Dead Silence (2007)
The episode centers on a critical exploration of the film "Dead Silence," a horror narrative that intricately weaves themes of vengeance and the supernatural, encapsulated by the eerie presence of ventriloquist dolls. We delve into the film's plot, which follows Jamie Ashton as he returns to his haunted hometown in search of answers after a tragic event befalls his wife. The discussion traverses various elements of the film, including its adept use of suspense and the chilling portrayal of its antagonist, Mary Shaw. We reflect on the film's effectiveness in creating a foreboding atmosphere and its ability to elicit genuine fear without excessive reliance on graphic violence. Ultimately, our analysis reveals a nuanced appreciation for the film's storytelling and character development, as well as a desire for deeper exploration of its themes and lore.
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Transcript
Look, at this point, Marion's lived a great life.
Speaker A:Like, if she's still in the crawl space, she wants to be there 100%.
Speaker B:She wants to lay there and talk to herself.
Speaker B:I'll see you when you come out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Not going in.
Speaker B:I'm not going in after you.
Speaker A:You be an adult and you come out here.
Speaker A:Mar.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'll be right here.
Speaker B:Let's talk when you're out here.
Speaker B:Welcome to the what's a ver Podcast where we fashion our cinematic judge and jury.
Speaker B:My name is JJ CR I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Speaker A:Let's get it.
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Speaker B:Tell a friend about us.
Speaker B:Tell a family member about us.
Speaker B:Don't tell anybody related to this movie about us, though.
Speaker B:No more dolls.
Speaker B:Last one though.
Speaker B:Then maybe we'll get to say tell somebody clever about us.
Speaker B:But this ain't it.
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Speaker B:And let's get into week five of our Movies Featuring Creepy Dolls month.
Speaker B:It's the last one, thankfully.
Speaker B:It's been a rough month.
Speaker B:Shortest episodes ever.
Speaker B:Because there's just not a lot to talk about.
Speaker B:And this month is probably not gonna be much different or this week, but it's.
Speaker B:We're doing dead silence.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:It was written by Lee Wanno and James Wan.
Speaker B:It was directed by James Wan.
Speaker B:It stars Ryan Quanton, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Joan Henney, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, Dimitri Chapotzki, Chapavitsky, whatever that person and Judith Roberts.
Speaker B:It's about.
Speaker B:This is long.
Speaker B:After his wife meets a grizzly end, Jamie Ashton returns to his haunted Hometown of Raven's Fair to find answers.
Speaker B:His investigation leads him to the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw, who seemed to have ties to his entire family tree.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:I mean, it's functional.
Speaker A:Doesn't do it justice, but yeah.
Speaker B:I picked this.
Speaker B:This one's funny.
Speaker B:It was a random.
Speaker B:Hey, that looks interesting.
Speaker B:I know those care.
Speaker B:Those actors and picked it because I'd never seen it.
Speaker B:I hadn't seen most of the movies with dolls.
Speaker B:I don't enjoy dolls in general.
Speaker B:They kind of creep my ass out.
Speaker B:So I don't tend to lean towards a lot of doll movies, which is why I hadn't seen most of these.
Speaker B:But of the five we've watched, this is by far the best one.
Speaker B:And it makes sense with it being a James Wan film.
Speaker B:Like, he actually makes pretty good films for the most part.
Speaker B:And he's big.
Speaker B:A big horror guy.
Speaker B:This one had some really interesting moments.
Speaker B:I think this one had the creepiest moments when we talk about, like, dolls and, like, these ventriloquist dolls were creepy as.
Speaker B:Especially the main one, like.
Speaker B:And he comes in and you're just like, I'm good.
Speaker B:This is weird.
Speaker B:He would not.
Speaker B:I'd open that box and go, peace out.
Speaker B:And throw that out in the trash.
Speaker B:I don't want this.
Speaker B:I don't need this.
Speaker B:There's no reason for me to have this.
Speaker B:You can off and die.
Speaker B:I don't want it.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But it's much better.
Speaker B:And I laugh because it's like the lead actor, the dude.
Speaker B:I can't remember his name now.
Speaker B:I just read it, but he.
Speaker B:He is right around the time he was in True Blood.
Speaker B:And, like, everybody loved him because he was like the sexy little brother, the main girl.
Speaker B:And she was like the werewolf, whatever.
Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:I don't remember, but I was like, yeah, but you're not a good actor.
Speaker B:And it plays like.
Speaker B:But then they got some big names.
Speaker B:Like, the dad is huge.
Speaker A:Bob Gunton.
Speaker B:Bob Gunton's huge.
Speaker B:The guy that plays the mortician, he's like.
Speaker B:I can't remember his name too, but he's big.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:I was just like, they got some people in this movie.
Speaker B:But I was okay with this storyline.
Speaker B:Like, this one made sense to me.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's cliche as right?
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's basically.
Speaker B:They took the story of witches, usually that we got of, you know, the.
Speaker B:The town witch gets up and killed and, you know, for whatever reason and puts a curse on the town, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:Well, this one's, you know, along those lines.
Speaker B:So there was a massive amount of predictability to it, but it was creepier and it was more interesting than anything we've watched this month before now, by far.
Speaker B:So I know you hadn't seen it.
Speaker B:How.
Speaker B:What was your take?
Speaker B:What did this one with you at all like?
Speaker A:It did a little bit, but I really liked it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Like, I. I.
Speaker A:The twist all the way up at the end got me.
Speaker A:There was, like, hints here or there, but the final twist was like, oh, wow.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So that was enjoyable.
Speaker A:And it wasn't like.
Speaker A:Like, it wasn't like last week where it was just gross, disgusting.
Speaker A:There was a little bit, but it was mostly in passing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, like, the.
Speaker A:The beginning of it was weird to me.
Speaker A:Like, the whole start of it to get going, I was just like, okay, that's fucked up.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Because it just comes out of nowhere.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You get hit out of nowhere, left field.
Speaker A:And, like, this guy's first instinct is, oh, I'm going back home to figure this out.
Speaker A:Like, dude, no, that's not me.
Speaker A:Like, oh, she gets brutally murdered.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:I'm gonna move as far away as I possibly can.
Speaker A:Leave everything else in the dust.
Speaker A:Like, no, not doing it.
Speaker B:But I wish a lot of things attached to a spirit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I wish there was a little bit more with, like, Mary Shaw.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because you have this poem that's, you know, that taboo type poem.
Speaker A:Almost like, you know, certain Mary and Amir type of a thing where you have, like, that kind of, you know, stigma or whatever.
Speaker A:It's used to frighten children, but there's, you know, real kind of story behind it.
Speaker A:But what I wish they'd focused a little bit more on was, like, the don't scream part.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because that only comes in, really, at the end.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where, you know, got two main guys, got Donnie Wahlberg going in, the other guy's like, hey, don't scream.
Speaker A:Like, remember, don't scream.
Speaker A:And that's the first time that it really connected that.
Speaker A:Oh, that's the.
Speaker A:That's the connecting point.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, you're fine as long as you don't scream, but as soon as you scream, because then we get the payoff of.
Speaker A:That's what actually causes.
Speaker A:It causes this transformation, this takeover, this, you know, killing to happen.
Speaker A:And so it's like, it was just like I was missing key points throughout the movie that if they had been there, I think a little bit more throughout, I'd be, like, glued to it the whole time.
Speaker A:But there Were certain parts where I was just like, really, like, you know, kidnapping the kid.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:Then, you know, they like, oh, we got a suspect.
Speaker A:It's her.
Speaker A:And then being mad when it was actually you that did it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, you were wrongly accused and they found the kid a little while later and he drowned in the river or something like that.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:No, you kidnapped this kid because he didn't like your ventriloquist show.
Speaker A:You tortured him, turned him into a doll, and the town got revenge.
Speaker A:And because you got held accountable, you didn't like this.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Put a curse on generations of the.
Speaker A:Of this town.
Speaker A:And so there was like a.
Speaker A:There's things I think they could have handled better with that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But whoever they got to play Mary shot.
Speaker A:He was freaky as.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like the.
Speaker A:Underneath the crawl space where you had the hand pop out.
Speaker A:I was like, oh.
Speaker A:So there was moments where it got me, but overall, like, I was.
Speaker A:Maybe it was because my bar was set so low after the first four weeks, but I really like this.
Speaker A:And I was going, okay.
Speaker A:And then we get to that big twist at the end, and.
Speaker A:Yeah, I didn't see it coming.
Speaker A:I. I don't know if you did, but I was thinking.
Speaker A:I was thinking, oh, shoot, dad sold him out.
Speaker A:Like, dad figured out how to get away from this curse or whatever is.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm gonna sell out or whatever.
Speaker A:But turn figuring out that dude's been dead and, you know, hot step mom's been controlling him with the ventriloquism.
Speaker A:I was like.
Speaker A:I was like, holy.
Speaker B:Yeah, like that.
Speaker B:I didn't figure out that he was dead part, but I knew she was involved in some way, shape, or form from early on.
Speaker B:And I think this goes back to, like, the way that I think through movies is.
Speaker B:And I get it right 90% of the time and that, like, when you have an actress that's like that.
Speaker B:So she was.
Speaker B:She's not famous famous.
Speaker B:She's by no means a list, but she's in a lot of stuff.
Speaker B:And she had that one big role in Hitch, I think, where she was the love interest for what's his face.
Speaker B:But it was.
Speaker B:It's one of those things where I knew she wouldn't be in this movie if she wasn't gonna play some more part than just stepmom.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like the weird stepmom.
Speaker B:So I was, like, not shocked.
Speaker B:It was still like, what a up way.
Speaker B:Like, that's a twisted.
Speaker B:And then, like, I love the images of, like, going back in time to see her controlling him.
Speaker B:And the food going down the neck tube.
Speaker B:And like.
Speaker B:Yeah, like, it was phone ringing.
Speaker B:Yeah, the whole thing.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, that's creepy as.
Speaker B:But I.
Speaker B:But it didn't surprise me.
Speaker B:I wish it would have.
Speaker B:I wish that I had that.
Speaker B:Like, oh.
Speaker B:But I was like, oh, I get it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I see it.
Speaker B:And I had some questions.
Speaker B:I was like, man, what the wrong with him?
Speaker B:Because he looks up because he had some, like, abrasions on his face or something when you first see him.
Speaker B:And then, like, later on, he looks even more up.
Speaker B:I'm like, what is wrong with this guy?
Speaker B:Is he sick?
Speaker B:What does he have?
Speaker B:Why are they not telling us?
Speaker B:And then I like, ah, okay.
Speaker B:He's dead.
Speaker B:Like, and he's gutted, basically.
Speaker B:Like, in.
Speaker B:His spine's a ventriloquist stick.
Speaker B:Like, this is up.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's.
Speaker B:And I love the imagery of, like, when she goes running away to try to catch the kid and, like, lets him just, like, fall forward and he's like.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, that's weird and creepy and gross and.
Speaker B:Yeah, gave me the heebie jeebies to think about somebody having your hand in your back like that.
Speaker A:I'm like, yeah, just controlling.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm out.
Speaker B:That was weird.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:But, like, it got me right up.
Speaker A:When you have the fireplace.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I was thinking.
Speaker A:I was like, oh, dude, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's not that easy, right?
Speaker A:Where's the twist?
Speaker A:And then you get the.
Speaker A:The pan over to the silhouette in the wheelchair.
Speaker A:I was like, oh, no.
Speaker A:I was like, no way.
Speaker A:And then you get that whole kind of payoff, and there's this one extra dollar.
Speaker A:But there was just like.
Speaker A:It's weird because I really enjoyed it, but there were certain parts that, like, either bogged it down or didn't make much sense.
Speaker A:And I don't know if they were there to play Distraction or just kind of, you know, muddy up the story a little bit, because I was like, well, why did you need to have the dolls buried with you?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because if you're just going to dig them up later, like, just this hidden part of the theater is someplace where clearly nobody ever went.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:So, like, what's the.
Speaker A:Why have this kind of whole misdirect of, oh, yeah, she was buried with all 101 of her dolls?
Speaker A:Just kidding.
Speaker A:No, she wasn't.
Speaker A:Or, you know, someone came through and dug them all up.
Speaker A:So there's little parts of that where I was like, really?
Speaker A:Or, you know, Donnie Wahlberg being Donnie Wahlberg.
Speaker A:I was like.
Speaker A:Like, he was great, but the character.
Speaker A:Yeah, dude, come on.
Speaker B:Like the worst detective ever.
Speaker A:Terrible detective going through there.
Speaker A:But there was, like, really good parts too, right?
Speaker A:Like the whole.
Speaker A:Again, survival instinct zero with the main character.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:Of like, I was sitting there like, okay, you're pretty much sure this doll, this dummy, killed your wife.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because you didn't do it.
Speaker A:You went out for Chinese food.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Come back home, wife's dead.
Speaker A:I was like.
Speaker A:And not 24 hours later, you're falling asleep in a motel room with this dump he just propped up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just right there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, leave that in the car.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Better yet, don't bring it with you.
Speaker B:I was gonna say, you better yet burn it.
Speaker A:Like, yeah, but if you're going to.
Speaker A:Do not bring it into the motel room where you're gonna be sleeping.
Speaker A:Like, dude, no.
Speaker A:And it was addressed to you.
Speaker B:Like, put it in the bathtub and close the bathroom door.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Don't put it where it's in your line of sight and you wake up in the middle of the night.
Speaker B:That's dumb.
Speaker B:Anyway, sorry.
Speaker B:Didn't mean to cut you off.
Speaker A:It's just stupid.
Speaker A:And so, I mean, it did give a pretty good jump scare with creepy old Mary Shaw, but at the same time I was sitting there, I was like, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And then again, even later, where he's like, he goes off to the theater on his own.
Speaker A:And like, even though the.
Speaker A:You've got Donnie Wahlberg following you, I was like, I'm gonna.
Speaker A:I'm gonna just park.
Speaker A:Wait, there's one boat.
Speaker A:So, you know, you're coming with me because.
Speaker A:Yeah, we're going to this together.
Speaker A:And then after this, go ahead and lock me up.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:But just.
Speaker A:Just absolutely run off and leave the guy with the shotgun.
Speaker B:So stupid.
Speaker B:Well, and I love, too, like, there was a part where he's going up to the.
Speaker B:The creepy clown doll or whatever it was to get the whisper, which is up, by the way.
Speaker B:And then he's got it.
Speaker B:And then Donnie Wahlberg's behind him with the shotgun pointing down to.
Speaker B:I'm like, you gonna shoot them both?
Speaker B:Like, are you doing, dude?
Speaker B:Yeah, come on.
Speaker B:But, yeah, like that.
Speaker B:I will say there were some creepy moments in this movie, like, when they were doing.
Speaker B:And I think they did.
Speaker B:They made it last a little too long.
Speaker B:But the dolls turning their heads to the side, I was like, that's.
Speaker B:I don't like that at all.
Speaker B:And every time the doll's eyes would move, like, I'm like, no, no, I don't like it.
Speaker B:That made me uncomfortable.
Speaker B:I hate dolls.
Speaker B:And so like the doll play in this was very, very good.
Speaker B:The way that they made it just subtly creepy.
Speaker B:And then because you know what's going on.
Speaker B:And then you're right.
Speaker B:Like Mary Shaw was and creepy dude.
Speaker B:The crawl space.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:Like I hate, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I hate basements.
Speaker B:Like, I don't know if I told the story.
Speaker B:I had a long story short, I had a cousin Chad lock me in a creepy dank ass Midwest, I think concrete basement when I was really young.
Speaker B:And so basements.
Speaker B:And I don't, I don't like them.
Speaker B:So that crawl space is like my living nightmare.
Speaker B:Like, I don't do crawl spaces.
Speaker B:And that when he goes in there to get his wife early on I was like, oh, no, no, no.
Speaker B:Because you're not showing me this under that gauss crawl space unless we're coming back here later.
Speaker B:And I don't want to come back here later.
Speaker B:I don't want to be here in the first place.
Speaker B:So then when you come in there and like you said, that hand pops out, I'm like, ah, God damn it.
Speaker B:Like off and go away.
Speaker B:Like, this is horrible.
Speaker B:Leave, leave, leave.
Speaker B:And I'm sorry, who goes into anywhere and and leaves a door able to close behind you?
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:I put a brick.
Speaker B:I put something that you're gonna have to move or it's not closing.
Speaker B:Because I'm not getting locked in a place like that.
Speaker A:Look, at this point, Marion's lived a great life.
Speaker A:Like if she's still in the crawl space, she wants to be there 100.
Speaker B:She wants to lay there and talk to herself.
Speaker B:I'll see you when you come out.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm not going in.
Speaker B:I'm not going in after you.
Speaker A:You be an adult and you come out here.
Speaker A:Marion.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'll be right here.
Speaker B:Let's talk when you're out here.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:I'm not going to crawl space.
Speaker B:You the dick.
Speaker B:I'm not going in there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so, but like, I think I also really liked about this movie is they didn't do too much.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You get those.
Speaker A:Like you were saying, it's very subtle.
Speaker A:You get the head moving maybe a little bit long.
Speaker A:I. I was kind of hoping they'd all end up looking at Billy's space.
Speaker A:Like one coming from one area, one coming from the other side.
Speaker A:Yeah, like that was kind of what I was hoping for.
Speaker A:We didn't get that.
Speaker A:But yeah, like.
Speaker A:And even with the Mary Shaw stuff, like, there's just like.
Speaker A:You see the hand.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But you don't see everything.
Speaker A:They don't do what a lot of kind of horror movies now do, which is really focus on how scary they can make something that you're going to be seeing the whole time.
Speaker A:And you know, you'd get the whole kind of crawling upside down, head snapping around thing now.
Speaker A:But here it's like you get the hand.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then you get the end result.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that almost makes it worse.
Speaker A:Or you get, you know, when he's first, first time he's in the theater and he's going through this book, you get the ghost moving in the background.
Speaker B:Oh, dude.
Speaker A:I was like, I was like,.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:But again, it's not a lot.
Speaker A:It's just her walking by.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so you get all these little itty bitty things.
Speaker A:And then even at the end of the.
Speaker A:Where we have the big reveal.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And you get that playback of like everything that's happened, it's still only like 30 seconds.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You get like three brief cuts of everything that happened and enough to.
Speaker A:So it did a great job of like leaving enough mystery to let your brain fill in the rest.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which is always, I think, better way to go about things.
Speaker A:Agreed.
Speaker A:Instead of trying to make sure you get full use of your, you know, budget.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, 100% agree.
Speaker B:And I, I don't know, like, I think there was such good and interesting, like creepy stuff that they did.
Speaker B:Like, I wanted more.
Speaker B:I'm with you.
Speaker B:And I think I wanted just more time there.
Speaker B:But like in the creepy space versus, there was a lot of conversation around things you had to have a lot of like the conversation to help get to Mary and how we got where we're at.
Speaker B:But that, you know how I feel about that kind of like exposition that's like just too much like, let me be creeped out.
Speaker B:But the reason it worked, and I agree completely, is that less is more in horror, in my opinion.
Speaker B:Like, if you're looking for like a violent like Punisher type stuff, like action films like that to me is the perfect spot for some of this over the top violence.
Speaker B:Because we, it's funny, we tend to water down action movies.
Speaker B:Like people getting unalived with bullets and things like that.
Speaker B:Like that kind of thing like we see.
Speaker B:But that's much more gory and violent than we want to admit.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And we always play it down a little bit in the Movies and then you get to horror movies and you got people get shovels in the mouth and splitting their skulls and.
Speaker B:And I'm like, to me more scary is not knowing.
Speaker B:And so like I love the fact the way that they do it was kind of like the ring too, which we've talked about before.
Speaker B:You never see the act of killing.
Speaker B:Like what you see is after the fact.
Speaker B:The distortion of the face, the disfigurement, the making them into the all mouth.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But in that you're like, oh, how'd they do that?
Speaker B:And then you're like, you start thinking about it and my imagination is way worse than anything that a movie, a filmmaker can put on film right now.
Speaker A:And the thing about the imagination is that it's unique.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So like we, we've had this before where you've picked movies specifically because you thought they'd fuck with me and they didn't.
Speaker A:Yes, right.
Speaker A:But in the same ways, like if you're creating a movie, creating a story, you're not going to be able to hit everybody.
Speaker A:You're going to get certain people if you're telling the entire through line.
Speaker A:But if you let everybody's imagination fill in the gaps, you get every single person because everybody's imagination is going to be different.
Speaker A:It's going to take them a different.
Speaker A:It doesn't rely on the fact that you know something like we did when we did get out.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was fine because the way I work is I just need a little something to hold on to and your entire story goes out the window.
Speaker A:That's all I really need.
Speaker A:And so this does a good job of just leaving enough of it in the open.
Speaker A:And so like I would have loved to see like more in the research phase.
Speaker A:Like there was far too much driving back and forth.
Speaker A:This for me.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I would have loved to see when he's talking to the mortuary guy, like more stories about something that happened 30 years ago or 20 years ago or you know, go through like the process of.
Speaker A:Yeah, this first kid went missing a hundred years ago, but boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker A:Like, like there's a reason why we, we don't say her name.
Speaker A:And here is all the proof.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You could even go a little bit further.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because he's gone up, moved away, gotten out of it.
Speaker A:Like he still had friends probably growing up.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like bring out a couple friends who were from the different families who were cursed or whatever and show this and show that and you know, connect those dots.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:And you do it in that kind of like wrap up phase where you have everything going a little bit quicker.
Speaker A:Like I would have left.
Speaker A:If it was me, I would left the mortuary guy alive.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And have this be like kind of the final wrap up of before he goes to like confront the dolls or whatever in the theater.
Speaker A:Like you can get him to the theater in a thousand different ways.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:And so you have this kind of, you know, real, real just kind of wrap up or walk through or talk about everything that's happened and even some of the ones that nobody wants to talk about or nobody will talk about, like just give it all up so that now you're, you're just continue to ramp up to the end.
Speaker A:But you have all these things that connect the dots and it's like, oh no, this is like I'm legitimately screwed.
Speaker A:Like, because he's forgotten.
Speaker A:Norton was never told about what's happening.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so I mean, even mentioned before, like, oh yeah, the Mary Shaw poem.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's like the boogeyman type of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you could have the more trip like, oh no, it is not like,.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, that shit's real.
Speaker B:I'm with you.
Speaker B:Like, I would have even liked to have seen the mortuary guy live.
Speaker B:And then maybe at the end of it you see him go back and like draw an X on the picture and be like he was trying to clear his town of this haunt.
Speaker B:And so he was always like, maybe it's him that sent the doll.
Speaker B:Knowing that would have been sick.
Speaker B:As like if they were just trying to cleanse the town.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they knew they had to get rid of all these families.
Speaker B:And in order to do that they had to get that kid back in town and so.
Speaker B:Or get the doll near him.
Speaker B:Like, oh yeah, that would be sick.
Speaker B:That would have been up.
Speaker B:It was a up ending anyway.
Speaker B:But that would have been way up.
Speaker A:I was like, like there's just, there's just too much driving.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, there was for this.
Speaker A:And too much rain.
Speaker A:Like I get the reason why.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:A lot of.
Speaker A:A little bit less and done with a little bit more kind of twist story or take you down a different path or whatever you want to throw in there to make it.
Speaker A:Because it's like, like it's to the point right where I know it was good because I want to see more.
Speaker A:I don't want more from scary movies.
Speaker A:I never have.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:This one I'm like, I want more.
Speaker A:Like I want more of this story, more of this doll creation.
Speaker A:Give me more.
Speaker A:You know, I want a dead Silence too?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, cool.
Speaker A:Well, I'm gonna go.
Speaker A:I like, I want to go watch it.
Speaker A:Yeah, that never happened.
Speaker A:Fair.
Speaker B:Did they make a dead silence too?
Speaker B:Nope.
Speaker A:Well, they should, because it's.
Speaker A:It's one of those scenes where I was, I. I want more.
Speaker A:I want to go see more.
Speaker A:I want more to come from it because the story was so, like, kind of bringing.
Speaker A:Pulling me in throughout the entire thing that I was like, I. I would watch this again.
Speaker A:I don't watch scary movies once.
Speaker A:More than once.
Speaker A:I don't do that.
Speaker A:And so this is one where I was like, I. I could go for it again.
Speaker B:It was just.
Speaker A:It was just that kind of enthralling for me.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:Should we rate it?
Speaker A:Let's do it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:My movie, I'm gonna give it a.
Speaker A:Two and a half.
Speaker B:I feel like there was a good enough stuff to keep me intrigued.
Speaker B:And it was.
Speaker B:There was some creepy moments and there were some decent jump scares and some things that made my skin crawl, so.
Speaker B:And from a story perspective, it', oldie but a goodie.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Like, it's one that I can get behind.
Speaker B:And they adapted it enough for me to feel comfortable with it, so I liked it.
Speaker B:Visually, it was a pretty stunning movie, as dark as it was like, I used the darkness to their advantage.
Speaker B:Like, there was one scene near the end where the main character's, like, sitting there and everything's pitch black around him and he, like, turns his head and I'm like, there was enough space on the one side for another face.
Speaker B:And I'm like, here comes the jump scare.
Speaker B:And then it never came.
Speaker B:And I'm like, oh, you.
Speaker B:I was like, okay, I see you teasing me, setting me up for some tension, and it never happened, which I appreciate.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I like it when people try to do some things to make things a little different and make you jump in different ways and.
Speaker B:Or anticipate and get it wrong, and then you get comfortable and the next thing you know, you're peeing yourself.
Speaker B:So I appreciate that.
Speaker B:And this movie did a lot of things very well, and I think that is attributable to James Wan.
Speaker B:Like, he makes good horror movies, and so this is no different.
Speaker B:And I. I like that it was good enough.
Speaker B:So, two and a half for me, it was very interesting.
Speaker B:There was some good stuff and.
Speaker B:And I'd watch it again.
Speaker B:I. I think I'd watch it to see kind of what else I could pick up what little clues and nuances I missed the first time.
Speaker B:But, yeah, it Was full movie.
Speaker B:All right, brother.
Speaker A:I'm gonna give it a three and a half.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:I like this.
Speaker A:This was really good.
Speaker A:At least from it might be because the last four did not get a three and a half com.
Speaker A:This one is one that I would go watch again.
Speaker A:I tell people like, oh, like you, you want something creepy, right.
Speaker A:But you don't want something that's gonna make you the bed necessarily.
Speaker A:This is the one to do it.
Speaker A:Like I would recommend this to people.
Speaker A:I don't recommend movies, especially scary ones because you never know.
Speaker A:Because somebody be like, sure dude, go watch it.
Speaker A:Because it's scary enough that it's good and it's not so scary that it the bed.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But it's gonna.
Speaker A:It left me wanting more.
Speaker A:It's going to leave you kind of on the hook.
Speaker A:You want to know more.
Speaker A:You want more of the story.
Speaker A:You want to know how his dad got turned into a puppet.
Speaker A:Like that's the stuff that I want to see and to get more of it.
Speaker A:But it's just such a well done movie.
Speaker A:So I. I'll be watching it again.
Speaker A:100 Because it was that good for me.
Speaker A:So three and a half for me.
Speaker A:Out strong.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:I'm turning Alec into a horror movie fan.
Speaker B:Not quite.
Speaker A:Don't get so far ahead of you.
Speaker B:Yourself before it's all said and done.
Speaker A:I still ain't watching Annabelle or Exorcist or that noise.
Speaker B:No, I mean you might depend.
Speaker A:Probably eventually I will.
Speaker B:But I'm telling you, one day I'm gonna get you watch the Haunted the Haunting of Hill House because you'll like that and you hate it at the same time.
Speaker A:Do that.
Speaker B:Stream it.
Speaker B:We should do a watch party and stream it.
Speaker B:We should.
Speaker B:All right, brother.
Speaker B:Well, tell everybody where they can find us when we're not running away from haunted towns that have creepy dolls and ventriloquist demons.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker A:Happy to do so.
Speaker A:Best place to see us is on YouTube.
Speaker A:So this is a strong end to the month.
Speaker A:You can skip pretty much the first four weeks and just go straight to this one.
Speaker A:Not very good entertaining content, but this one was good.
Speaker A:YouTube is the best place to see our smiling faces outside of that Patreon at what's our verted Reviews is the best place to get involved with the podcast.
Speaker A:We hit run votes for topics for movies within the topics that are pretty much how we do our content now.
Speaker A:So those votes are completely free for you to sign up and vote and get involved in the content creation process.
Speaker A:Beyond it.
Speaker A:Paywall There is, I think we're up to close 700 episodes of bonus content.
Speaker A:Everything from bloopers all the way up to episodes of full length movies of movies that nobody should ever watch.
Speaker A:But we went ahead and did that for you, so that's the best place to actually get involved with the podcast at.
Speaker A:What's our verdict?
Speaker A:Reviews Aside from that, once again, Dubby, our partner, go ahead and get your energy powder w GG and you get 10 off of your order when you use our code.
Speaker A:Or the code our verdict.
Speaker A:All one word with that, I'll kick it back to Jack Dunn's baby, the mauling Mastodon.
Speaker A:A J.J. that's right.
Speaker B:Thanks Alec, everybody.
Speaker B:Go check all that stuff out.
Speaker B:And as always, we appreciate you tuning in.
Speaker B:We'll catch you on the next one.
Speaker A:Hasta la vista, baby.
Speaker B:Cinematica.
