Circle

Hello again. We have made it to the end of yet another cycle of anthologies with the series finale of Fear Itself. That's right, everyone who bothered to stick with Because as I was making my final list, I thought, boy, I'm surprised I even made it through this. You know, less painful the Masters of Horror, but also a little less interesting. It's kind of I think where I landed overall.

No, you're completely right, like better somehow, but also more boring. Oh boy, well, you know, thanks NBC. Yeah, so at the end of this episode, we will reveal our rankings of the episode. I have no idea what Christine's is. Um.

I think there are some that we agreed on. I think there's some that we didn't, so I don't know. Yeah, I'll be surprised. Our Masses of Horror lists were pretty close. They were.

They were wonderfully close, because basically they were almost identical except anytime there was a change, it was just a flip. It was like, this was my number twelve and you're number thirteen, But then my number thirteen was your number twelve. And I don't know. On this one, I think it'll be a little more different. So I think it'll be different because kind of like what we were just saying for Massages of Horror, like the highs were very obvious, yeah, and the luves were.

It was just basically came down to sometimes you hated something a little bit more than I did. So but this when I was making my list, at least, there was so many more that were like so middling that I was like, how do you rank things that you just yeah, like yeah, it's like this was a five and this was a five point one, I guess, And yeah, all right, but before we get to that, we have to close it out with the serious finale that probably like nine people saw because I don't think it aired. I think it, you know, ended up on a DVD somewhere, and and that's that. And this is Circle, Yeah, this is this is the circle. Circle.

Yeah, this is the Circle. So this episode directed by Eduardo Rodriguez, who I got excited because I was thinking he was Eduardo Sanchez, but he is not. He is best known, I guess for Fright Night too, and which is really bad. I remember you really not liking it, Yeah, and I wanted to like it. I like every other Fright Night thing that exists, and that is not good, and that beautiful woman that was on like the first season of Dex stars in it, and it's just I don't know.

I didn't like it. But there's nothing wrong with the direction of this episode. I think, Oh no, and um, what's his name? Rodriguez also did a film called Curran Darrow, which I have has been on my Netflix like disc queue forever because it's one of those long wait DVDs. So maybe one day I'll watch it.

I don't know. I think that seems to be like his first big film, so I'm guessing that's what got him a couple of like Hollywood movies, So assuming it's good, I don't know. Perhaps more excitingly, did you catch the writing team on this episode? I did. I knew this was coming and I told you.

I think when we did The Washingtonians, which is this other duo's output that Richard is it Schismar Schismar and Jonathan Check. I looked it up. It is indeed pronounced Check. Okay, that makes sense. Schismar is so Richard Schismar is a guy.

I think he might be editor in chief Cemetery Gates magazine. Look, I don't just when you run, and when you run in circles with Stephen King for as long as some people have, I maybe expect a certain output from you or certain sensibility. And I felt like I was pleasantly surprised with the Washingtonians with this. This I was not. It got exactly what I expected.

And it's also based on a novel, which to me makes sense, given like I don't know the widthin breadth of the of the plot that they decided to shove into forty five minutes. Yeah. Yeah, this is definitely one that on one hand, I appreciate that they keep it moving. On the other I was thinking the same. I'm like, well, you only you've you have You've already killed half your cask because you have no time.

It just it did feel a little bit rushed. Definitely. Yeah, why don't you give a synopsis of this story? Okay? I will, um so you.

I think I've made it very clear how I feel about stories about writing. I feel like you get one writers write about writing once and then stop because it is it is slightly unrelatable, I think, And when it is relatable, it's not like I feel like I'm the audience for this, but I'm one hundred percent not UM. So it's frustrating, but this is this is a story about a writer UM Jonathan Sheeck's character M and he is like there, he's in this cabin with his like wife and they're like, we're gonna have a nice cabin time. And then all of a sudden, his publicist, editor, and agent show up, which completely inappropriate. But then you're like you you find out, oh, it's because he they want him to have another book immediately again unrealistic and awful because his his his first foray into horror, UM sold five million copies.

All of this information burned onto my brain forever, five million. I don't remember all these things. Number one for eleven weeks. Leave the motherfucker alone. People don't sell five million copies of things That doesn't happen anymore.

Just and a movie is in production or in the works or whatever the rights got sold. Leave the man alone in his cabin. That's neither here nor there. So but basically stuff starts to happen. Two creepy little girls who were in the opening, who a bunch of witches in a condo put blood on their fourhead or something.

Um, they show up in hand hand. The people in the cabin a book, and the book is what's happening. They first think, oh, he the writer had the book delivered, and the writer's like, oh, this is a gag. You guys had this book sent here to like bully me into writing, I guess, because that works. That always works.

And and then they they're like, oh, no, the book is. The book is what's happening. Everything's predetermined. This book knows what's going to happen. And like the the plot points or the villain, which is black Goo I guess from his best selling novel, Well boy Um becomes it attacks them and like basically the bad stuff that happens and his novel starts happening to them in the cabin.

And if things happen like you would expect, that's neither here or there. But then the lady from the Witch, lady in the condo from the beginning shows up and brandishes a knife at the man's wife and is like, we used to fuck and I wrote this book for you also on the Witch, and we made a deal. Did not understand there is a lot going on in that relationship. And I'm glad on one hit, I was really hoping you were just going to explain it and I would listen and be like, yeah, yeah, that was it all the time. Now I'm kind of like, oh yeah, okay, No, it was that confusing.

But that's the problem because obviously this was I don't know the length of this original work, but if it's being classified as a novel, I mean on the low end, forty k words low end, Yeah, I don't know how this is forty minutes of television because like, clearly we were missing something. So so what really pissed me off? There was a million ways this could have gone. It didn't go any of them, and I was confused that that was irritating. But I think even more so, like this woman is a witch.

Why is she fucking wasting her time with this miss dude? Yeah, like you can, you can produce a book which later billion copies. Motherfucker, do that for yourself, get your own like she should have been. And in the end, she was like pissed that he wouldn't leave his wife. Why wasn't she pissed that she didn't get that money or she didn't get that recognition or something.

I don't understand. I didn't understand any of it and it ended up leaving me really irritated. Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't argue any of that. Um, I didn't mind this episode in terms of watching it, like it just I don't know, it moved quick, it did stuff it again.

I like Jonathan Check as an actor. I think we've talked about him a little bit. I also kind of like that like he I guess with Richard Schismar, like they kind of know how to write for him. Um. And I mean he's kind of blonde this he's not.

He's the least interesting thing, but I guess he's supposed to be. Um. But yeah, and his wife is played by Ashley Scott, who I've seen in a lot of uh not quite Hallmark Christmas movies if you will. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know she was in Jericho. I I know her.

She's in a bunch of stuff. I liked her. Yeah, she was fine. Um but yeah, it is really when you boil it down to that, like I really just thought, you know, I've wasn't paying close enough attention to understand. No, it wasn't.

Yeah, So Robbie Collins is the villain or not the villain, Like the person that should have been I don't know, making a lot of money off a book that she wrote. Uh, and yeah, I don't I don't get. Yeah, that's a lot to do for a guy, for a married man that's kind of into you, but clearly isn't that into you. I don't know. It's very odd.

It was. It was odd. So and so the end I didn't even I forgot to mention this because by the time you get there, it feels inconsequential. So what they the book is written in blood, and if you Jonathan check figures out because I kind of wish the wife had done this or been given anything to do. But but he's like, oh, if I write something in blood, it'll I can change it or whatever.

So like he he basically makes it start all it starts all over again. So they're like in this infinite loop loop, this circle, if you will, of like this night happening over and over again. But then Zach was and like, but if no one knows that that's happening, is it really even a punishment? Like you, they don't know. They're trapped in this circle.

They don't know the wait, so are they gonna have to go through like all of the like are they gonna all have to die again? Yeah, that's what That's what I mean, that's what insinuated. I thought. No, I think you're right. I just really did.

I Again, we said this about a few of them. This is gonna be the one that I will have the hardest time remembering, which is not that surprising considering Um, I don't know again, but this is true of others where nobody has ever talked about these. Uh. But yeah, it's just very underwhelming. Yeah, and I don't want to be like all like Vagina about but like it was really like he seemed unremarkable.

He didn't even write the super popular book, like, and he's two beautiful women who are like ready to die for him. Apparently I didn't understand any of it. Like, really, I wish this was about a cool witch that who's who's awesome book that's stolen and yeah, a ton of money. And then she did wanted to like to like turn the villain of the book against the person who did her, And it would make sense that she would go after the editor or and the agent and the publicists like all of her fits. I wonder if the novel was more like that, because that's kind of awesome because there's this line in the book when they're reading the Magic Book that's like everyone had benefited from the Dark Arts or whatever.

And I was like, yeah, I guess because she used magic to make this book be a book or something, or maybe she wrote like real magic stuff in it. I don't tell me more about that. I don't know what this wanted to do, but it didn't do it, and it made me mad because it's so mad when things are so close. Yeah, when there's potential, because it's one thing if it's just you know, if it's just bad, that's that it's just bad. But it's another one, you know, especially having watched the Washingtonians, like these guys can put something cool together.

And yes, it is the best, almost the best. It was number two, but it was so good. Yeah, I don't think this is going to be either of our number two No. Um loud long exhale, as I think how I feel. I I think that is the best descriptor that that we can get for it.

Um, Like you know, I don't know. I So there have been a couple in here where I've thought like, oh, I could do something better with this, and I mean so they've served as inspiration good. So thanks the Circle for being not good so I can go make a good version of you at some point. I look forward to reading your rewrite of this episode for their eventual reboot of Fear itself. It's just have you noticed this is completely tangential?

But I don't have anything else to say about this, but I'll just bring it on back. Um. Have you noticed there is a huge influx of short form or anthology horror? Um? Yeah, it's isn't it weird how it happened after you and I started a podcast about this.

It seems like we really have our finger on the world. Needs to know that you would not have your monster lands and your mortuaries and whatever else is out there without your feminine critique claims. I know, we all, we all rag on Quibbi and make fun of Quibby, But Quimby has like a fifty states of fright, which is like fifty one for each state. Obviously I don't look like that. When I was a kid, That's how I first read Children of the Corn.

Yeah, like tiny little horror. Because Quimby's whole thing is that their shows are super short, like five minutes. Um. And I look, I don't want to blow any mind, but what if Quimby is good? Because I think it is, because I've seen some good stuff.

I keep I keep just assuming Quimby is gone already and that I just like, I'm I've become very out of it in terms of pop culture. So I just assumed Quimby was was already gone. But I guess I'm wrong. I just I think it's interesting because you're right. You have your Monster Land.

We were doing twilight Zone. Um, they they brought Creep showback. There's there's shows I haven't even heard of. There's a but yeah, we're missing a few. I know Hulu has it more than Monster Land.

Um, Shutter has like two I think ye Shutter has that movie, the Clancy Brown movie. Yeah, people are saying very good things about I shut it off. Really, I couldn't do it even with him. I mean, he's he's the wraparound guy. He's not in it.

Oh okay, okay, then I can just fast forward to his parts, so I have to. I mean, he does have a lot. They give him a lot to do. Well, he'st and I like, I get what they're doing. And do you remember you don't even need to watch SNL to kind of not know or know this.

But you remember when they did that skit on SNL like what if um uh, what's his face? The Darjeeling Limited guy did, uh, oh man, welcome to mind goes your mind goes to Dark Dealing Limited. I hated that one. I look, it had a dream Brody in it. I went for a dream Brodie.

Um. They did like what if Wes Anderson made a horror movie? Do you remember that? It's It's It was very funny, and there were people myself among them, that were like, that would be an awesome aesthetic. And then and it's kind of got that energy because Okay, it seems like it's it's it's placed in in time, but it's not like it seems like it's in the fifties and the sixties.

It's older, but it also doesn't feel like that because it still feels modern. And I was like, this could be very good. And then I was like, this is not good. That's a shame, but that's me and other people would probably really like it. I've also in my crotchety old coronavirus age um no patience, UM I have I wouldn't say it's patience for me.

Um, I think like a lot of people right now, UM, shorter attentions. Man, that's and that that thing is like two hours, so that it's it's in it. I shut it up. We shut it off about halfway, maybe a little bit longer. But if if I've felt it, I was feeling it.

I don't think I have sat down and watched a movie actively, like an entire movie in several weeks now. Um. I mean I've had movies onto the background. I've I've had movies on like like a casual watches. But in terms of oh, like my list just keeps getting bigger as far as like all the movies I want to see that you know keep crawling up cues or I keep seeing.

I'm like, I know, I if I I owe this movie ninety minutes of my attention, and I just can't do that right now with anything. Yeah, And I think that even like Circle, like the last I would say two or three episodes that we did for me, it was similar. It was definitely like I almost felt especially like I think when we did Chance and you could speak so well to it, and I was like, I think I might have just not watched it that carefully, like I think, you know, I got that, I went through that. I think at the beginning, yep, I remember where I wasn't watching anything. Well, I mean that's why we started doing these episodes, right, Yeah, but you're really like, I can't do a movie.

I've gotten a lot better, like I've been able to. I think I've recommitted because I find so much comfort in the act of watching things, and I get it. And Zach and I were talking about how twenty twenty, I mean twenty twenty one probably too. But this year is going to be a very weird year for movies looking back, because things that would have gotten like a lot of robust marketing and been in theaters are gonna disappear or like get released, you know, fan fan. So you're gonna look back and be like, oh, there was a movie with this cast and this budget.

I never heard of it even. Yeah, So I'm cheasing that a little bit, like I don't want to. I don't want to get this unrealistic backlog of movies that I can never catch up on. I admire that, you know, we all have to obsess about something these that that is true I guess for me, it's putting things in boxes. Yeah.

So I don't have anything else to say about this. I have nothing, no, no, um, I mean this very much. I think as much as it like ended on such a whimper, was sort of like an appropriate way to end of the series. I think, like I, I appreciate there's something here and I and I don't know if it. I don't know where the breakdown happened.

I don't know if it was in the adaptation or if the original text was just not interesting. Yeah, yeah, something happened. But like, if you wrote a short pitch for this and handed it to me, I'd be like, oh, yeah, we got some better that's gonna be good. I also wouldn't say I hope it's forty minutes, because it feels like it could have been like an actual like there's a lot of plot there. Yeah, definitely.

It's just you know, I wouldn't want this as a movie, but I could take that story as a movie for sure. So I guess like good concept execution not really for me. Yeah, agreed, all right, So let's go through it. Our ranking of the thirteen episodes of Fear Itself. Christine and I have not talked about this before, so I'm nervous.

I can't wait. This is exciting, So we're gonna go. Let's go bottom to top, bottom to top. Okay, you're a number thirteen. Yes, I have a feeling will be on the same page on this one, but I don't know.

I don't even know. So my least favorite is Sickness in Health. Same, yep, yep. This is if if we were I feel like in our younger years, this would merit us both taking a shot right now. I I this was that one was easy for me.

Same, yeah, and then it's and then it gets kind of tough. Yeah, Well, because this one I think is just it's John landis lazy. We're back to lazy Landis and it's not good. And I think there's a really interesting start starting point for a story here. This is like the first episode where I want you to write me a better episode.

There's something there, and then they just fucking bungle it. I don't understand why. Yeah, yeah, so's it was bad. I thought it was confusing and boring and poorly executed and in and just there. For me, there was very little redeeming and there was such a bungled idea and concept that it made me again angry.

Sure, so when I get angry that bumps you down. That's fair. Now, I will say I was not nearly as angry about in Sickness and Health as I was about at least five Masters of Horror episodes. I don't know, dear a woman, Yeah what yeah, right to not Rael pro life. Yeah, there's there's nothing in this series that ever hits those heights, no agreed.

Um, so that makes a list kind of harm. Yeah. Yeah, so my twelve, I'm non committal. Same my my twelve, eleven, ten could be any anything. Yeah, I would say for me, it's down to number my nine, ten, eleven, twelve all could kind of go in different directions.

So yeah, so my twelve is echoes. Same. Yes, it was supporting, it was boring. It was again an interesting wasn't even an interesting concept. It was just kind of cool that they said something in the nineteen twenties and that was it.

Do something else with it. Don't put that weird filter or whatever on it. That effect. I don't know, but yeah, so echoes ye just um, so that was twelve eleven was for me the circle. Oh okay, we have we have a difference here.

But circle was my number ten. Okay, what was your eleven? Something with bite? Okay, so something with bite is my ten. Yay, we're maintaining our close alliance.

So I thought, yeah, okay, so so these were so I the circle just like I think. I initially put it like more in the middle, and then as I looked, as I looked, I just kept falling further down. I think if the circle was earlier in the season, it would have been the one that I forgot about. Yeah, because there was one that I forgot about because I tried. I did the same thing where I was like, let me write my ranking without looking at the list, just to see where my initial instincts go.

And I'm like, twelve, I'm missing one. What am I missing? It wasn't that. But if the circle was like episode like three or four, it would have I would not have remembered it. I wonder if it was the same one for both of us.

So I ranked the circle below something with Bite because I went into something I think it was an expectation thing. I went into something with bite with this strong desire to like it, and that kept me much more engaged than I was with the Circle. So I mean, at the end of the day, something with Bite was something that I approached with much more positivity, and I think because of that, I walked away with more positivity. I think, to me, if I have to think of that them, I think the Circle is probably a better episode of TV. But something with Bite at least has a few interesting things going on.

Yeah, yeah, And so I mean, but like yeah, six or one half dozen way exactly. They it was kind of the eleven or ten exactly. All right. So now we're up to number nine. So my nine again this is it could be whatever, but my nine is Chance, not my nine.

We're actually two spots away. Chance is my number seven. I put Chance low because I kind of thought it was a little boring and wrote, but I really, can you even remember in it? I'm gonna I'm gonna say, I think with Chance it would have been my nine if you and I didn't do an episode on it. And you brought up so many interesting things that made me think, oh I should watch that one again.

There was just there was cool stuff in it, but it was it was kind of low. Um, so what was yours? My nine was community? Okay? So my next one is community.

Yeah, I would imagine it will be. So I like I and again I'm bringing I'm bringing my own ship to the table here when they're kind of middling. You have to bring stuff to the table to make this these to differentiate them. And I love that setting. I love weird um communities and planned things, and like, I just I think that that's fun.

So that one rants a little bit hard. Community might be for me the one that kind of has the most promise and least deliverers, because for the same reason, it's it's my kind of story. I love that kind of subgenre. It just it really like, if I'm being objective, it does a poor job with it. Yeah for sure.

Yeah, so I liked the setting and I like Brandon Rowth. Yeah that's fair. So so then, okay, so you were number nine was a chance? My number nine was community. So number eight is the one that I initially forgot about, and that surprises me.

What was your number eight? So hold on thirteen twelve eleven ten nine Wait thirteen twelve eleven ten nine eight wait eight? Community for me? Okay, okay, that makes sense. I just got so my number eight is spooked, shocked, yeah, that's very high.

That one so much. I you know, I think again, it's one that had it come later in the season, it might be higher. At this point. This was episode number two, so it's been several weeks since I watched it, and this is one that, again I kind of enjoyed watching it, but I feel like it had a lot of things that didn't work about it, and I'm really surprised. But I completely this was the one that I absolutely forgot about.

I would not have remembered it if I didn't pull up the list and say which episode did I Oh, my god, the Eric Roberts one. That's interesting. So I, for my at least from my top four or five, I went with what have I thought about since? Fair and kinda? So that was your eighth?

That was my Yeah, that was my eight, So seven for me it was chance, so it was your For me, it's Skin and Bones. Okay, skin and Bones is my number five. I didn't like Skin and Bones, but I really liked Doug Jones. Oh yeah, he's so good. And I've thought about it a lot because I thought he was he was spooky in it, but overall I thought it was very boring.

I thought Skin and Bones to me might be the one that makes I wouldn't say it's the one, but it's one of the few that completely understood the running time and how to use it, I think, and how to use what it was given, which was a pretty small budget and a small caste. So I kind of respect it for that. Oh I agree, I completely agree, And honestly, this could have been my five. Who like, sure, this is like my five, six and seven. I could have put him in a like one of the little cups that you shake dice in and throw like who cares?

I get there? They're very these are a very similar group for me. Okay, So that's seven. What was your seven? Seven was chance for me?

Chance? Okay? So six for me is Family Man. Oh yeah, I had a feel. I knew that would be a big division point for us because I really liked Family Man, and I remembered you really did not.

That was the one I forgot. Oh five I read even after I read the name of that was like what one was bad? Um? I liked it, but I and I know that it was good. But I literally it has not entered my brain since I watched it.

It got immediately dumped out. That's that's so interesting to me because I feel like that is one that I'll remember much more. It's the only body swap we have in the whole and again I'm considering Masters of Horror part of this series, and we don't have body swap, and it's such an easy, like interesting trick to use. I think it's one of the more ambitious in terms of what it's doing with its story for that amount of time. I think it has really good performances.

I love the ending, and this is you know, the last couple of years I have not liked mean endings, but I thought this mean ending was really good for this Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it managed. It wasn't like a mean ending that they were like, hat gotcha. It's like it started and you were like, oh, this isn't going to end. Well. Yes, And I think when you're doing a se ease where you do have to pull back, right, when you're doing a network television horror series where you kind of have to play nice for a lot of others, Like you have to play nice in your violence and your nudity and all these other things that as horror fans were so used to getting.

I feel like it's totally okay to not play nice in the story and characters if you because you can pull that punch since you're restrained on so many other things. That's a good point. Um. Yeah, so for sure, like this fat could have been my five. That could have so so that was my six?

What was your six? My six was the sacrifice? Okay, that's my five. Yep, yep. I still think it's a weird U was a weird choice to open the series on.

In hindsight, though, maybe it did make sense because the fact that it's like right in the middle is kind of fitting for the series that you know, it was kind of a representative of what you were getting. Yeah, I think the reason why I like that one is because I like I like the way it looks, and I it has a different scope than some of them do. It is very small, but like the implications are really large, and I think I liked that because a lot of them were small and stayed small. Yeah, this is one that grew on me. I think thinking about it now, there's a lot of things that I can look back on this episode and say, you know this, this episode actually did a lot of things really well.

It as much as I hated like the dudes in it, I felt like they just worth that interesting. Um, you had some really good you had some really good performances. Um, I forget her name. Now, what was the lead actress's name? I can't remember?

Rachel, Rachel Minor. Rachel Minor is really good. Um, this episode ends on such an a beautiful and yeah it's my five because that ending. I think it's efficient. Yeah, it's efficient in a way that that other ones aren't like.

It does things that other ones, other of them don't do, and it makes it look easy. And because the other episodes, so many of them can't do it, You're like, well it's not easy, yes, because no these like that ending is so impactful and it's nothing. Yeah, there's like it's nothing. It's a sentence on a page. Yep.

And you're like, oh my god, the implications and and I like, I like it a lot for that, and uh, it felt very self contained in another and in a way that a lot of them didn't as well. It was disciplined. Yeah, it knew what it had and what it didn't have, and it worked with it. Yeah. I can't remember if I told you, because this was after the fact, because since this was the first episode, I didn't watch it on the DVD, but then when I got the DVD, I did go back and watch the featurette with the director, because all the DVDs have like a five minute, like very quick, very fuzzy overview of how great these directors are.

But on this one it was actually really interesting because the key he I definitely it was this is Breck Breck Eisner. Brett Eisner, Um right, Breck Eisener. I think he seemed very intel. He was speaking very intelligently about the episode, like he clearly was saying, look at this this setting that I have, and I can't wait to work with it. Um.

Yeah, the setting was beautiful, and they talk about the ending on it and he basically says that, you know, this was where it was going to end. And then Rachel Miner did this thing and I said, wait a minute, let's keep wrote like, oh this is how it has to end that he like, and that's credit to both him and her or her as an actor who brought something there and him being wise enough to understand, oh wait a minute, I'll let me change how I was going to do this. So it did grow on me and I'm having at six and I feel bad having it at six, but I think, yeah, it better than it seemed upon first watch. I guess, yeah, yeah, for sure. So that was my five?

What was your five? So my five skin and Bones? Okay, yeah yeah, So I mean family Man seems like he's going to be the outlier here. Yep. Family Man for me is number two.

Wow. Yeah, So so do you want to move on to four? Let's move on to four. So four for me is Spooked. Wow.

Really, I thought it felt dense and and efficiently dense for something like there are things like Echoes which feel like it told no story and forever to do it, and then Spooked told like seven different stories I find true. Yeah, like this is what happened to him as a kid, and now this is what's happening right now. But there's also this other like I mean, one could say it was overstuffed, but I appreciated, okay, And there's there was like creepy imagery all like the flashbacks stuff, and like the stuff in the house was weird, and the thought that like like you could get duped like that. I don't know, and I like it and I've thought about it since I felt the house was cool and stuff. Okay, yeah that I think family Men and Spooked are the ones that you and I just completely different planes on.

Yeah, what what was your four? My number four, I know is one of your favorites, and that is New Year's Day. Yeah we can. We can talk about New Year's Day now, or we can talk about it very far away from now. Oh is New Yes's Day or number one?

It is? Wow? Okay, well let's talk about it. Um so New Year's Day almost. I'm gonna say, if I watched these all for the first time this right now, New Year's Day would be my number two.

But it's not New Year's Day. I have seen three or four times. I still really like it. I love Brianna Evigan. I think it did something I had never seen when I first watched it.

Uh, it's the one time that his shaky bullshit looks good and they sense and by him, I mean Darren the it's it is for me. It is It is like a like a twilight Zone or an outer limits and not so much in the like nice try asshole, but like what you weren't watching this at all? They were all little dolls. Trapped in a trash can like that vibe of Twilight Zone, and I really liked that because a lot of them didn't do that. It told me a full story and then was like, but actually that's not at all what this was and didn't work.

Yeah. Um, it is definitely the one. If there was one on here that I would say I need to watch again, it's this one, um, because I think going back to it and seeing how he works that twist in and how it's there from the beginning, I would probably walk away even more impressed. It's a great reveal and it is by far the best twist on this list. And but yeah, I feel alike all but I kind of need to see it one more time just to just to see exactly how it plays out.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's good. It's really good. I like it a lot. Yeah, I don't know, I'm with you.

I wasn't with you at number one, but I'm with you at number four. So that was your four. Yeah, and I feel like number four is where it turns into like, these are the four that I really enjoyed. Yeah, so that yeah, absolutely, so number three for me, Well then oh so we know, Yeah, well, actually I don't know number three. If which one you have?

What do you got? So number three for me is Eater? Oh okay, Eater for me, it's number one. Yeah, so Eater. I just again my one, My one, two, and three are effectively Twilight Zone episodes, different different flavors of Twilight.

I don't have very much there to me. Quintessential amazing short form form storytelling with robust, developed characters, um that you care about, that you're invested in. They're they're effectively creepy when they're supposed to be creepy, and like lighthearted when they're supposed to be. Like I just I like them a lot. So Eater was beautifully filmed.

Elizabeth Moss is obviously very good in it. It was kind of creepy and you got real, real sad when you realize the situation she was. Yes, yeah, I think Eater for me was the scariest one. Yes, you know, like, and I might even say now that I'm looking at that, Eater might be the only scary one. Skin and bones.

Yeah, yeah, there's creepy stuff going out, it's fair, but for sure these are not like air quotes scary Yeah yeah, where but Eater, I mean it has this great setting, It has a lot of moments that are just real like and this I remember saying when I want we watched it eat. I almost wish I would watched it with commercials airing where they should air, because I feel like he clearly did that. This is Stewart Gordon. Obviously he used the fact that I have to pause for a commercial right here to great effect, because every commercial break is a heart in the throat moment, like there's a door that's open that it shouldn't be cut, and it's it plays fine when you watch it, not with commercials. But I think it's just very impressive to me that he used that timing I think the best of anybody.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's that's very true. Um it. It definitely like I I appreciate that he understood what he but his objective was yes, very much, And I feel like he understood in his Masters of Horror as well completely. Yeah, so I boy, what a guy?

Yeah yeah, uh sweet. So then number your number three was eater. My number three, which has got to be your number two is the spirit Box. So spirit box is my number two, I figured, and your number three, I think I'm gonna say I think Spiritbox would have been my number one if I didn't have this pre existing relationship with your years um, I thought this was quintessential why a horror. It felt like a low stunken novel.

It felt like a fear Street novel. It was a real fuck you asshole and like I and it was it was like not supernatural, but like oh in a shocking twist, it just did. It just did everything I wanted it to. And I wanted it to be an hour and a half long starring Jennifer love Hewitt, not really, no no. I wanted Anna Hendrick.

I loved Anna Kendricks. But it felt like that that like flavor of story, and it was so exciting because like I like to think that I've seen all of those because I like them so much. So like this was like, oh, something I've never seen that scratches that itch and it's such a funny style. I think that if you had told fifteen year old Emily that when she was thirty eight, she's gonna love material aimed at fifteen year old Emily, she would have a hard time believe in you. But there is something about good well told and specifically teenage girl I think I mean teenager but there, but specifically what I always call like slumber party horror.

When it's done well, it's just so effective and interesting and I get so into it. And that's the case here where I really like these two teenage girls and I want to see what's gonna happen, and it's done really well, and I enjoyed it so much more than and I would have expected. If I read about it on paper or if anybody described this episode, I would just probably say, yeah, I don't know if we're going to watch that one. And I wonder how many, like of the core audience of your itself that actually watched that episode. I would not be surprised if it was one of the least liked, because it's so not that demographic.

But it's good. It has a six point oh on IMDb, which is not the lowest rated at all. Right, I gave it a ten because I needed to. You might have bumped it up then. I feel like when I first looked it was not at that well, four dred lifety eight votes.

That's fair. I mean, that's higher than this is actually really interesting. We're looking now at the votes and the rankings. And what's interesting is that it's like the first couple of episodes have a lot more votes, and I'm guessing that's because those are the ones that people watched when they aired, whereas once you get to something with bite, it goes from like seven hundred and forty seven votes on s Getting Bones to four hundred and thirty one on something with Bite, and then they're all fairly low. Yeah.

I mean it's nice though to look at something like spirit Box and see that it's not as low as something like Chance, which I do think that Chance is better than the five point one it's currently at, but like, I don't think it's better than spirit Box. So I mean, you know, and IMDb is just an absolute fucking yes yeah trash. Yeah. And also I rate when we were doing Fear It's Not Yourself Master. I was rating them as I went because for so many of them, they were like in the sixes and they made me see red.

So remember when we first watched Spooks, I gave it a nine. It's like that's fresh off of watching it and talking about it, boom nine. So I mean, I feel like to skew the curve was a little bit I guess it's good that I that I ranked it at four because I clearly did enjoy it right after watching it. Wait, so does that mean that that Spiritbox gets like a twelve from you? Out of spirit Box is perfect?

It is a ten for me? It is a ten or ten? Yeah? Um. Plus Also you have to you kind of if people are going to be dramatic and give things that are good or okay, a one when things are good, I have to give them a ten.

No, that that logic is sound. I'm with you. If we're gonna be dramatic about it, let's do it in both directions. But I like spirit Board, and honestly, this whole thing is worth it because I would have never watching that. Yeah.

Yeah, now say so that's my two. Yeah, and then my two was family Man and my number one was Eater, and my number one was New Years Day New Years Day. So my top three New Year's Day, spirit Box, Eater, my top three Eater, Family Man, spirit Box. I mean they're not far off. No, No, just family Man and Spooked are the two that you and I just completely saw differently.

Yeah, and even when we talked about them, yes, it was clear that we were we were weren't as excited about say so. Sometimes we have differences in opinions, for sure, but not by much. So here's my big question, and if you can't answer it, that's fine. But out of the two seasons of Masters of Horror and one season of Fear Itself, what is your favorite thing that you watched? Um?

I would probably say, um, in season Okay, I'm trying to remember the all of the episodes, UM, I know my favorites in season one, I think it was Joe Dante both times, and probably screw Fly Solution is still probably it. How about you? My favorite thing is probably still fair haired Child. Okay that I legit like cried and yelled during it because I was so happy it was doing what it was doing. Yep.

Um, so that is that. That's my big takeaway. But also Spirit Boxes is actually super high up there as well. And then it reaffirmed Um, I would say it affirmed my love for directors I already knew I loved like Joe Don Dan's Gordon yeah. Um.

And then for me, I think the big findings were um, William Malone because just and and since then I have I did go back and watch Um I watched Parasomnia, which I thought was really good UM and really interesting he's doing and I get you could see some of a fair haired child in it. UM. And then I also watched Fear dot Com, which was not It's good but it looks really now Fear dot com. It has a really interesting look. It's just very boring for a movie that's fear, that's called fear dot com.

I thought it was going to be very INTERNETI and it is not very internety at all, and that disappointed me sorely. I'm almost positive I've seen it. And the thing that I know about it is that when it came out, UM, it's urlspear dot com dot dot com. Yes, oh I I in my mind I always referred to with a spear dot com dot com, fear dot com, dot dot com dot com. UM.

There was a so last week there was like a big online like virtual genre fest film fest called night Stream, and it was like the a bunch of different smaller fests like kind of came together to put it on UM. So there was a ton of movies to pick from, and they had a lot of really great special programming and stuff, and we Zach and I took part in it, and we picked our movies and watched them and but one of the special programmings was like a dinner, like a virtual dinner with mcgarris. Oh. I was like, I promise you this is relevant. I'm getting there.

So I didn't attend it because we were super bad with keeping schedules because we're on the West Coast obviously, and a lot of things are just we're still at work and stuff. But it was a virtual dinner with mcgarris and the people that were on that Zoom call, Emily, I never in my life thought I would be so excited that William Malone was on this call, and I was like, I want I never would have thought that I would want to talk to these people so fucking bad. But it was like it was William Malone and John Carpenter stopped in and everybody was super psyched but like, and that's cool. But honestly, I was like, oh my god, Joe Dante and William Malone are there. I really want to talk to them.

But it was so neat, and I thought that was so neat. I was like, I know all these people. Oh, and Mike Flanagan was there, and I was like Oh my god, if only, if only we were in a Master's imagine the Masters of Horror, the Mike Flantic it would have done. Oh god, yes, yeah, alas we are not. We are not in the error era of Masters of Horror.

We're not. But he has his own show on Netflix, So I'm not. I don't like it. You didn't like Oh, I'm yet. We're we're so not in a place to watch it right now.

We're gonna watch it probably like next month or December. So yeah, I'm gonna have I'm trying now just to avoid spoilers on it. But so you're did you finish it? No, we only watched two episodes and I kind of went. I don't know how I feel.

But and I might argue, oh, it's because I'm too close to the source material, But like I was, I'm pretty close to the Hillhouse source material too, and I really problem. Yeah, but we're I'm not going to give up on it, Okay, I don't. I don't think two episodes is fair to bail after, right, right, But I don't know, so I'll be curious eventually when you are able to watch it, I will let you know. Yeah, Um, we have not really talked about what we're doing next or anything to that effect. I would like to point out that that's fucking weird, and I love I love you so much from being there with me on this.

We on a whim, decided we would watch I don't know thirty something episodes of television and talk about it and it would take over half a year and we wouldn't just because at all we were gonna do after, you know, it's I think part of it was that we really don't know if the world's gonna be here by the time we finished. And I'll tell you I've been staggering the releases of these episodes as of late, just because I know, for those of you who don't know, I'm in the process of moving, which means like we're packing where we have to all get all this stuff together. So I knew I'm like, oh, the next like two weeks, like I doubt I'll be able to record, So I'm like, okay, So instead of releasing two episodes a week, I'll like, wait and I'll hold this one until the following week.

So by the time I release this, we're probably running like three weeks behind. It will be made November after an election, the world bite, yes, not be here anymore? Yeah, yeah, come on, I know, I like I can't. And I'm really I'm glad. I said this to Zach last night.

I'm really grateful that you're one hundred percent on the safe Like I wasn't getting messages of have you thought about what? No? I haven't thought about what I'm going to eat for dinner? I get it. Have I thought about what we're carting?

No? I have no. I figure we will do ah what we've been watching round up maybe next Those are always fun, Yes, but I have I had a lot of stuff. It's kind of slowed down now that's probably a good thing. Uh yeah, And then you know what time of year is coming.

If the world is still around by then, um, you know for our big Thanksgiving spectacular. Right, Well, it depends on how like you were rules about Thanksgiving. Like there are some people who are like, oh, I don't do Christmas until December. Others who were like, oh, it's October fifteenth. I guess it's Christmas time, but it is stocking stuffers.

I know I was trying to pretend like it wasn't there. There is a sequel to a movie that we'd be talked about, I believe. So. I think there's a few sequels now they're just pumping. Hey, I'm just really hoping that we see not so much the movies that are gonna get made about COVID, like, because I'm sure I think they didn't announce that there's gonna be one where it's like two people in Quarantine fall in love, Like, you know, what I want to see is the movie that films itself, that presents itself as if it's a regular movie, but that was clearly filmed in green screen COVID, Like it's somebody at their computer with a green screen behind them.

Like, that's what I want to see. If I can pick up on that, well, I'm sure there'll be no shortage of it. There rarely is in this day and age. Yeah, so I mean we'll figure it out. We will, Yes, we have time.

But so in the meantime, everybody, I don't know, go back and watch the backlog of Fear Itselves and Masters of Horror if you so desire to do so. I don't know that we're really recommending it, but hey, it worked for us. Look, it was a thing, and we did it, and we survived, Yes, but I would say seeing that that panel, like that virtual panel of people talking to mcgarris, it gave me a new appreciation for these people. Yeah, um, I do still recommend. I don't know that he's recording it anymore.

I don't think there's been any new episodes. But he has a podcast where it's usually just him interviewing somebody from horror and it's been you know, Doug Jones and Mike Flanagan and just I think he had William Malone on there a while back. So that's another fun way to continue this conversation if you so desire. He look, I might find his storytelling questionable, same, but he is very nice, yes, yeah, and that comes across as an interviews and he's he's a good interviewer, I think, not a good filmer, but a very good uh yeah, a good guy to talk about film. Yeah.

So thanks to everybody. Did actually listen to this? Uh yeah, that's a that's all we got to say about that. But bye, folks, good bye. It's a circle, a perfect circle.

Well it's a circle. It's round, right, so perfect and around true list thing that you found down on the ground, right, It's a circle. My friend just a ring without it, it's a circle. It's round. Make a sound, up and down and around the right side up, upside down.

It's a circle. A circle. Symlack crime