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Overview
We are back for more! As if you couldn’t get enough.
This is a bonus episode for season 01. We watched several American remakes of some of the films we talked about this season.
Martyrs – Martyrs
Let Me In (Let the Right One In)
Silent House (La Casa Muda)
The Others and Haunting of Bly Manor (The Innocents)
We discuss the differences between these remakes and the originals. Mostly what they changed and then what we didn’t like. OK, there are some things we liked, but it wasn’t much.
That’s not to say we hate American films, it just seems that foreign horror movies that get remade miss the point quite often. This is a fun discussion comparing the films.
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Transcript
Stephen 0:50
Okay. Well, cool. We ready to get rocking and rolling on the like season one bonus episode.
Rhys 0:57
The bonus episode everyone was clamoring for.
Stephen 1:00
Yeah, I know there was so much noise. And then I woke up from my dream. I love Freddy behind.
Unknown Speaker 1:12
Yeah. And
Stephen 1:15
I mean, for us the reason we wanted to do this, we talked in several of the episodes that, you know, there’s a US remake of this. There’s a US remake of this. And in general, we said, yeah, we don’t care for those as much there. We you know, you see this original one and grasp the significance of it and what they’re trying to do. The the US remake seems a little tame and lame. But then we said, well, you know, what, why don’t we do an episode and talk about that, instead of separate, we’ll just do one and two little bits of discussion.
Rhys 1:45
So yeah, there’s, there’s three, I don’t want to say there’s only three. But as a guy who’s looked at a lot of different films from a bunch of different countries, and like, picked up on trends, there’s some trends in American films that you see. And you’ll see it a lot in the ones we’re going to talk about today. So one of the things they do in American films, is they have to have some sort of punchy action thing that happens in the first five minutes. And you’re gonna see all these American remakes have that same kind of thing.
Stephen 2:26
I laugh because that’s like touted over and over and over to authors nowadays that you know, your book, and I listened to a guy read the first couple chapters of a horror novel he was working on. And this one guy, like rip them apart, that it wasn’t until chapter four, that we found out that the person we’ve been viewing was really a ghost. And he’s like, you need to put that like the very first thing. I’m like, No, because if you did that, it would ruin any build up in suspense, and nobody would care that he’s a ghost. You know, horror is not a thriller. But there’s this like, rule of thumb. And you know, the first sentence should capture them. The first two paragraphs should give you your whole conflict and what’s coming up. And I don’t subscribe to that person. I don’t either.
Rhys 3:16
But it is this whole thing. Trying to be as efficient and encapsulating as possible. You know, that’s what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to like snare people and just keep them on this high adrenaline roller coaster through the whole thing. And that’s not really necessary. Sometimes break is good.
Stephen 3:34
Yeah. And, and personally, and I’m not saying everybody’s exceeded this. And I’m not saying it’s what has to be done every time. But you don’t have to give the conflict the hook. In the first couple of minutes. Like the battery? Well, you mentioned it told us everything we need to do about the world. It during the credit, no talking right? didn’t really show the world collapsing, it didn’t come running from zombies or any of that. But you saw, oh, look, we’re panned out. There’s two guys, you see nobody else You know, so you start understanding it. So I think there’s more intelligent ways than just being for dumb Americans. And I joke about that saying that at times, but after watching this first season, it’s like, wow, we really do have dumb movies where they explain things like your three year old.
Rhys 4:20
Yep. Another thing that we do in American films is we always make everything beautiful. So all of I can’t even think I have so many movies on my list where I’m like, so this scientist who’s being haunted by a ghost that studies animal waste is far too attractive and clean, to actually be that person. And they do that all the time. And you’re gonna see that again, with these American remakes that we have.
Stephen 4:53
Yeah, and the first one we’re going to talk about is martyrs. My very first comment is it doesn’t start off as horrific. Even though What’s the same open? Yeah, that you’re right. A common theme.
Rhys 5:04
Yep. And one of the third things that we love to do in American films is we over explain things. Yes. And so much. Yes. So there, there’ll be a scene. It. You know, actually, I think it might just be better off if I just point them out as we get to them.
Stephen 5:23
That’s a good idea. Good point.
Rhys 5:25
Yeah. So So
Stephen 5:25
our first one is, martyrs, martyrs.
Rhys 5:30
Yes. This is a US release remake from 2016. It was directed by Kevin and Michael gets. And if you’re wondering what you’ve seen that they’ve done, there’s probably not much. They did some puddle of mud videos. If you remember the band. Yeah. And they did a movie called scenic route. Which I might have seen. It’s a slasher road movie.
Stephen 6:00
Honestly, if you had told me I saw a movie called scenic route, I would have said, Oh, is that a slasher movie? That really does sound like one to me? That’s great.
Rhys 6:08
Yeah, they all said another movie called a violent separation. And that’s their whole CV. That’s right. I don’t know cuz I’ve never seen that one. Um, the people who star in it. You have train Bellisario, who plays Lucy, and she’s been in Pretty Little Liars. couple episodes of jag NCIS. suits. And quantum leap. Ironically enough, she’s
Stephen 6:39
like the granddaughter or daughter’s something of Donald Bill sario. Great. TV writer.
Rhys 6:45
I don’t know if she is she did not put that on her on a resume.
Stephen 6:50
Okay, I mean, she might be related in some way.
Rhys 6:53
Yeah. Bailey noble plays Anna. And again, she has a list of things that she was in and a lot of them are True Blood law and order true crime, Criminal Minds. You know, these little guest spots as victim or, or criminal in these
Stephen 7:12
police. Those are good resume. So
Rhys 7:15
yeah. I’m Cale Burton plays Eleanor. And in this movie, Eleanor is what they call Mademoiselle. So they actually give her a name. She’s already more humanized. Just going through the cast list.
Stephen 7:38
They want to be original and give her a French title.
Rhys 7:42
Yes, right. But she was like the big money. She’s the big money started this film. Because she’s been in Grey’s Anatomy charm, Supergirl, homeland, Mr. Mercedes. This Is Us beep The Good Wife, Criminal Minds law and order. Again, really not a big movie star. But she’s been in all kinds of television productions Judging Amy West Wing, the First Wives Club Spenser for hire ABC after school specials. She was in Big Trouble in Little China. But that
Stephen 8:15
was anything. So okay. Slight glitch. My fault. We were talking about martyrs. You were talking about the two girls and Mademoiselle?
Rhys 8:24
Yes, yes. Yes. Who in this movie is called Eleanor. This movie actually did have an award nomination. The daughter of the family was nominated for her role in the film.
Stephen 8:43
All three seconds of it?
Rhys 8:44
Yes. Okay. That’s the only nominated She didn’t even win, but she was nominated for it. The movie was shot in 20 days. And the directors are so stressing This is not a remake. It’s a reimagining.
Stephen 9:00
In other words, we’re using that as our excuse that we screwed up the story.
Rhys 9:06
Yes. It had an estimated million dollar budget. And its box office intake was $397,000.
Stephen 9:15
Which is close to what? What the other one make I don’t remember.
Rhys 9:20
Yeah, I don’t have those notes. It’s
Stephen 9:22
no big deal. It’s in the episode. Go listen to the episode if you want. There you go.
Rhys 9:25
That’s right. Daniel Stam, who did the Last Exorcism, a movie I enjoyed. Again, I mentioned this in the first one he was supposed to direct but he didn’t want to plateau at that million dollar budget level. So he bailed. And the movie is really it feels like a made for television version of the original. There’s no grit to it. The main characters are like, they’re like models, their makeup is done. As they’re running around. Through this,
Stephen 10:00
yeah. We were talking about, I’m having to tell, explain everything and they do that. But like the first scene that I was like, what was a Lucien bed when that creature was there and jumps at her? Yeah, it’s a jump scare. But they show it and it’s a lengthened little bit. And I was like, wow, that totally took away any feelings for it? Yeah, it was like, oh, what the heck was that? This time? I’m like, Oh, look, it’s it’s a
Rhys 10:37
it’s a monster.
Stephen 10:41
A lot of decisions like that. Where they said, Okay, so the beginning when she escapes, she looks like maybe she’d been playing in the dirt. And then that’s it progresses fine.
Rhys 10:53
She’s got hair. Yeah. So even if they didn’t want to shave the kid’s head, because that was a step too far.
Stephen 11:01
Because kids don’t grow their hair back that infrared check
Rhys 11:05
the size you’re gonna give her I’m sure she’s gonna be fine. If you take her hair,
Stephen 11:08
I would have said, Go ahead. Go for it.
Rhys 11:11
Absolutely. Yeah. And that was the visuals of the whole thing. Just were not right, because everybody was a model there right out of a Sears catalog. They didn’t look, I don’t want to say that the original actresses who played Lucy and Anna were not attractive because they were but in a more realistic fashion. They have absolutely. they’ve eaten something that day. You know what I mean? As opposed to, you know, we have catwalk models running around, you know? And that’s just the visuals. Yeah. Um, because in the end of the movie, technically, Lucy still alive.
Stephen 12:00
I questioned whether they watched the first movie and understood what was bad. Because about halfway through, they go off the rails and change the story like, oh, we’re gonna do something different. But it then makes like, no sense. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just kind of like, who cares anymore? I mean, Anna’s escaping through the the sewage tunnel. Yeah, to get away as they were trying to barrier and again, the whole point of what they were trying to accomplish by making martyrs was lost. It’s now an American slasher movie.
Rhys 12:42
Yes. That the hideous monster that Anna finds when she goes down into the EU berliet is replaced by a little girl. And you’re just like, what? And then the little girl doesn’t die. She gets away to go get help.
Stephen 12:59
Yeah. And, and none of them seem that traumatized. Even Lucy did not seem as traumatized in this one. They seemed like they had an issue. Yes. But not that traumatized. So I’m like, How the hell are you going to create a martyr? By the little bit? You’re doing? Yeah. And then I’m not endorsing that again. That’s where you get sticky, right? The torch? No, yeah. Looking at it from the perspective of what they are trying to accomplish. And what draws you into the movie. It’s lost.
Rhys 13:30
And in an American film sense, it has something to do with religion. Of course, there has to be someone in a priest outfit.
Stephen 13:38
Bag under a streetlight, like the guy
Rhys 13:40
there at her torturing is going to show up with the white collar and everything. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want the church associated with what’s going on here. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It was not it was not good. And one of the things that struck me recently, as I thought about the original is, there’s this whole thing where Lucy did not ascend. But Anna did. And I think and I think like part of the message in the I might be completely in left field here, but part of the message seemed like they took Lucy at a young age and she’s know nothing but pain and regret. And so she’s not in the mind frame to ascend. But Anna has been has loved Lucy unconditionally, all these years. And that’s the kind of person who will actually achieve the Godhead and then in this one, and is never even really going to get there. And Lucy actually does ascend at the end, and they’re both still alive as the police are pulling in and I’m just like, it was not a good film.
Stephen 14:49
Now, again, they missed the point of the first one, and yes, it for those that have watched it and gotten to this bonus episode. If you’ve watched that and understood what we were saying Not saying you agree with it endorse it, or oh my gosh, I’m gonna watch this again tomorrow thing. But the point of what they were making and what they were trying to achieve was last. Yes. Absolutely. So it’s not recommended for anybody this movie. No, no. And I was disappointed with that. Yes.
Rhys 15:20
Let’s shift gears to one. That’s actually better. Yeah. Let me in. Let me let me in. It was a US UK collaboration released in 2010, three years after the original of let the right one in. It was directed by Matt Reeves, who’s known for Donna the Planet of the Apes. He also was the director of Cloverfield and Felicity the TV show.
Stephen 15:44
Oh, that’s a couple good ones there. Yeah, he’s
Rhys 15:47
a real, real good friend of JJ Abrams. And he actually started his career working with Spielberg. Okay, why not? Not doing movie stuff so much is like cataloging his shit to be kept in his garage.
Stephen 16:02
Better than our resume. 110% Yes. Dear God, if you were said, Hey, Spielberg wants you to go into his garage and catalog what he’s got there. Yes, please. get coffee and doughnuts. Sure.
Rhys 16:18
Yeah, um, so the cast and this one is going to be people. The list you’re going to know. You might not know the names, but you’ll know their movies like Kodi Smit McPhee plays Oh, and which is what they name the male child in this one. He was a really weird name.
Stephen 16:34
Why would you use that? I don’t know. Yeah, it’s a weird one.
Rhys 16:39
Um, he was an x men dark Phoenix and x men apocalypse and Deadpool two. He is the guy behind the blue makeup. He is Nightcrawler.
Stephen 16:50
Okay, wow, okay.
Rhys 16:52
Yeah. He was also in Donna the Planet of the Apes directed by the guy who directed this. I still like them. Yeah, he was in 2013 production of Romeo and Juliet’s. paranorman. He was the kid in the road.
Stephen 17:09
I see that
Rhys 17:09
because we had talked about that movie, and he was also a nightmare and dreamscapes. For Stephen King fans out there. I’ve never seen the production nightmare dreamscapes, but he was in it. Okay. Um, the vampire in this case, is named Abby, and she’s played by Chloe Grace Moretz, who I’m a big fan of, but wait till you hear her resume. She was in a suspiria, a remake of an Italian guy oh film from 1977, both of which are pretty acclaimed. Yes, she was in the remake of Kerry. A Stephen King horror movie from 1977. She was in the remake of the AI and American remake of geigy, which is a Korean horror movie. She was in the Amityville Horror remake. Good hair was a movie called The Equalizer which was a remake based off of a television show from the 80s. She was also in Muppets Most Wanted, she was in kick ass one and two, which I enjoyed tremendously. She did voiceover and dishonored the video game. Oh, okay, which I enjoyed the dishonored series very much. And she also had a part in bolt.
Stephen 18:34
Well, you know, if she went to conventions, and build herself as the remake Queen, she’s probably got a good convention career.
Rhys 18:43
It was insane. When I started looking. I’m like, Oh my gosh, like every horror movie remake she has been in including this one, including this one. Richard Jenkins plays her dad. Not her dad. He plays her servant. The you think ad figure? Yeah, he was in the shape of water and Kong Island. He was in bone Tomahawk, which is actually shortlisted for one of the movies for one of our seasons.
Stephen 19:10
Oh, good. Yeah, that’s that’s been on my list of watch actually.
Rhys 19:13
He was in jack Reacher cabin in the woods. Eat Pray Love Burn After Reading. He was on Miami Vice and The Witches of Eastwick if you need that kind of buttoned up, scientists looking guy. He’s your man. The movie is set in Los Alamos in the 80s. So not quite the northern parts of Norway but still apparently it snows in Los Alamos. Alfredsson who directed the first one. He was offered the job as director for this one, but he reviewed but he refused because he believes it. Only bad movies should be remade and he knew his movie wasn’t Bad. And you know, I agree with him. linklist however, who wrote led to write one is like, keep those checks coming, make another version of it go with it. What’s your What? Um Matt Reeves claimed that it was meant to bring the story to a wider audience. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. Any greatly admired the original, but this is the part that drives me nuts. He said, to be honest with you, that picture grossed $2 million. And it’s like you can’t judge a movie. based on how much money it makes go look
Stephen 20:41
at the critic reviews versus public reviews up on tomato. You know, they’re vastly different in cases.
Rhys 20:50
Yes, it saying that the movie only grows $2 million does not make it a failure. It’s just a
Stephen 20:57
vague elitist comment. Yes, it is.
Rhys 21:01
His movie, on the other hand, had a $20 million budget, and it grossed $27 million worldwide compared to the 4 million budget of the first movie and the $11 million that they gross worldwide. Let’s do the math. They’re made the same amount. Basically, yeah, it’s just a matter of scale. A, the movie starts out in a very American way. Instead of starting the original let’s write one then starts with the dark. It has some snowflakes. And then it has the boy is a named Oscar. Right? Yeah. Oscar. And he’s like, doing the knife thing and playing around. And then you hear
Stephen 21:47
voices drift in? Yeah, no, that’s very.
Rhys 21:50
And then stranger show up. The American one starts with sirens, screaming and it jumps right to the thing where the servant ends up throwing himself out the window, which is exactly what we were talking about before. First Five minutes, there’s got to be something got to be a luck, right? And
Stephen 22:09
that’s, that’s like the American thing. You got to hook them you got to get them in. But knowing this movie, I’m watching it. And honestly, I thought I was watching the wrong movie. Because then I’m like, What the heck is going on? You know, and then they’re talking about a criminal stuff on my watch in a cop movie or something? I’m like, did I get the wrong one? Did they label it wrong? And, you know, I’m trying to figure it out. And okay, I’ll just skip around. No, that looks like the boy and you know, and I was like, really? That is the scene they chose that hooking me into the movie?
Rhys 22:43
Yeah. And I think it’s really interesting. There’s, there’s things that he did that were straight, you know, lifts from the movie.
Stephen 22:52
Well, I mean, there were some scenes you could Overlay and you’d probably see it, you know, barely ghost impression, right? Yeah.
Rhys 22:58
The word vampire was only used once in this movie, just like in the original. The, the cool thing that Alfredsson had done with putting a splash of red in every scene.
Stephen 23:18
Yeah, I looked for the same thing. I’m like,
Rhys 23:22
too much work for Reeves to do that.
Stephen 23:26
But that’s what makes it better, supposedly.
Rhys 23:29
Yeah. The, the servants, when he first goes out, to hunt someone down, he wraps his face in a trash bag. That idea actually was the actors. The actor was like, Well, if this guy’s been doing this for a long time, he’s not going to want people to recognize his face. So what can he do? That’s, you know, easy and cheap. And, and so I thought that was interesting.
Stephen 24:00
There were a couple little spots, where I said, Oh, it’s a minor little thing. But some of the stuff we discussed from the first one. When they did it, I felt Oh, that does make it much clearer in this one than the other one. The other one, he had to work a little bit to get some of those themes out and understand. Like you said, She’s grooming him. And I’m like, Oh, yes, I see that and I think clicked in me before. But there’s a couple scenes here where it’s extremely obvious. Yeah, I get Americans you got to hit us over the head sometimes. Right? But I thought they did too many of those. And I didn’t think it made the movie better. So much as easier.
Rhys 24:40
Yeah. Oh, it doesn’t really have any relationship with his father in this movie.
Stephen 24:47
Oh, it’s a phone call. I think that’s like the only thing you ever get right?
Rhys 24:51
And he seems to have a good relationship with his mom. He doesn’t have those kind of slightly edgy sociopathic tendencies, like Oscar with the And all
Stephen 25:01
right, I didn’t know he was bullied. And then his reaction to it sometimes seems over the top. It’s like, well, he has to be that way cuz that’s how the original was. But I never got that feeling of him being like so depressed and bullied.
Rhys 25:13
Yeah. If anything, they painted him as avoider. He liked to watch stuff
Stephen 25:19
very much, right? Yeah, it wasn’t just, it was that telescope everywhere?
Rhys 25:23
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a very different character. And I have a harder time believing that. Oh, when would be willing to throw his life away to travel the world with his vampire as opposed to Oscar, who I really got, you know, without when that happened? I’m like, Oh, yeah, I get it.
Stephen 25:43
I and the one theme we discussed a little bit the LGBTQ theme. Because you got vampires you got the dad, where you know, he is maybe lover and he nortis on and so it was really missing in this one completely out there. There wasn’t any of it.
Rhys 26:03
Yeah, there was no no gender anything happening here. The slaughter at the pool at the end? I found it a they showed way
Stephen 26:14
more. Wow, that’s crazy.
Rhys 26:17
yet seen an American film that just doesn’t sound right. These remake theme is
Stephen 26:21
showing more? It’s like Sesame Street up. Near far.
Rhys 26:28
Yeah. Gore not. And, and then they kill everybody. I thought it was incredibly poignant. In the original, that there’s one kid who chose not to participate, who sat on the sidelines and had to watch this happen. Yeah, and tell the story. As opposed to in the American pool room. Everyone’s dead. So you know, the police are gonna come up and go, what the hell happened here?
Stephen 26:55
And the way they did it too, because Oscar’s there and the one boy gets drugged through the water, but it’s like you see him he’s screaming? And I’m like, Well, that’s because we’re showing this to an American audience. Yeah.
Rhys 27:08
Yeah. And here comes a head is gonna float down past you. Wow. The other thing that I found kind of striking and kind of telling about society that they chose here is that in the end, the vampire is hunted down by an obsessive cop. Yes. In the Norwegian version, some.
Stephen 27:31
Alright, so another glitch. Sorry, you were talking about the obsessive cop?
Rhys 27:35
Yeah, the obsessive COP is one who tracks the whole thing down and cracks the whole case, and ends up being slaughtered in bathroom. In the Swedish version, it is the friend of one of the victims. And I think it kind of points to the more active community sense of community that you have in like these remote European places. As opposed to the United States where the only person who should be kicking in doors, you know, to try and hunt down a killer is somebody with a badge right? And not that I’m encouraging people to go kick down your neighbor’s door or anything like that, but you know, get engaged find out what their name is, so that if one of them happens to be a vampire, they’ll think twice before they eat. I mean,
Stephen 28:21
community watch takes on a whole new meaning. It does. And I did I’ve made a comment on my notes that they cut out the whole other people in the apartment complex that they weren’t there at all. They were pretty much gone. Yeah. And I was like, I don’t know if I like that decision. I don’t think it changes the overall story a lot. But it made a few of the choices they made seem worse.
Rhys 28:44
Yeah. I I didn’t hate this movie. And if I hadn’t seen the first one, this would still actually be a vampire movie. I wouldn’t have minded
Stephen 28:57
Yes, again 80% of it is shot for shot the same even some of the same lines and everything with the Rubik’s Cube. You know, unlike martyrs, were there were a couple places that got Well, he did change a few things like hiding in the back seat of that car to capture the one boy I’m like, who would do that? So to me, that stuck out as he’s starting to get a little desperate. He knows he’s losing his touch. He knows she’s grooming this other boy. So in some ways that scene actually I liked better in that regard. But it also pulled me out of it going. Who the hell is that stupid that cover themselves and hide in the backseat of this guy driving a car.
Rhys 29:39
It also struck me interesting that I did not at all by Owen alone on a train with a giant crate. Yeah. That would never happen in the United States. No. Now if you’re in Sweden, some kid with a Big Foot Locker. Okay. I get it. Cuz you know, everyone uses the train there, right? But in the US shoot, just the fact that that box hadn’t been like marked by Homeland Security and stuff like that. Here’s this 12 year old on a train. That would never happen.
Stephen 30:14
Agreed. And I was thinking, and it wasn’t just because of this movie, but I was thinking of both of them. Like, the choice of Oh, and Oscar was so perfect because and the androgynous vampire, that’s a girl we believe. But anyway, those choices would have been completely different if it had been an adult male, vampire and go Yeah, or, you know, he could not have done a good story otherwise. And I’m just thinking, the original writer, the choice of what he did was masterful.
Rhys 30:51
Yeah, it would be a completely different story. If it was an adult vampire, picking out kids to
Stephen 30:59
it would have been lost. I mean, yeah, that’s what he did with Louis.
Rhys 31:03
Yeah. So the problem that I have doing this, and this is probably why I don’t do this very often, is that I’m constantly being influenced by the movie that I saw before. So again, in this movie, I didn’t mind the movie. It was a decent movie, but if I compare it to the original, it just doesn’t stand up. And then when I read such things as to be honest with you, the picture grossed $2 million as an excuse to do it. It just pisses me off. Right? brings us to the next movie, silent house, the silent house, it’s a 2011 remake of the Casa mudo. They had a $12.8 million. That’s how much they grossed $12.8 million, is what they gross on a $2 million budget. If you compare it to like Casa Buddha, they had a $6,000 budget and they grossed $1.1 million. When you watch the silent house, the opening shot probably cost them more than the entire budget.
Stephen 32:07
Probably.
Rhys 32:09
It was directed by Chris Qantas. Really not much out there that Chris has done, like four movies under his or her belt, I guess I didn’t look that up but movie called grind a movie called open water. Silent house and then Laura Lau, none of which I have seen. The vast majority of their budget was spent right here. Elizabeth Olsen plays a character called Sarah showed
Stephen 32:41
earlier in her career, even though she’s part of the famous group.
Rhys 32:46
However, she was picked specifically for this job because of all of her experience on stage. Because they wanted it to be appear to be shot in a single take. There was a lot of manipulating and bending and stuff for cameras. And they thought that her stage her knowledge of stage presence, would actually help a lot. So that’s why she was actually picked for the film. She’s been in a gazillion Marvel movies. She was in Godzilla she was in an remake of old boy, the US version. I can’t, I can’t even I can’t even bring myself to watch that. Just because the original is so good. That’s just got to be awful. She was also in a movie that I love that I did not realize until I researched for this. She was in Martha Marcy May, Marlene. Which if you haven’t seen it is a great movie about trying to get out of a cult. Oh, okay. It’s a little tiny indie film. She’s been in 26 total films as of date. But this the silent house was actually one of her earlier ones, as you pointed out. Now, since we spent all the money on her, the rest of these the cast, you’re not going to know. Okay, there’s Adam trees who plays john. He’s got 37 total movies on his credit, most of them are television, law and orders The Sopranos, NYPD Blue, blah, blah, blah. You also have Erich Schaefer Stevens as Peter 31 credits, mostly television law and order numbers As the World Turns,
Stephen 34:34
blah, blah, blah, which is another good choice get soap opera actors that be in these single shot types, things that makes sense.
Rhys 34:43
Just because they’re in soaps doesn’t mean they can’t act. Exactly.
Stephen 34:47
And actually, I mean, I don’t like the format itself, the soaps themselves, but you kind of do have to have some skill to be able to do that constantly. Day after day. Yeah.
Rhys 34:59
So I understand They have to memorize. Yeah. Julia Chan plays Sophia 22 credits mostly television shits Creek, bojack horseman, yada, yada. So here’s, here’s, you know, the all of the American stuff going on right? There’s not a hook in the first five minutes. The hook is actually the crazy camera angle because it starts above her and then pans from there down. And you can almost see where the guy takes it off the rig because the cameras crazy shaky. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I get the the whole intimacy and urgency of a handheld camera, but that was a little over the top.
Stephen 35:43
Yeah, I mean, my very first comment is, Hmm, this feels very American compared to the first
Rhys 35:50
well, and she’s sitting out picturesquely on this rock over this beautiful lake, wearing a skirt, and leggings and nice shoes, or makeups. All done, she’s got to be beautiful. Because it’s an American film, she is not dressed to be cleaning up a house. Unlike the girl in the costume Buddha, who shows up wearing like a flannel and jeans with a T shirt on underneath it. They don’t even hint around the whole thing, which is crazy, because it’s not even part of this story. The scenes with her and her uncle, when they’re in the house that he’s like tickling her is just creepy. Yeah.
Stephen 36:32
My comment compared to the first because we’ve seen it. So we know what is really going on. Is like they made all the wrong choices, trying to build up tension and foreshadow things and it just it’s like, the third grader helped rewrite the story too, you know, or a new, the freshman English 101. Class. Okay, here’s your chance to practice. You know, it was just clunky. And I didn’t care and it took too long to build up. The build up sucked. It was 20 minutes long. And it wasn’t a build up. It was just slow and boring.
Rhys 37:08
Yeah. Which is crazy. Because this movie takes 20 minutes before anything happens. Yeah, as opposed to the original, where within the first 10 minutes, there’s noises going on. And she’s like, what’s that? Yeah, eyes are getting wide. She’s starting to look scared. There’s a scene where her dad is on the ground, and she’s fumbling around in his pockets. And completely unnecessarily is saying the key. Where’s the key? We know what she’s looking for. She doesn’t have to say it out loud and write the ending, I was sorely disappointed about the ending. Because I should
Stephen 38:00
have turned my shirt around. Alright, sorry. So where were you?
Rhys 38:05
I was talking about the ending. All right, I really didn’t like the ending. Because it’s not the only sin of the uncle here is the sin of silence. He does not report how horrible and creepy his brother turns out to be. And then in this movie, where you have this victim who, despite the psyche shattering situation she finds herself in, manages to take down two fully grown men who are like twice her size. In the end, the only reason she’s successful is because her uncle interrupts her dad once again, the man has to come in basically, and rescue her from you know, the dastardly evil man which she’s already defeated once.
Stephen 38:53
Yeah. I thought the whole explaining what really happened and you realizing that she’s a little crazy because of it, and figuring out what’s really been going on. I it was so disjointed in hard to see where in this one, the other ones like all you could think of this and this and this, and in the build up, it had this one, it just, I don’t know, there wasn’t any of that, really, for me, the introduction of that other girl, but it’s really her psychic memory or memories. And she’s because she’s starting to go crazy and what the girl says. None of it was as powerful as the original,
Rhys 39:38
right? And one of the things that kind of drove me nuts was in the original. You had three actors. And this girl, that was it, and the little girl was the ghost of the child that she had to abort, you know, under pressure of her dad’s friend. In this one. There’s the ghost The little girl, which represents her when the traumas happening to her, and then there’s this other ghost that she called Sophia, which is basically just there to tell her what the story is. Yes. Yeah, so yeah, I wasn’t crazy about it. There’s some really cool stuff that did happen. Like during filming. Olson, Elizabeth Olsen suffered from nightmares while they were filming this. Because it really got into her head. They, the guys who were in charge of sound, loved the sound she was making when she was miked so much, they made the choice to like, get rid of all of the overdubbed sound that they would typically put in. And they just went with like a hot mic on her to the whole thing, which I thought was a that’s a pretty good, a pretty good decision on their part, just based on the fact that you know, her panting when she’s running and stuff was so well timed, and she did such a good job of it. They didn’t want to just let it go to waste.
Stephen 41:15
So note, future film producers. Get the sound guys they know what they’re doing. Yes. And her having nightmares. Well, I guess it’s a good thing. She wasn’t in martyrs.
Rhys 41:28
Yeah, that’s a good point. Even the remake?
Stephen 41:32
Yeah. Oh, just like, you know, the original director when he made them, watch those other movies and give them stuff to read in that. You know, she had nightmares because of this remake. Yeah, doing that to sink into the role. Yeah.
Rhys 41:47
So Laura Lau rewrote this? Well, she’s the one who took on the project. There’s like a producer, she watched the original and began to rewrite the script right away, refusing to watch it again, and just relying on her memory. So that, I don’t know only the stuff that stood out to her is what she wrote down. Her screenplay was only 55 pages long.
Stephen 42:10
Oh, that’s why you had the big long opening sequence. We need it.
Rhys 42:14
We got to fill stuff in. The other thing that drives me nuts about this movie, and again, this movies not bad. I’ve seen far worse. Yeah, talk about one that’s far worse than this. I think this is not as good as let me in. But still, it’s not an awful movie. The thing that drives me nuts, though, is how much they went on and on and on about how genius this film was. It’s a minimalist film, it only has five actors. And look, we’ve shot it to look like it’s only shot own one single take. And it’s super experimental. And I’m just like, how experimental is it? Because some guy in Uruguay already did it. Right?
Stephen 43:05
Yeah, you got to really be a little self centered to be saying how great wonderful it is when it’s a remake?
Rhys 43:12
Yeah, yeah. It debuted at Sundance. So apparently, pretty much anything can do.
Stephen 43:21
Hey, we said it already. If we can get a couple $1,000 we could probably shouldn’t. I mean, if I tried to do it with our kids when they were younger? Yeah, I couldn’t get all the zombies to stop laughing.
Rhys 43:31
That’s right. If every one of you listening were to send us $600
Stephen 43:36
we’d only have 1200 bucks. There
Rhys 43:39
you go. And it’d be mine and yours.
Stephen 43:44
Wise would kill us for spending the money.
Rhys 43:46
Yeah, on what? Alright, so the last movie we’re going to talk about is the spiritual successor. It is called the others. Yes, I’m in this movie. 110% It’s a fabulous film.
Stephen 44:04
Yes, I love this one, actually. And it would have actually
Rhys 44:07
been on a list for this podcast, except I was 110% sure you had already seen it.
Stephen 44:14
I had already seen it. Plus, I think a lot of other people did. I mean, it’s a bright big name American movie. And you know, I want to focus on stuff people don’t know, right? Everybody’s probably done reviews of this movie. Correct. So if I could interject, so we the turn of the screw there’s yes we say like 37 different productions throughout the million. Yes. Yeah, there’s a lot and the one we discussed was the Netflix remake Bly Manor the eight or 10 episode TV show. But after discussing a little bit, we weren’t that pleased with it because I never even finished it. I didn’t think it was that it I don’t know. They change too much. It was too drawn out. I don’t know,
Rhys 45:01
I had watched the entire thing. And on the one hand I can kind of sympathize with them because they were given a novella and told to turn it into like a seven episode. television show, right? But the bloat was just unforgiveable
Stephen 45:22
it the story got lost and made it less interesting than ghosts. Yeah, what they did was I heard they took some of his other ghost stories and interwove some of that into it, which I thought was a genius idea. I just didn’t think it came out very well. So right. The suggestion was to do this other movie instead. Correct other,
Rhys 45:45
the others. Probably most well known for the last film that Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise worked together on before they broke up. That’s the only reason anyone knows this movie.
Stephen 45:57
Besides, it actually is a good movie. It’s a
Rhys 46:00
phenomenal movie. Tom Cruise was an executive producer on it. ie he was hanging around because he was married to the star.
Stephen 46:08
And we always say this but big spoilers on this one. Because out of these four that we’re talking about anyone listening go see this one go go grab it go. Yeah, stop. This one’s worth watching. Yeah, because we’re probably going to give away every twist and spoiler here, which really is what makes the movie and it’s not really turn of the screw. I described it to myself as it’s an A reimagination inspired by turn to the screw.
Rhys 46:36
Yes. See, it’s, I classify it under literary horror. As it it. It feels more like a book than it does a movie as you’re watching it. But when you get into this movie, it’s far crazier than you think. Yeah,
Stephen 46:53
there’s a lot of good stuff in it.
Rhys 46:55
I mean, the production notes on it. Oh, okay. That part of it. Yeah. This was written and directed by a man named Alejandro M. underbar. He is a very well, I just got 13 pieces on a CV. He’s a Spanish director. Sounds like it. He did a Spanish movie called tasis, which translates to thesis. It’s basically a movie set in Spain about somebody who stumbled across a ring of snuff films, which I have seen. It’s a pretty good movie. This movie is actually a Spanish film. Really, it is the highest grossing Spanish film and box office history. It had a $17 million budget, which makes it a pretty big budget horror film. Yeah. But it cashed in at $209.7 million. Wow. So it
Stephen 47:53
almost takes it out of the running for us to talk about anyway, right?
Rhys 47:58
The movie was Spanish written and directed. Most of the crew were Spanish. It was filmed in Kent in England, with an Australian star playing a British woman set in New Jersey, with financing coming from Italy and France.
Stephen 48:20
So it’s a worldwide movie. It’s an international success.
Rhys 48:23
This is this is the curse of globalism right here in 129, to 55 Awards. It’s critically acclaimed by everybody, including a Goya award, which is named after the painter. You know, the famous Spanish painter and it is basically the same as the BAFTA is the same as the Oscars. Just in Spain. It was the first Goya award winning movie that has no Spanish in it. Wow, okay. Yeah. It stars Nicole Kidman. She’s been in 90 movies. You want to talk about somebody who’s crazy prolific, dead calm Batman Forever Moulin Rouge panic room. She was in a movie called dogville. And if you have the opportunity, sounds familiar, you should watch it. It is actually based on a play called dogville. Okay, and they shoot it like it’s a play, like on a black stage. So that’s, it’s kind of cool. She didn’t want to do the movie. She had just finished Moulin Rouge, and she thought it was gonna be too dark. And while they were filming it, she had nightmares all during the filming. She should talk to Elizabeth. She should the two of them should talk. Christopher Eccleston is in it as well. I love Christopher Eccleston. He was an AI fellow. 28 days later GI Joe Rise of the Cobra Thor Dark World King Lear. No little show called Doctor Who.
Stephen 50:02
In fact, when he comes out of the fog, I made the notes as oh look the doctor regenerated. Yes. His
Rhys 50:13
his part in the movie is very, very small. It’s kind of a bit part. But so I love him and he did a great job with it. So
Stephen 50:22
now I didn’t know Nicole Kim, he was in that main movies. That’s pretty impressive, actually. I mean, that’s Yeah, quite a few. And I love this movie. But I would have said, Yeah, Nicole Kidman. Yeah. I don’t think of her as this great actress, but it’s probably some prejudice on my part, because she’s the typical American Hollywood, Papa Razzi and she was married to Tom Cruise. So you know, that kind of turns me away from people personally. It’s a fault. I’m sorry. She’s Australian. Well, but yeah, but you know, if she walks down Hollywood in America, she’s gonna get swarmed. Yeah, um, but she, I watched this years ago, and watching it again. I’m like, Wow, she’s really good in this part. I Oh, yeah. I’ll change my thinking on her. Because she did wonderful.
Rhys 51:12
You ran a real risk of having a Kelly devall moment in this movie. From the shining, right, right, one of my favorite horror movies all time, but she almost ruins it with her hysterics. Right. But Nicole Kidman could have been like that at any point in time. And she wasn’t I mean, even when she seemed to be losing it, like you were you were with her, you’re like, I get it. Um, alakina man played in the little girl in the movie. She’s only been in three movies total in her life. And when you consider when this came out, you know, she obviously just isn’t really digging around much for roles. And James Bentley played Nicholas, her brother, and he’s only did four movies total. So the little
Stephen 52:03
girl, arguably, you can almost say she’s the main character of the story. I mean, I know it’s kind of focused on Nicole Kidman, his character, but the little girl is so pivotal with every scene and everything going on. It’s almost a shared co star thing. And
Rhys 52:22
yeah, it is a spiritual successor to the Indian innocence, but it was actually a remake of a 1956 television series called armchair theater. And this episode was called the others. Okay. It actually was this specific episode of armchair theatre was remade into a movie already from 1973 called voices. Which I don’t know if I’ve seen that or not. But
Stephen 52:53
I think the Dean Koontz, a book called voices, I think,
Rhys 52:57
oh, maybe it’s not up on my shelf here. But maybe he’s got
Stephen 53:03
3000
Rhys 53:04
Yeah. Yeah, so I didn’t want to go into this scene by saying I didn’t want to write. One of the problems that I have with modern society, is that so much stuff has already been done. So if you sit someone down, if I were to sit my 22 year old down, and watch sixth sense with him a third of the way through, he’s gonna say, Bruce Willis is the dead guy. Right? You know? Yeah. Because when that movie came out, that was groundbreaking. And nobody saw it coming. And because of that, it’s been done so much.
Stephen 53:59
Yeah. His movies themes in
Rhys 54:02
this movies the same way. Because we can sit there and watch it, and be like, wow, this is astonishing. It’s 20 years old. Now. It’s been done several times. Again, nowhere near as well. However, so much so that if I sit down my 17 year old and watch this, partway through, she’s gonna be like, they’re all dead, aren’t they? And then I’m gonna be like, yeah, so it’s a little sad for me. That you Yeah, that, that the cynics are gonna see this and be like, Oh, yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. Well, you do now. But 2001 when it came out, it would have blown your mind, you know?
Stephen 54:43
And the first time I saw it, I was watching it. And you I mean, I think I knew and suspected there’s something going on, but I don’t know what it is yet. There’s something else. It’s great because you’re following this family and there’s ghosts in the house. The girl sees ghosts. It’s the typical, I hear somebody there talking, I hear the noises it stops. You know, it’s all the ghosts tropes right there. Yeah,
Rhys 55:09
there’s the piano and then you know. So they, they do all kinds of stuff in this movie that points to other stuff like, the ghosts are like in a white sheet kind of thing. And that harkens back to Dickens, right? You know, with the weight sheet and the chains. That’s not Marley coming to tell you, you’re gonna have a bad night. I don’t know what it is. Right? So they do that. And even the small stuff like the name of the groundskeeper is Mr. Tuttle. Now there’s a movie that is on the shortlist for another season of this called the changeling. Oh, yeah. Have you seen it?
Stephen 55:54
Um, I know of it. I don’t think I think because if you’ve seen it, I gotta take it off the list. And then oh, that’s the 60s movie, right?
Rhys 56:01
1976 I think,
Stephen 56:03
Okay. I think actually, it’s on my list. And I found it. So I haven’t watched I’ll make sure I avoid
Rhys 56:11
George See, Scott, isn’t it? Yes. Yeah, the wheelchair. Right. So that was the movie I saw as a kid. And that was the movie that made me hate antique wheelchairs. The name of George C. Scott’s character. He’s a groundskeeper. In that movie is Mr. Tuttle, which is that little, that little stuff that they put in there just really makes a movie. There’s one point in time they open up this book, and they’re flipping through the book. And it’s like, the girls like, oh, people are asleep. And they’re like, No, those are pictures of people after they died. Common that was a common occurrence back in, you know, the 19th century, early 20th century, because photography was so expensive. For you to have a camera come out to your house, take a picture view was something that was ridiculously expensive. And you do it when someone died, just as this is the only way you’re ever going to actually be able to remember them. So you’d pay to have them come out. They keep them in these books.
Stephen 57:10
Right? And one other thing watching chapel Wait, based on Stephen King’s Jerusalem a lot. And that’s another thing in there, too. They talk about
Rhys 57:18
one of the guys in the picture is actually mohandro Amanda bar, the director and writer of the movie, which I thought that’s kind of a cool, if you’re gonna put yourself in a movie and you really don’t want to act. That’s a great way to do it. Look, I’m a corpse. That’s what I took a picture of, yeah. He he would do stuff with the kids. Like, he would sit there just to keep the kids like nervous. He would just suddenly jam on scary music out of nowhere, just so they were like constantly looking for something. So that the kids when they’re depicting these children who are like, on edge would actually be on edge. Which is funny to me, because what was the movie we were watching where they were like, not telling the kids things to like shelter them before they it was innocent. Oh, yeah, it was. It’s the opposite of what they were doing in the innocence. Yeah. He also loves shadows and love to play with shadows, so much so that some of the scenes that are like candle lit, were honestly just lit by candle. Oh, he’d like the flickering and the shadow dancing around. It’s it that kind of commitment to the process. It’s just, it shows you know what I mean?
Stephen 58:39
Absolutely. I must say, knowing what’s going on and watching it. And listening to some of the lines being said there’s so masterful and cleverly done. Because everything you hear it and it hits to oh my gosh, they’re they’re talking about ghosts, they’re talking about things you know, that are happening, etc. And then once you know what’s really going on, the meanings are totally different. And it’s Yes, every other every scene has hints as to what’s really going on. That’s what I love about it, that little mind play.
Rhys 59:18
There are very few movies that I would sit there and encourage you to sit down and watch back to back to back. You know, this is one of them. Because as you’re watching it, you’re watching this ghost story unfold where the house is haunted by ghosts and then you get to the end of it and realize, no, the house is haunted by the ghosts not and everyone else is actually alive. And then you go back and watch it again. If you like, dry in all of that stuff, all clues that you’ve missed along the way.
Stephen 59:50
Yeah, you agree it’s definitely one worth watching twice. Yes, absolutely. Unlike most of the others we’ve talked about today
Rhys 59:59
that’s through, you know, but I gotta say, I’m glad that I watched the remake of martyrs. So now I can say with confidence, it sucked. I don’t, I don’t have to sit there and like, kind of hedge around it. Well, I haven’t seen it. But it’s got all these bad reviews. No, I’ve seen it now. And it did.
Stephen 1:00:19
So with authority with our professional opinion, because we do have a podcast.
Rhys 1:00:24
We do have a podcast, so we obviously know what the hell we’re talking about.
Stephen 1:00:27
Absolutely. You couldn’t have it without that. Yes. couldn’t just throw up something to record yourself out
Rhys 1:00:35
from your basement or wherever you happen to be.
Stephen 1:00:39
I’ll show you my certificate some time. Yeah, okay. I think I got it out of the last box of Count chocula.
Rhys 1:00:46
Well, horror related, so obviously it must be good, right?
Stephen 1:00:49
Well, actually now, did you see they have the monster mash up serial? It’s 50 years of the monster cereals. And they put them all in one box.
Rhys 1:00:58
Oh, yeah. That’s a good Berry and chocula. And, but it’s just the colors. The sounds cool, but I don’t know that. I want to eat it.
Stephen 1:01:07
At 50. No. At 10 maybe. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So all right. Well, there’s our bonus episode.
Rhys 1:01:14
Awesome. And we’ve already got our theme, and our movies picked out for the second season. So
Stephen 1:01:20
we’ll have to do an intro. We’ll get all this season up. We’ll do an intro for that once we get started on it. Cool. And just a little bit. fluids of visitors.
Rhys 1:01:30
Yes. Not much of a clue. He just told you
Stephen 1:01:34
figure it out. That’s right. Well, it’s it’s for the American audience. You have to tell them
Rhys 1:01:40
smack them in the face with it.
