uh, there's, it
- 11:27Speaker 1: doesn't go further than that either. And I think for
- 11:32Speaker 1: that scene to be, at least within this genre of scary,
- 11:37Speaker 1: I don't think we fully explored how, how far, how
- 11:42Speaker 1: far down Matt has fallen by this point, right? He's
- 11:46Speaker 1: killed a lot of people. Um, and Matt, supposedly, at
- 11:51Speaker 1: this point, doesn't really know who he is. But I
- 11:56Speaker 1: feel like this is the only time in the movie
- 11:58Speaker 1: the movie gets cold feet on its premise. And, like
- 12:03Speaker 1: I said, I have a theory about that, but I've
- 12:04Speaker 1: been talking a lot about this at this point. What
- 12:06Speaker 1: are your thoughts about what I'm saying here about this
- 12:08Speaker 1: particular scene? Do you think I'm totally wrong on this?
- 12:12Speaker 2: You know, I thought the characters were pretty underdeveloped, honestly. And, like,
- 12:19Speaker 2: I did... read that like Aaron Paul was, they shot
- 12:23Speaker 2: a bunch of, um, scenes with him. He was supposed
- 12:26Speaker 2: to be Matt's like abusive father.
- 12:28Speaker 1: And I didn't know that those scenes.
- 12:31Speaker 2: Were cut from the film. I also thought it was
- 12:34Speaker 2: interesting that I didn't really feel connected to the characters. And, uh,
- 12:40Speaker 2: I think Matt, I think Mike Flanagan wrote the initial screenplay.
- 12:46Speaker 2: So I'm, uh, I assume that it was changed pretty
- 12:51Speaker 2: significantly because I really didn't feel any of his character
- 12:56Speaker 2: development in this movie at all. And I think that
- 12:59Speaker 2: the movie, you know, like when it's being marketed as
- 13:01Speaker 2: this great body horror, a lot of the times they're,
- 13:05Speaker 2: you know, making connections to the fly and where, and
- 13:10Speaker 2: especially the ending very much mirrors what happened in the fly,
- 13:14Speaker 2: but where this doesn't have the same emotional punch. as
- 13:19Speaker 2: the fly is like when you're watching that the two
- 13:23Speaker 2: characters you can tell they're in love you can tell
- 13:27Speaker 2: like that was like a very very hard decision for
- 13:30Speaker 2: like that to happen at the end of the movie
- 13:33Speaker 2: um and you felt like you felt that character development
- 13:36Speaker 2: all throughout the movie it's very much almost like a
- 13:38Speaker 2: love story first and then the body horror second and
- 13:41Speaker 2: then we we get this movie that it's like often
- 13:44Speaker 2: like oh we had the characters watch the fly in
- 13:47Speaker 2: order to like uh, you know, get into character and
- 13:51Speaker 2: get into the vibes of this movie. And you really
- 13:54Speaker 2: just don't feel that with the characters. Like I felt
- 13:57Speaker 2: like everybody was kind of a little half baked and
- 14:00Speaker 2: I was like, oh man, like how am I, I
- 14:02Speaker 2: didn't feel any thing for Matt Hagan. I didn't really
- 14:06Speaker 2: know who he was, uh, with the exception of like
- 14:10Speaker 2: the small scene in the beginning of the movie where
- 14:12Speaker 2: he's emotional because he, you know, he just had this
- 14:16Speaker 2: achievement in his career. However, it's like they make these,
- 14:21Speaker 2: they allude to his backstory, but we don't really get that.
- 14:24Speaker 2: And the movie is paced so quickly that by the
- 14:28Speaker 2: time we get to the end, it's like, oh, well,
- 14:32Speaker 2: I saw a bunch of really sick effects and I
- 14:35Speaker 2: liked the killing. And I also loved the dance floor scene,
- 14:40Speaker 2: but like, I didn't really feel much for the characters.
- 14:43Speaker 2: And like, I think that was like kind of a
- 14:45Speaker 2: missed opportunity to like kind of like you could have
- 14:49Speaker 2: like alluded to like deep fakes and like assuming the
- 14:53Speaker 2: identity of somebody that like has not given you permission
- 14:57Speaker 2: to assume their identity. And like, that would have been
- 14:59Speaker 2: kind of sick too, to like, kind of like twist
- 15:02Speaker 2: that in.
- 15:04Speaker 1: Yeah. I love that idea. Huh?
- 15:07Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 15:07Speaker 1: That's okay. So, so many good points there. I love
- 15:10Speaker 1: what you said about the fly and especially the comparison
- 15:14Speaker 1: to the ending that totally went over my head. And
- 15:17Speaker 1: now I can't unsee that. Um, but you, you said
- 15:20Speaker 1: something back there that I think is like my biggest,
- 15:23Speaker 1: my biggest, like problem with the movie. And that's, you said,
- 15:27Speaker 1: I don't know who my, who Matt is. Right. And
- 15:30Speaker 1: that's the thing, right? Like by the end of his
- 15:32Speaker 1: like journey, so to speak, like by the end of
- 15:34Speaker 1: the movie, if you can call it that. So yeah,
- 15:36Speaker 1: there's that scene where he's talking to Dr. Bates, Naomi
- 15:40Speaker 1: Ackie's character. Uh, and he says, I don't know who
- 15:43Speaker 1: I am without you anymore.
- 15:44Speaker 2: Right. Right.
- 15:45Speaker 1: And I do think that there was probably a draft
- 15:48Speaker 1: of this movie where that is the character arc, right. Where,
- 15:52Speaker 1: you know, he is skin, you know, his beauty or
- 15:54Speaker 1: like his substance is like skin deep. Right. And he's, we,
- 15:58Speaker 1: we hear early on in the film that like, he's
- 16:01Speaker 1: a good actor on top of being handsome. Right. But
- 16:04Speaker 1: he's like lost himself. Right. And like Matt doesn't exist.
- 16:08Speaker 1: And once he like loses his ability or his ability
- 16:12Speaker 1: to get a job, right. In acting, once he loses
- 16:14Speaker 1: the handsomeness, you know, there's nothing left. There are just
- 16:17Speaker 1: pieces of other characters, right. Which I do think the
- 16:20Speaker 1: movie is trying to build up to, but it doesn't
- 16:24Speaker 1: ultimately like stick that landing at all. Right. And like,
- 16:27Speaker 1: funny enough, like you said, it doesn't do that with
- 16:30Speaker 1: any character, you know, like every character is pretty one noted,
- 16:34Speaker 1: you know, even Dr. Bates, like, you know, Dr. Bates
- 16:38Speaker 1: is someone who she wants her, her work to succeed for,
- 16:43Speaker 1: for her brother's sake. And she's got some funny feelings
- 16:46Speaker 1: for her patient, right? Like that's pretty much as far
- 16:49Speaker 1: as I can go with her. Matt is reckless and
- 16:54Speaker 1: he wants to get his life back. It feels like
- 16:56Speaker 1: that there are darker themes in him, but I think
- 17:01Speaker 1: the movie and, you know, to the whole point of
- 17:03Speaker 1: that scene where, you know, he's Dr. Bates' fiance posing
- 17:08Speaker 1: as him. I think they wanted to, preserve his character
- 17:16Speaker 1: as much as possible, despite all these horrible things that
- 17:18Speaker 1: he's doing. Right. It kind of feels like they have
- 17:21Speaker 1: him dip his, his feet into like both pools of
- 17:25Speaker 1: like being a sympathetic, tragic hero, but then also being
- 17:29Speaker 1: a monster and a villain. Right. And I think they're
- 17:32Speaker 1: going for tragedy at the end, especially like given what
- 17:35Speaker 1: the ending actually is. But yeah, I, I don't fully buy,
- 17:41Speaker 1: like I'm, I am just all this monster. Like, it
- 17:45Speaker 1: just feels like there could have been so much more
- 17:47Speaker 1: there with all the characters that he had played, all
- 17:51Speaker 1: these pieces that he's trying to put back together. So, yeah,
- 17:55Speaker 1: I agree. It doesn't really feel like they pushed their
- 17:57Speaker 1: premise far enough. I love the idea of making it
- 18:01Speaker 1: contemporary and using it to explore the idea of deepfakes
- 18:06Speaker 1: and getting that consent. That's... Let's see. So... Okay, overall story.
- 18:14Speaker 1: This is the part where we rate it. And I'm trying,
- 18:18Speaker 1: we rate movies out of five here.
- 18:20Speaker 2: Oh, out of five?
- 18:23Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think it's a bad movie, but I
- 18:27Speaker 1: don't think it's, I don't know. What do you think
- 18:30Speaker 1: on this one?
- 18:32Speaker 2: So as soon as I finished the movie, I was like, oh, wow,
- 18:36Speaker 2: that was fun. But I know next week, I'm not
- 18:39Speaker 2: going to remember that.
- 18:41Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's kind of like I want
- 18:44Speaker 1: badly to give it a four because I did have
- 18:46Speaker 1: fun with it and it went so much harder into
- 18:49Speaker 1: the horror than I had expected it to. Honestly, I
- 18:53Speaker 1: think I'd probably give it 3.5. That's probably pretty fair.
- 18:59Speaker 1: So one other thing I want to bring up just
- 19:02Speaker 1: on this particular subject, and I don't know if you
- 19:07Speaker 1: care about this or not, but, you know, this is
- 19:09Speaker 1: like a DC property, right? And this is supposed to
- 19:13Speaker 1: move the DC universe further or, you know, as it
- 19:17Speaker 1: as it continues to grow this business that that James
- 19:21Speaker 1: Gunn is unfolding right in his storytelling. And I think
- 19:25Speaker 1: as a as a horror film, I think ultimately it's
- 19:29Speaker 1: it's kind of middle middle of the road. Right. Three
- 19:32Speaker 1: three point five. Right. It's it's all right. I had
- 19:35Speaker 1: a fun time. But like you said, I'm not really
- 19:37Speaker 1: going to remember it next week. As far as expanding
- 19:40Speaker 1: his universe goes, I don't really think it does a
- 19:43Speaker 1: lot to do that either. um it's kind of a
- 19:47Speaker 1: really weird idea i'm not against having a batman villain
- 19:51Speaker 1: movie without batman but if you're you know if the
- 19:56Speaker 1: idea is to grow in perhaps a similar way that
- 20:00Speaker 1: disney's marvel did i don't know this feels like a
- 20:03Speaker 1: one-off that doesn't really help to push that envelope okay.
- 20:07Speaker 2: So like you all you are more aware of the
- 20:11Speaker 2: DC like universe than I am.
- 20:12Speaker 1: Sure.
- 20:14Speaker 2: Because I heard this flirted a little bit like online
- 20:17Speaker 2: is like, why Clayface? And it's like, if you were
- 20:21Speaker 2: to pick a villain, like from the DC universe, would,
- 20:27Speaker 2: would that really be the first, your first choice?
- 20:31Speaker 1: No, it wouldn't even be my first five, first 10. Um,
- 20:35Speaker 1: I mean, I think I told you, like, I enjoy Clayface. Like,
- 20:39Speaker 1: as a kid, like, I was terrified of the concept
- 20:43Speaker 1: of him in the episodes from the Batman animated series.
- 20:46Speaker 1: He's featured in some of the Batman Arkham games. And, like,
- 20:51Speaker 1: he is terrifying. I am fascinated by him. But, no. No,
- 20:55Speaker 1: I would never have chosen him to do this. And
- 20:59Speaker 1: it is an odd move. I have... a theory as
- 21:05Speaker 1: to why they probably did it. Um, and I think
- 21:08Speaker 1: this is probably why they didn't want Matt to become
- 21:12Speaker 1: full villain. Um, I think this is like within the
- 21:15Speaker 1: last like five years, uh, this was like right before
- 21:18Speaker 1: I kind of fell off from reading comics. Um, but
- 21:21Speaker 1: DC did have a run in like, so there's Batman, right.
- 21:25Speaker 1: But like he has like the bat family, right. And it's,
- 21:28Speaker 1: it's a bunch of people, right. It's, it's, it's whatever
- 21:31Speaker 1: the Robin of the week is. It is a bat girl, uh,
- 21:34Speaker 1: bunch of other people at some point during that story,
- 21:39Speaker 1: Clayface strangely becomes part of the bat family. Right. And like,
- 21:44Speaker 1: he is doing missions with them. He's like their guy
- 21:47Speaker 1: who can like transform into anybody, go get, go covert,
- 21:50Speaker 1: go get, you know, Intel. Right. He's very helpful for
- 21:54Speaker 1: this crime investigating detective family. Um, So is that what
- 21:58Speaker 1: they're doing? I have no idea. That's just my theory
- 22:00Speaker 1: as to why you would want Clayface out here before
- 22:03Speaker 1: like any other villain in DC. But again, there was
- 22:08Speaker 1: nothing that even hinted at that. So I don't know.
- 22:12Speaker 1: I don't know what they're thinking, Eleni. I mean, I,
- 22:17Speaker 1: I appreciate them trying to do something a little creative. Um,
- 22:21Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, right? Like, uh, that's, that's
- 22:23Speaker 1: one of the fun things about horror is you can
- 22:25Speaker 1: get really out there with it. Um, but it is
- 22:29Speaker 1: a weird move. Well, it expanded the audience.
- 22:33Speaker 2: A little bit because I wouldn't have seen another Batman movie, maybe. Well.
- 22:40Speaker 1: That's a good question. All right, so Lenny, if... Okay,
- 22:45Speaker 1: so let's say two years from now, James Gunn's Batman
- 22:51Speaker 1: comes out and Clayface is going to be in this movie.
- 22:56Speaker 1: Are you interested... And it is Tom Reese Harry's playing Clayface.
- 23:03Speaker 1: Are you at least interested in seeing that movie?
- 23:06Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'd be interested in it.
- 23:10Speaker 1: Then it worked, I guess. They've expanded the audience. I
- 23:17Speaker 1: will be shocked if that is actually what ends up happening,
- 23:19Speaker 1: but we'll see. I guess weirder things have happened. The
- 23:25Speaker 1: whole point, though, that I wanted to make, Eleni, though, is...
- 23:28Speaker 1: So I would say, like, as far as horror movies go,
- 23:32Speaker 1: kind of middle of the road, as far as expanding
- 23:34Speaker 1: the universe, didn't really see it do that. However, of
- 23:38Speaker 1: the two DC movies that came out this year between
- 23:41Speaker 1: Supergirl and Clayface, Clayface did pretty well, actually, at the
- 23:47Speaker 1: box office. Not tremendously compared to, like, maybe some other
- 23:51Speaker 1: horror films that we've seen, but certainly in the comic
- 23:54Speaker 1: book repertoire here for DC, did pretty great. And I
- 23:58Speaker 1: think that speaks to the year that we are seeing
- 24:01Speaker 1: in horror. Yeah. Yeah. Like so many great horror films
- 24:06Speaker 1: this year. And this is really more your domain. As
- 24:11Speaker 1: far as those movies go, what would have been some
- 24:13Speaker 1: of your favorites this year?
- 24:14Speaker 2: Okay. Well, obviously like the, the big ones were great obsession,
- 24:24Speaker 2: the new bone temple that was sick. I loved Back Rooms.
- 24:30Speaker 2: Some of the lesser talked about horror films. I really
- 24:33Speaker 2: loved Leviticus. I think if you're a big fan of
- 24:37Speaker 2: It Follows, it felt very similar, but it went harder.
- 24:43Speaker 2: And it was just an interesting way to present that concept.
- 24:52Speaker 2: I also really loved Forbidden Fruits. I thought that was
- 24:57Speaker 2: really cute. Well, cute.
- 25:00Speaker 1: Cute is an interesting word.
- 25:03Speaker 2: That had some pretty intense kills in it too, but
- 25:06Speaker 2: it was a really fun movie. Another movie, not quite horror,
- 25:13Speaker 2: but I'd kind of present it to a horror audience.
- 25:19Speaker 2: Is God Is? It's like a Kill Bill. Another revenge plot.
- 25:27Speaker 2: that was so sick and not a lot of, not
- 25:29Speaker 2: enough people are talking about it. So I would have
- 25:31Speaker 2: to like kind of present that one a little bit. Uh,
- 25:34Speaker 2: what about you? What are some of your favorites?
- 25:37Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Um, so I agree with you on bone
- 25:42Speaker 1: temple obsession in back rooms. Um, I mean, all, all
- 25:46Speaker 1: three of those are, are standouts for me. Um, but
- 25:49Speaker 1: for me, like, and I guess this just speaks to
- 25:52Speaker 1: the video game nerd in me. Uh, even though I've
- 25:55Speaker 1: never played this series, um, Resident Evil was so good.
- 26:00Speaker 1: It was another film where I just went in. I
- 26:04Speaker 1: didn't really know a lot about it. I knew that
- 26:05Speaker 1: Zack Greger was directing it, and I had faith in that.
- 26:09Speaker 1: But I've never, and I'm so sorry for anyone who
- 26:11Speaker 1: is a Resident Evil movie fan. I've never seen a
- 26:14Speaker 1: Resident Evil movie that I thought was good until this year.
- 26:19Speaker 1: And for me, it was my favorite horror film this year.
- 26:22Speaker 1: I thought it was amazing. That was really good. So
- 26:29Speaker 1: I am very happy that you mentioned as many of
- 26:32Speaker 1: those movies as you did, because I want to do
- 26:36Speaker 1: something here with you. I want to play a game.
- 26:40Speaker 1: So we've never done this on this show before. And
- 26:44Speaker 1: this is going to be a movie quote game. Specifically,
- 26:47Speaker 1: how many 2026 horror movie quotes can you name? I'm
- 26:52Speaker 1: going to give you 60 seconds here, Lenny. And what's
- 26:55Speaker 1: going to happen is I'm going to read you the
- 26:58Speaker 1: quote and I want you to name the movie that
- 27:02Speaker 1: it is from. Okay. If you need me to repeat,
- 27:07Speaker 1: obviously ask me to repeat. If you want to pass,
- 27:12Speaker 1: then you got to give me like, I don't know,
- 27:13Speaker 1: like a horror movie scream. Like, ah, give me one
- 27:17Speaker 1: of those if you're passing. All right. I have about
- 27:20Speaker 1: 10 quotes. How are you feeling?
- 27:22Speaker 2: Nervous.
- 27:23Speaker 1: Hopefully I'll build a group. You're hiring a glorified Postmates
- 27:28Speaker 1: driver to hand you the cure? Are you fucking dumb?
- 27:31Speaker 2: Resident Evil.
- 27:33Speaker 1: Excellent. Number two, the best part? You can eat them.
- 27:38Speaker 1: I'll give you a clue. It's part of a YouTube series.
- 27:41Speaker 2: Oh, is that from, is it from Backrooms?
- 27:45Speaker 1: It is from Backrooms. Number three, I love you so, so, so, so,
- 27:50Speaker 1: so much. I don't think I could live without you.
- 27:53Speaker 2: Obsession.
- 27:55Speaker 1: Excellent. Number four. If I'm going to live with this,
- 27:58Speaker 1: I don't want it to look like some other dickhead.
- 28:02Speaker 1: I want it to look like you. This was one
- 28:04Speaker 1: of the ones you mentioned. Oh, yeah.
- 28:06Speaker 2: Oh, Leviticus.
- 28:08Speaker 1: There you go. Number five. You learned to be brave,
- 28:12Speaker 1: like my song. I like to think I had a
- 28:15Speaker 1: hand in that. I have such a big heart. Can
- 28:17Speaker 1: you feel all the blood from my big, big heart?
- 28:21Speaker 1: As a clue, if... a child perhaps walked in at
- 28:26Speaker 1: any particular scene of this movie, they may not realize
- 28:30Speaker 1: it is a horror film.
- 28:32Speaker 2: Oh, buddy.
- 28:34Speaker 1: Correct. All right. Number six. It's just skin. A very
- 28:38Speaker 1: small part of who we are. You may have seen
- 28:41Speaker 1: this one recently.
- 28:41Speaker 2: Is this from Clayface?
- 28:45Speaker 1: It's from Clayface. It's kind of how forgettable a lot
- 28:49Speaker 1: of the dialogue is. All right. Number seven, the silence
- 28:55Speaker 1: isn't empty, Evie. It's crowded. You just haven't learned how
- 28:59Speaker 1: to listen to the layers yet.
- 29:01Speaker 2: Is that from her private hell?
- 29:04Speaker 1: It is not. I'll give you one more try here.
- 29:07Speaker 1: The key words here are silence and listen. Dang.
- 29:13Speaker 2: Is this stuff from the Silent Hill movie that came out?
- 29:17Speaker 1: It is not. It's from Undertone. Oh, okay. Number eight,
- 29:24Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed.
- 29:26Speaker 2: You should play a song backwards for me. A nursery
- 29:30Speaker 2: rhyme backwards.
- 29:31Speaker 1: Yeah, my bad. I'll do that next time. Number eight,
- 29:36Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed, but there are some
- 29:38Speaker 1: oddballs walking around this room. place.
- 29:40Speaker 2: Hogan.
- 29:42Speaker 1: There you go. Number nine. Wow, you sure know a
- 29:47Speaker 1: lot about me for another a-hole hiding behind a fake
- 29:49Speaker 1: number and a voice changer. I don't know. Scream seven.
- 29:55Speaker 2: Oh, well, I didn't see that.
- 29:58Speaker 1: Ah, all right, all right. And number 10, I actually
- 30:00Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen this one either. Cunda, Estrada, Montose. Ah,
- 30:06Speaker 1: fuck this.
- 30:08Speaker 2: Give me another hint.
- 30:11Speaker 1: Um, Sam Raimi was known for these.
- 30:14Speaker 2: Is this from Send Help?
- 30:17Speaker 1: It is not from Send Help. That was a good guess, though.
- 30:18Speaker 1: I could see why you went there, because of Sam
- 30:20Speaker 1: Raimi clue. Oh, um... what horror movies did Sam Raimi
- 30:25Speaker 1: do before he did Spider-Man?
- 30:28Speaker 2: Oh, like the, Oh, okay.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Uh, Evil Dead. There you go. Evil Dead burn.
- 30:35Speaker 2: All right.
- 30:37Speaker 1: I think you got, let's see here. Uh, one, two, three, four, five, six,
- 30:45Speaker 1: six out of 10.
- 30:46Speaker 2: With hints. That's great.
- 30:49Speaker 1: Honestly, that's, it's kind of harder than I thought, especially like,
- 30:53Speaker 1: when I was reading the, uh, undertone one, I was like,
- 30:56Speaker 1: you know, there are some like keywords in here that
- 30:59Speaker 1: like obviously have to do with the movie's theme. But
- 31:02Speaker 1: if you had been reading me that quote, I don't
- 31:04Speaker 1: know if I would have gotten it if I'm being
- 31:05Speaker 1: totally honest. So I applaud you for doing as well
- 31:08Speaker 1: as you did.
- 31:09Speaker 2: No, I mean, I think to like be on the
- 31:12Speaker 2: quoting status, like it would have to be a movie
- 31:14Speaker 2: that you've seen a bunch of times. Yeah.
- 31:17Speaker 1: Fair, fair enough. Um, But yeah, Eleni, thank you for
- 31:23Speaker 1: being our guinea pig in our first ever movie quote challenge. OK, so,
- 31:29Speaker 1: you know, we were talking about all these horror movies
- 31:32Speaker 1: that are doing so well at the box office. And,
- 31:36Speaker 1: you know, as we said in the very beginning of
- 31:39Speaker 1: the show, you are someone who really resonates with that genre.
- 31:43Speaker 1: What do you think it is about horror this year
- 31:46Speaker 1: that seems to be resonating with audiences? Why is horror different?
- 31:50Speaker 1: doing so well at the box office what do you think.
- 31:53Speaker 2: I think it's an approachable genre you know like i
- 31:57Speaker 2: think that i think that there's like plenty of people
- 32:01Speaker 2: that are like oh like they don't go to the
- 32:03Speaker 2: movies as often so like the one or few movies
- 32:06Speaker 2: that they see a year one is going to be
- 32:08Speaker 2: a horror movie like anybody can like go at any
- 32:10Speaker 2: time and be like you know what let me put
- 32:12Speaker 2: this on i've heard about this let me just put
- 32:15Speaker 2: this on like it's not it's an approachable movie to
- 32:17Speaker 2: watch um And I don't know. I think maybe it
- 32:24Speaker 2: speaks to the times a little bit. Maybe people like
- 32:27Speaker 2: want to like dive into something like horrific because it's like,
- 32:31Speaker 2: all right, like it'll take my mind off of the
- 32:34Speaker 2: other horrific stuff that's going on. So maybe, maybe it's
- 32:39Speaker 2: a little bit of that too. What do you think?
- 32:42Speaker 1: I do think that there is some escapism, uh, with,
- 32:45Speaker 1: with horror. Right. Um, And I do think there are
- 32:49Speaker 1: so many people who do not approach horror because like
- 32:53Speaker 1: they don't necessarily want to be scared. But to your point,
- 32:56Speaker 1: as far as like some of the movies that are
- 32:58Speaker 1: being talked about, I think have been approachable because like
- 33:01Speaker 1: they've been such like creative ideas. Right. Like Backrooms and
- 33:05Speaker 1: Obsession being like two great examples. I think if I
- 33:09Speaker 1: were to take a guess at it, I think horror
- 33:13Speaker 1: is such a great genre to watch together. Right. like
- 33:18Speaker 1: you and your friends like you go and watch a
- 33:20Speaker 1: horror movie and you get to experience like a roller
- 33:23Speaker 1: coaster together right and I think that's why it's been
- 33:26Speaker 1: working at the box office like we keep seeing like
- 33:29Speaker 1: these big um come out to the theater uh phenomenons
- 33:34Speaker 1: like Barbenheimer right like where people actually wanted to go
- 33:38Speaker 1: to the theater and dress up um and not necessarily
- 33:41Speaker 1: that people are dressing up for these movies but I
- 33:43Speaker 1: do think that there is something to be said about
- 33:46Speaker 1: sharing the movie together, that horror probably does better than
- 33:51Speaker 1: maybe most other genres.
- 33:52Speaker 2: I don't know. I guess it's like a more reactive
- 33:55Speaker 2: experience in the movie theater too. Like I love to,
- 33:59Speaker 2: you know, I like to watch horror at home, but like,
- 34:01Speaker 2: I love the experience of going and watching a horror
- 34:04Speaker 2: movie in the theaters and then hearing the person next
- 34:07Speaker 2: to me freak out. And it's like, too, like what,
- 34:11Speaker 2: what's going to resonate with them? Like what is going
- 34:13Speaker 2: to like get them? Like, What are the things that
- 34:15Speaker 2: are going to bother them? Like, that's kind of like,
- 34:20Speaker 2: it's kind of my head space. Sometimes when I'm watching
- 34:22Speaker 2: something like that with like a big group of people,
- 34:24Speaker 2: it's like, wow, this really killed, like this scene really
- 34:30Speaker 2: freaked everybody out. This is going to upset people. Like it's,
- 34:34Speaker 2: it's kind of cool. It is. It is.
- 34:37Speaker 1: And I mean, at times it can be like watching
- 34:40Speaker 1: somebody's reaction can be very funny because I have certainly
- 34:44Speaker 1: been that person that is produced to like the way
- 34:46Speaker 1: too scared reaction and have been like the focal funny
- 34:51Speaker 1: point for an audience before because I was way too
- 34:53Speaker 1: scared in a moment. We went to go see this
- 34:57Speaker 1: movie with a friend who he does not do horror whatsoever.
- 35:04Speaker 1: And he had a very hard time with parts of
- 35:07Speaker 1: this movie was very squeamish and Um, but he got
- 35:10Speaker 1: through it. And honestly, by the end of the movie,
- 35:12Speaker 1: like it sounded like he was interested in exploring more
- 35:15Speaker 1: horror films.
- 35:17Speaker 2: That's cause everybody's like, I don't want to go to
- 35:19Speaker 2: a movie with jump scares. I'm like, well, homie, the
- 35:22Speaker 2: last couple of movies we saw didn't really have jump scares. Like,
- 35:27Speaker 2: like I think like also like people's like perception of horror.
- 35:31Speaker 2: Sometimes they like have it in like kind of a
- 35:33Speaker 2: smaller box. And then when something does well, they're like, well,
- 35:36Speaker 2: that's not really a horror movie now. Like, Like, when
- 35:40Speaker 2: something is great, like, they're like, oh, let me strip
- 35:43Speaker 2: it of that horror status. But, you know, like, I
- 35:48Speaker 2: think horror has, like, it reflects the times. It reflects
- 35:52Speaker 2: what the anxieties, what people are worried about, like, better
- 35:57Speaker 2: than any other genre, I think. And it also presents these,
- 36:03Speaker 2: it just, like, it's able to, like, like I said
- 36:06Speaker 2: in the beginning, it's able to present, like, themes, concepts, like,
- 36:09Speaker 2: like high concepts in a, in a way that's like
- 36:12Speaker 2: palatable for people to understand and like really get sucked into. Yeah.
- 36:19Speaker 1: So that being said, as far as getting sucked into
- 36:23Speaker 1: different films here, we are in spooky season and it
- 36:28Speaker 1: being spooky season, what would be your spooky season recommendation
- 36:34Speaker 1: for the time?
- 36:35Speaker 2: Okay. So, yeah, A couple of favorites. I think like
- 36:41Speaker 2: Trick or Treat is like the ultimate like Halloween.
- 36:43Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 36:44Speaker 2: I really do just love it. And then I don't
- 36:46Speaker 2: really hear like I don't see it on other people's
- 36:49Speaker 2: lists all the time. I think it's so fun. I
- 36:53Speaker 2: would have to shout out Hocus Pocus because I have
- 36:56Speaker 2: to watch that every year as well.
- 36:57Speaker 1: These are both films, by the way. Well, like, both
- 37:03Speaker 1: of those films, by the way, are films that you
- 37:05Speaker 1: introduced me to. And, like, certainly I was aware of
- 37:08Speaker 1: Hocus Pocus, but, like, I never watched it before because
- 37:11Speaker 1: I thought it was just going to be a cheesy
- 37:13Speaker 1: Disney Channel movie. And, like, you sold me on it.
- 37:16Speaker 1: You were like, no, I promise. Like, it's a solid
- 37:19Speaker 1: story all the way through. And you were right. I
- 37:21Speaker 1: had a great time with that movie. Trick or Treat,
- 37:25Speaker 1: I'll actually legitimately recommend that movie to people now for
- 37:30Speaker 1: a Halloween movie. Um, like you said, it's kind of
- 37:33Speaker 1: an underrated movie. You don't hear a lot of people
- 37:35Speaker 1: talk about it. Um, from what I understand, it appears
- 37:38Speaker 1: to be like a cult, a cult favorite. Um, and honestly,
- 37:43Speaker 1: it kind of, I feel like there's a lot more
- 37:44Speaker 1: than that. I feel like it should be the Halloween movie. It's, it's,
- 37:48Speaker 1: it's kind of perfect for the time.
- 37:50Speaker 2: Sometimes just like anthology movies are pretty good too.
- 37:55Speaker 1: And then like, those are great. Yeah.
- 37:57Speaker 2: Yeah. Like that, and then a slasher or something, like,
- 38:01Speaker 2: of your choosing.
- 38:03Speaker 1: I mean, for me, it's always going to be Scream. Like,
- 38:06Speaker 1: that's the slasher. Like, Scream rules.
- 38:10Speaker 2: Scream does rule.
- 38:11Speaker 1: Hmm. In recent, or not recent years, I say recent years,
- 38:16Speaker 1: it's not true. They're just ongoing. I think the first
- 38:20Speaker 1: two Conjuring movies are great for this time of the year.
- 38:22Speaker 1: I think Insidious has one of the best jump scares
- 38:26Speaker 1: of all time. Yeah. I love Insidious. The first Insidious.
- 38:32Speaker 1: After that, I kind of lose interest. I'll still watch them, but, like, eh. But, yeah,
- 38:39Speaker 1: those are my go-tos for, like, scary recommendations. But, yeah. Eleni,
- 38:48Speaker 1: do you have any final thoughts just on either Clayface,
- 38:52Speaker 1: horror movies, or just the spooktacular season?
- 38:56Speaker 2: Thank you for letting me be a part of this
- 39:02Speaker 2: and talk about movies, which I love. And that's it
- 39:07Speaker 2: for me.
- 39:08Speaker 1: Listen, you are a queen of horror. If we were
- 39:11Speaker 1: going to do this with anybody, you are the number
- 39:13Speaker 1: one pick for anyone's horror movie podcast. Anyone who hears this,
- 39:17Speaker 1: this is your girl. But yeah, everyone, thank you so
- 39:22Speaker 1: much for listening to our review of Playface and all
- 39:25Speaker 1: things horror from this year. Make sure to like and subscribe.
- 39:29Speaker 1: Follow us on threads. and may the review be with you.