NEAFC discuss film reviews and Halloween Horror nights.
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00:00 Hello and welcome back to Not Everyone's a Film Critic, a podcast where we talk about
00:12 guess what films and it is presented by myself, Graeme Falk of the Scotsman. I'm joined as
00:17 always by David Hepburn in, I don't even know what he's wearing, but I hope he's well.
00:22 I hope he's well.
00:23 Hello, Graeme. Yeah, it's cold for the first time this year, so I've got my sweater on.
00:27 So this is my sheep jumper, which I think is all right, isn't it? I do look a bit stupid.
00:32 It isn't really Christmas yet, is it?
00:35 Wow. We will swiftly move on. It's my favourite time of year, not Christmas, Halloween, which
00:42 we're coming up to. I think anyone who's watched any version of the show at any point for 10
00:47 seconds or the whole millions of hours that we've had it will know we're both big horror
00:52 fans. Me in particular is an absolute horror nut. So of course, we are going to be discussing
00:57 a little bit about horrors this week. And I know that some of you like the film reviews
01:00 first and foremost. They will be coming from Dave, probably not from me. And then we'll
01:06 be discussing the best, in our opinion, films to watch on Netflix this Halloween, because
01:11 I think everyone has Netflix. And I think if we make recommendations for what you want
01:15 to watch, then you've got three of them there and you might find something decent while
01:18 you're there. And you can always recommend it back in the comments. But Dave, film reviews,
01:22 I have had tickets for loads of things to see this week and then read the reviews and
01:28 done that thing that I shouldn't probably do as someone who does a podcast of this type
01:32 of podcast and gone, "Oh, the reviews are awful. I'm going to leave that alone. I'm
01:37 going to spend the night drinking some Jack Daniels and watching something on Netflix."
01:41 But have you seen anything?
01:42 Well, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, basically, there's nothing in the cinema right
01:44 now because of the strikes and various other things, the time of year. If you're wanting
01:49 to go to Cineworld or a big cinema chain, there's very little on at the moment. I think
01:55 Taylor Swift's new concert film's coming out the weekend, so that's just going to be on
01:58 every single screen. But luckily, we've got the London Film Festival right now. For those
02:02 who don't know, London Film Festival are very nice that they give some of their films to
02:05 regional cinemas. So you get to see big premieres and screens at exactly the same time as they
02:10 are in London. So you get to see some of the proper biggest name films, big Oscar hopes,
02:15 big directors, big actors. So I've seen a huge number of films this week. So I've been
02:19 at London Film Festival every single night. So far too many to go into here.
02:23 Thank God one of us has.
02:25 So I can cover this. I can cover this bit, you'll be pleased to hear. But I mean, so
02:29 many to recommend. Housekeeping for Beginners, which is probably going to be my favourite
02:34 North Macedonian film of the year. Probably my only North Macedonian film of the year.
02:38 It's really good. The Holdovers, which is the new Alexander Payne film, who did Sideways.
02:44 That's a real return to form for him. He did, his last film was called Downsizing. It was
02:49 dreadful. I don't know if you saw it.
02:51 Awful.
02:52 It was awful.
02:53 Is that the one with Matt Damon where the idea was actually really good that people
02:56 would watch it?
02:57 Really good idea and just really badly done. It was almost unwatchable.
03:00 It was horrendous. I was really excited about that film. No, I'm going to attack that film.
03:04 I'm going in. When I think of worst film I've ever seen in my life, that definitely goes
03:10 up there.
03:11 Yeah. And the thing is, Alexander Payne's brilliant. He's a really good director. Sideways
03:15 is one of my favourite films. And honestly, this film, The Holdovers, it's like I was
03:18 almost not going to go and see it because I just hated Downsizing so much. But it's
03:21 got Paul Giamatti in it. It is his film. He's spectacularly good in it. So that's definitely
03:27 worth seeing.
03:28 And also a really good horror film for when it comes out called The Royal Hotel, which
03:32 is a horror film. It takes place in an outback Australian hotel. Two young backpacking girls
03:40 end up in this horrible hotel in the middle of nowhere and bad, kind of misogynistic things
03:45 happen. It's really good, really tense. And well worth seeing. That's going to get a general
03:48 release later this year. So that's really good as well.
03:51 But I'd like to just mention three really good films, all of which I massively recommend
03:55 to you and anyone else who wants to see them. Although actually the first one I wouldn't
03:59 recommend to everyone. I would recommend it to you, Graham. It's Saltburn, which I think
04:03 is going to be the most devised film of the year. I mean, a lot of people are going to
04:05 love this. A lot of people are going to hate it. A lot of people will walk out of it. So
04:09 it's the second film by Emerald Fennell, who won an Oscar for her first film, Promising
04:14 Young Woman. And everyone knows Emerald Fennell, even if you don't think you know her. She's
04:18 in Barbie. So she plays Midge in Barbie, the kind of problematically pregnant Barbie. So
04:24 she plays Midge because she's a good friend of Greta Gerwig. So she's one of the many
04:28 people to be in Barbie. So everyone knows Emerald Fennell. This is a crazy, crazy film.
04:34 So it starts off now. Can we pronounce this properly? Barry Cohen? Kean? Kean?
04:40 - Yeah, Barry Cohen, I believe. - Cohen. Let's go for Cohen.
04:45 - Yeah. I follow him on Instagram. I still don't know.
04:48 - No, I still don't know. We really should learn his name. That's what I'm going to do
04:51 after this. I'm going to learn how to say his name. But he's in this. I think he'll
04:54 be up for an Oscar for it. It's an absolutely stunning performance, even if you are not
04:58 sure about the film itself. He plays a young working class student on a scholarship to
05:04 Oxford University. He meets a very, very posh, very attractive young man who he befriends,
05:11 and he ends up going to stay with him in his family pile in the middle of the country for
05:17 the summer holidays. He meets his parents, amazingly played by Richard E. Grant and Rosamund
05:23 Pike, who steals every scene she's in. And a lot of stuff happens. So first up, it kind
05:28 of feels a bit like "Bright Head Revisited" meets "The Talented Mr. Ripley" because you're
05:32 not terribly sure who to trust. You're not sure if people are telling the truth about
05:35 stuff. And you think you know where you're going. And then, I mean, Graham, some of the
05:38 scenes in this film are incredibly hard to watch. I mean, some of these scenes have not
05:42 been done before in a film. Some of them are massively problematic. There's a lot of sexual
05:49 imagery, some of which might be cut out because I saw the unrated version, so it's not been
05:53 rated yet for UK cinemas. I think some cuts might be made. The final scene with Barry
05:58 Cohen is going to be the most memorable final scene of the year. I'm not going to even say
06:02 anything about it, but it's absolutely jaw-dropping. Like jaw-dropping in the way of any of your
06:08 favourite final scenes. Do you remember the final scene in "Last Round"? Sorry, not "Last
06:15 Round", "Another Round". You remember that last scene where he's basically dancing and
06:18 he's drinking and it's an amazing final scene. It's that kind of level of awesome final scene.
06:24 Yeah, absolutely. And it's kind of in a similar vein, not to spoil anything, but you will
06:31 remember for the rest of your life it is one of those sort of scenes. So I can highly recommend
06:35 "Saltburn". You, Graham, have to go and see it because I want to know how much you love
06:39 it because I think it'll be one of your favourite films of the year. I'm not sure if I'd recommend
06:42 it to anybody because it's a really tough watch and I wouldn't want anyone blaming me
06:45 for going, "What did you make me go and see with my parents?" Don't take your parents
06:49 to see it. It's not a parent film. But it's great. And also, Barry Cohen is just an absolute
06:54 star in this. He's absolutely staggering. So, "Saltburn".
06:57 So, in pronunciation, Barry Keoghan.
07:00 Keoghan? No, I would never have got that.
07:04 Just check it on. Unless Google's lying, which it doesn't really do. I'm quite trustworthy
07:08 of Google.
07:09 No, no, that's good.
07:10 Which I'm really happy to be, but...
07:11 That's brilliant. Well, I'm pleased that everyone's learned something today. How to pronounce the
07:15 name that I've been pronouncing wrong for, I think, about five years. The second film...
07:19 Let's just call him Baz. Let's call him Baz.
07:21 Let's just call him Big Baz.
07:22 There he is. Big Baz. Big Baz is at it again.
07:25 He's going to win lots of Oscars. He's an amazing actor. The second film I'd like to
07:28 mention is "How to Have Sex", which is another quite jaw-dropping film to watch. It's a good
07:34 title, right? "How to Have Sex". It's a debut film by a British director called Molly Manning
07:39 Walker. It's a pretty incredible directorial debut. It won a prize in Cannes. It won Un
07:45 Certain Regard Prize in Cannes, which is like the kind of third prize in Cannes. It's about
07:50 three teenage girls. We're not sure how old they are. They're maybe 16 or something. And
07:55 they go on holiday to Malia in Cyprus. And it's exactly what you think it's going to
08:00 be. It's absolutely debauched.
08:02 Malia's in Greece.
08:04 Malia is in Greece, is it? It's in Crete.
08:07 Crete. It's in Crete.
08:08 It's in Crete, yes.
08:09 Because I've been when I was young.
08:10 Well, you see, you might know.
08:13 I am the Google of this show.
08:14 No, absolutely. Crete. So, Malia in Crete. I'm very pleased we got that straight now
08:18 as well. We're learning a lot today. They go there. Now, I mean, it is debauched. There's
08:23 booze everywhere. They drink the entire film. It's the entire like one hour, 40 minute running
08:27 time. They're drinking the entire time. Anytime they're not drinking, there's flesh. There's
08:31 awful things happening on stage. There's older people. There's a lot of boys. One of them's
08:36 a virgin, is going on holiday, basically, to lose her virginity. And what it does, it
08:41 does a lot of very clever stuff. So it doesn't spoon feed you. It doesn't make any massive
08:44 moral judgments about what they're doing, why they're doing it. What it does do is it
08:49 looks at issues about consent in the midst of kind of hyper sexualization of young people.
08:55 But it does it in a really fun way. I mean, a lot of the movie is great fun. It does have
08:59 dark bits and it goes to a fairly dark place at the end. But again, it's not judging these
09:03 girls for what they're doing. I mean, it looks really good fun, the whole thing. I always
09:06 look at these holidays and things that looks absolutely horrific. But actually, you see
09:09 why they'd want to do that kind of holiday. You can see how there's lots of nice people
09:14 there, apart from anything else. I mean, they're not all horrible, nasty people. Most people
09:17 are lovely and supportive and want people to have a nice holiday. And it's just a really
09:21 interesting film that shows me something. I'm quite old now. So when I went on that
09:25 kind of holiday, it was a long time ago. And it certainly wasn't like it is now. And I'm
09:29 pretty sure it's an accurate rendition of it. Parents of 16-year-olds don't go and see
09:33 this film because you will never let your kid go on holiday ever because it's quite
09:37 scary what happens to them. And it's really tense as well. It actually feels a bit like
09:41 a horror film for the second third, because something happens and then there's a long
09:46 period of peril for one of the characters. And you're really on your edge of your seat
09:50 because there's a real feeling of dread. The soundtrack really amps up the tension. And
09:55 you feel a wee bit sick at one point because you're so worried about the character. You
09:59 like the character so much. All the characters are a nice part from one. And you really don't
10:03 want anything bad to happen to her. And it looks like something bad is going to happen
10:06 to her. But I won't spoil it to say whether it does or not. So yeah, House of Sex is really,
10:11 really worth a watch.
10:12 And last up.
10:13 Go ahead. I was going to say, whilst I'm here, I said I haven't watched anything and I'm
10:17 lying. I'm lying. I have. And I think I probably should mention it. Because if we're talking
10:24 about things to watch on Netflix, we're basically talking about things to watch on TV and streaming
10:27 services. And I don't know if you've seen it. I don't mean to cut you off. But have
10:31 you watched The Reckoning yet?
10:34 I'm not sure if I have.
10:36 My God. It is the sort of documentary about Jimmy Savile.
10:42 Oh, sorry. Yes, I actually have. Yes.
10:46 That has Steve Coogan.
10:47 I was thinking about a film called The Reckoning. But yeah, yeah, it is. It is. It is a probably
10:53 tough watch, isn't it?
10:54 It's a very, very tough watch. And obviously, I think, you know, unless you live on the
10:58 moon, you'll be aware of what the subject matter is. And it's done in a very clever
11:04 way that the I think it's Dan Davies, the journalist that was, I don't want to say
11:09 close to them, but basically investigated them in a very clever way for many, many years.
11:13 And unfortunately, for him, Jimmy Savile died. And he couldn't really release the information
11:19 that he was kind of getting quite close to early. But it kind of shows you from the beginning
11:25 that you met him and then kind of what he what Jimmy Savile was trying to present and
11:32 what actually was happening based on actual accounts and extensive research of hundreds
11:38 of his victims.
11:39 And I don't need to touch on that too much. It is a very, very difficult watch. I know
11:45 some people can't watch and I completely understand that. And I have managed to watch it. What
11:50 I do want to point out and I don't want to say like, there's a part of me that doesn't
11:55 want to say it's good. But it is very good from an acting perspective, how creepy and
12:02 horrible and haunting and dark Steve Coogan actually manages to make Savile, which is
12:08 obviously a reprehensible character. But the darkness and the acting performance from him
12:14 that he brings is actually phenomenal. And I genuinely thought I would watch it and see
12:20 too much Alan Partridge.
12:21 Yeah, there's a little bit of Partridge in there, because I think there's a bit of Savile
12:26 in Partridge in a funny sort of way. And just in the way he speaks, there is a little touch,
12:34 just like a lot of stuff Steve Coogan does, there's always a little bit of Partridge.
12:37 There's bits in his performances as Tony Wilson as well. There's always a touch of Partridge
12:41 there, but not very much in Savile. But he is, he's absolutely tremendous.
12:45 But just brilliant. And I just want to touch on that. Obviously, I don't think I need to
12:49 go in depth about actually what goes on in it. It's pretty straightforward. I think we
12:52 all know the story. But it's an uncomfortable and difficult watch, probably quite an important
12:57 watch. I would, if I dare say so myself. But I think Coogan's portrayal of a very reprehensible
13:05 man is, from an acting perspective, one of the best I've seen in quite a few years, to
13:10 be honest. And yeah, well done to him for portraying it in the way that he did, because
13:15 it really does give darkness to a character that was evidently incredibly dark.
13:19 No, absolutely. I've watched two episodes so far. I can only watch a little bit at a
13:22 time. I don't think I could binge watch it. I'm doing one at a time, so we'll finish by
13:25 the end of the week. But it's great.
13:27 Yeah, it's not a binge-watchy kind of film. Sorry, series even. Before I move on to your
13:32 third film, Dave, I just want to point out that Saltburn, which I'm now very excited
13:36 for because I love Barry Coogan, is out on the 17th of November. So not too much longer
13:44 to wait for the official release. But anyway, your third film, you had another one to go.
13:50 Final one, which I think could be quite a big hit film and another awards-y film, All
13:55 of Us Strangers, which basically the big box office thing for it is that it stars both
14:02 Paul Meskell and Andrew Scott, who are both very attractive actors who have got massive
14:08 fan bases. And it's fair to say that it was screened in the big cinema at the GFT, the
14:14 Glasgow Film Theatre here in Glasgow, which is a big cinema, and it sold out like 10 days
14:18 before it. And then it sold out another screening the weekend after. And I think they could
14:23 have sold out about 10 screenings of this. Such is the fandom for both Andrew Scott and
14:28 Paul Meskell. The fact that they are in a gay relationship...
14:31 Is it not Meskell?
14:32 It might be Meskell. Oh, that's something else I need to look up. Is it Meskell or Meskell?
14:36 I'm saying Meskell.
14:37 I think you're right. I think you're right. I think you're right. Why can't you all just
14:41 say normal names? Graham Falk is nice and easy to pronounce. David Hepburn, nice and
14:45 easy to pronounce. Just have normal names that are easy to pronounce.
14:47 It isn't easy to pronounce.
14:49 It is quite easy.
14:51 You've got it wrong.
14:52 Paul Meskell. Meskell, my words, I can't do it.
14:56 Falk Meskell.
14:57 So both of them are in it. They're both incredible in it. I mean, absolutely stunning. There's
15:02 very few other people in it. There's a couple of characters. But basically the setup is
15:06 that Andrew Scott is living in this kind of eerie, almost completely empty London housing
15:14 block. We don't really know what the time is. There's no mobile phones. There's no indication
15:18 of exactly when it is. So it's kind of eerie, kind of timeless thing. He meets Paul Meskell's
15:24 character who is living in the same office block. They have an instant kind of physical
15:28 attraction. But he kind of doesn't let him into his flat the first time they meet.
15:34 Until then, something very strange happens. And I don't think it's a spoiler to say that
15:37 essentially he's writing something. We don't know what he's writing. And he visits his
15:42 dead parents. There's no other way to say it. He regularly goes to speak to his parents
15:48 who both died in a car crash when he was young. And he goes and visits them in his childhood
15:53 home and talks to essentially ghosts of his dead parents.
15:57 This is interspersed with him getting to know Paul Meskell's character and falling in love
16:02 with him and having a fairly intense physical and emotional relationship. So it's kind of
16:08 a ghost story underneath it all. It is very clear what's happening in that he is talking
16:14 to his dead parents. But it's done in a very kind of magical, realistic way. It's based
16:19 on a Japanese book. And that makes sense. It's got that kind of mystical, weird sort
16:22 of Japanese thing where amazing things can happen in very ordinary surroundings. It's
16:31 really, really good. I mean, both of them are exceptional. And I don't want to say anything
16:35 else about what happens because a lot of stuff happens. There's a lot of twists. There's
16:39 a lot of very touching scenes, lots of very emotional scenes. You'll definitely cry in
16:43 it. The entire cinema cries in it. It got a round of applause at the end. I think they'll
16:48 both be nominated for Oscars. I think the film will be up for Best Film. And I think
16:53 that Andrew Haigh, who's the guy who directed it and did the adaptation, I think, will also
16:57 be up for Best Director. It's brilliant. I think it's a proper crowd pleaser. I think
17:01 everyone will love it. And I really hope it goes on to become a proper hit. I'm not sure
17:05 when it's out. I think it's maybe similar to Saltburn, maybe out in November sometime.
17:09 But I can't recommend it enough. I kind of lost patience with it a little bit in the
17:12 middle. But I think it was my fault. And I think it's because I didn't know enough about
17:15 it. It's worth finding out a little bit about it because it can be quite confusing. You
17:19 don't know the ghosty thing. If you don't know they're ghosts, I'm a bit stupid. So
17:23 there was a point in the film where I was going, I don't really understand this. But
17:26 that was my fault for being thick. It wasn't the film's fault for being intelligent. So
17:30 it's quite good to have a wee bit of background reading before you go into it. One of these
17:33 films may be worth reading a couple of reviews, as long as they don't give away anything too
17:36 much. Because otherwise, you'll come out feeling a bit stupid like I did. But I'm looking forward
17:40 to seeing it again. And I'll enjoy it even more the second time.
17:42 - I think you just gaslit yourself.
17:44 - I know. I think I did. I think I did.
17:46 - It's my fault. It's my fault.
17:48 - It's my fault. I've been blaming myself. I'm sorry, Andrew Haig. I'm sorry for confusing
17:52 me.
17:53 - You're horrendous. Horrendous behaviour of yourself. There's a lot of stuff out in
18:01 cinema coming, which is good. I wanted to ask really quickly before we move on to the
18:04 topic of the week, which is obviously that our choices for the best three horror films
18:09 to watch on Netflix. Did you go to see Exorcist Believer? That's the film I was alluding to
18:14 before and I was like, I was excited for it because people seem to think it had something
18:18 about it. Then I read the reviews and I was like, oh, God.
18:22 - I know two people who have gone to see it and I'm not going to go and see it. I mean,
18:26 I just don't want to waste my time. Apparently it's beyond bad. Apparently it's not even
18:30 funny bad. It's just really, really boringly, tediously bad, which is such a shame. I mean,
18:36 why do that? At least make something funny, you know? Get Russell Crowe in it. Just do
18:41 something. Just do something funny or go with it. But it sounds bad. And also, I think they're
18:46 going to make another one. I think they've already compacted to make another one. So
18:50 I mean, this isn't even the end of them wrecking the film franchise. They're going to continue
18:54 to do it.
18:55 - They just don't need to do more Exorcists.
19:02 - No, there's no need.
19:04 - Look, Dahmer was obsessed with the third one. I think that tells you everything about
19:07 what the sequels were about. If Dahmer's obsessed with the third one, look, I'm not making a
19:11 judgment on anyone's character here, but I think he might have been a bit skew-iff.
19:13 - He wouldn't have asked his film recommendations, certainly.
19:19 - Anyway, so films that are coming out, there's a lot of good stuff going on in terms of Halloween.
19:27 So if you want to go to the cinema, which we 100% recommend, and watch things on Netflix,
19:31 which we're going to come on to, Beetlejuice, back in cinemas.
19:33 - Oh, amazing.
19:34 - Friday the 13th is on today and also other dates as well.
19:37 - Well, today is on Friday the 13th, so this might go well.
19:44 - I was reminding myself of the day that Friday the 13th was screened by myself and we had
19:49 a power cut.
19:50 - I was there, it was amazing.
19:51 - Wowza. And everyone just kind of went, "Oh, it's added to it, it's fine."
19:58 - It was great fun.
19:59 - This is what we want, bring out the candles, which we did. Inside story there, like no
20:04 one would know anything about, but it's fine. In terms of other films, I believe Psycho
20:10 is coming, Hellraiser's got a 4K restoration.
20:12 - Yes, I'm looking forward to that.
20:15 - There's a big day of Halloween movies at GFT, which I think most people will be attending.
20:21 I think I will, lots of nice video nasty stuff going on there, pieces and whatnot.
20:27 And what else is coming out? There's a few things, The Exorcist, the good Exorcist is
20:31 on at the moment quite frequently at like Everyman, Cineworld, GFT, Cameo.
20:36 - Shout out for Blackberry, which is out now, which is a really good film.
20:41 What I would say as well, our good friend, Ross, Greg, sorry, I don't know where I got
20:48 Ross from. Our good friend, Greg Zestero is back in Edinburgh on the 18th next week. And
20:57 he is screening The Room, because of course it's the 20th anniversary, and The Room is
21:02 good all year round. But top three Halloween films or horror films to watch on Netflix.
21:09 I will go first, I've been doing that recently. This is not on Netflix yet, and we have recently
21:18 touched on it, which is why I've called it third.
21:20 - Cheat, cheat, cheat.
21:21 - It's out on the 26th of Netflix.
21:24 - I'll give you that, I'll give you that.
21:26 - It's coming in time for Halloween, and it's a 2022 film. 2022 film, not in the future,
21:34 because it's not Planet of the Apes. Talk to Me, it's coming to Netflix.
21:40 - That's quite quick, isn't it?
21:41 - Yeah, very quick. There is also going to be a sequel, for those of you who have seen
21:46 the film. The film did actually come out last year, but it's only really hit cinemas in
21:51 the UK and the US really this year, because there was a distribution battle, and I think
21:57 it eventually went to A24 in the US and the rest of the world. And I think the UK, I can't
22:02 quite remember, I want to say Signature, but please don't quote me on that, that distributed
22:06 it here. But we had the discussion that it was, some people said it was the most terrifying
22:11 film of the last decade. I think we've decided it's probably not quite that level, but it's
22:15 a really, really good film. It's from two YouTubers called Raka Raka. I don't know much
22:20 about YouTubers, I'm really not of that generation, or I'm not of that generation, but they made
22:26 a horror film for the first time. That should, in most cases, have gone horribly wrong. It
22:31 has. It's gone really, really well. Genuinely a very, very scary film, with a really, really
22:36 good storyline that kind of delves into elevated horror, that they now call it, whilst not
22:41 kind of getting too far into it. It's kind of like old school elevated horror, when horror
22:47 was elevated, but people didn't call it elevated horror. So it's just a good old school horror.
22:52 It's nice and quick and easy, just over an hour and a half. It's genuinely scary. There's
22:56 some really kind of gory bits in it. It's a new film, so a lot of people won't have
23:01 seen it. That comes out on the 26th of October, and I'd thoroughly recommend watching it.
23:07 It's not the best, it's not the top three films on Netflix, in terms of scary things,
23:11 but we're discussing things that you might not have seen, because if we're talking about
23:14 things that you should be seeing, we'll be going, well, Halloween, the original's on
23:17 there, there you go. These are more things, I think, that you might not have seen yet.
23:21 If you haven't seen Talk to Me, The Cinema, it's definitely worth it.
23:24 Yeah, I've gone exactly the same way, because there's lots of classic horrors on Netflix.
23:28 Things like Jaws. I think Jaws is on Netflix. I mean, obviously, if you've not seen Jaws,
23:31 go and watch Jaws. But exactly like you say, I'm going for films that people might not
23:34 have seen, which are really good. I'm starting with a proper fun horror. I think sometimes
23:38 everyone wants Grizzly and Scary and everything else, but there's something to be said for
23:42 a really good fun horror. I'm going for The Babysitter. I don't know if you've seen The
23:45 Babysitter, but it's a brilliant, fun wee horror film.
23:49 Samara Weaving.
23:50 Yeah, Samara Weaving, who is obviously a very attractive woman, the niece of Hugo Weaving.
23:56 And it's about a 12-year-old boy who's got a very sexy babysitter played by her, and
24:01 it turns out that she is involved in a satanic cult. You can tell where it's going to go.
24:07 It's just really good fun. There's lots of blood, there's lots of splatter, there's lots
24:10 of jokes. It's not particularly scary, but it's really good fun. And also, what I like
24:15 is there is a slightly worse sequel called The Babysitter Killer Queen, which you can
24:20 just watch immediately after. Up at night, you're watching this, you go, "Oh, I really
24:23 enjoy that." You go straight to the sequel, which is not quite as good, but it's still
24:28 really good fun. So there's a good three hours of fun horror there. So I'd highly recommend
24:33 The Babysitter. I really enjoyed it when I watched it.
24:36 My second choice is something we have touched on in this, and it's another 2023 film. But
24:42 the only reason I'm going to mention it is I think I'm not stupid enough to assume that
24:46 everyone watches this every single week, so maybe you haven't touched on or seen me recommend
24:50 it very, very highly. But you touch there on a sequel, and it's not quite as good as
24:56 the first one. And I think most things are like that. Remakes and things like the newest
25:01 Halloween, Halloween Ends, is the worst Halloween film I've ever seen in my life, and it should
25:07 hopefully end Halloween forever. But the original Halloween, as we touched on before, is fantastic.
25:11 It's brilliant. And there's another million franchises that are like that, where ultimately
25:17 the exorcist is still trying to drag the backside out of it, and evidently they're not doing
25:20 it, although maybe I shouldn't judge because I haven't seen it, but it seems so. But you
25:24 get my point. Evil Dead is one of them. So you kind of think, "Oh, Evil Dead Rise with
25:30 one of the original people in it, but no Ash Williams or all this kind of stuff." The 2013
25:35 one was okay. It wasn't brilliant. It didn't touch the sides of Evil Dead 1 or Evil Dead
25:39 2 or even The Prince of Darkness. However, I think we discussed it previously, Evil Dead
25:45 Rise is absolutely class. I give it a solid 10. It's gory. It's funny. It's very much
25:52 in the vein of Evil Dead, just manic horror. I give it a 10 out of 10 when it came out.
25:59 I thought it was absolutely class. Didn't really realize it until recently that it had
26:03 landed on Netflix, which again is really, really early. I think it came out in April.
26:08 So it's a really recent film. And the reason I recommended it is not because of how much
26:13 I loved it. Yeah, that's one of the reasons, but it's mainly, I think most people will
26:16 see Evil Dead. I think Evil Dead 2 is on there at the moment. I know it's the 2013 Evil Dead.
26:23 And I think people will look at it and go, "Oh, it's the new one. It's probably going
26:26 to be rubbish. There wasn't much fanfare made out about it." And there wasn't, to be fair,
26:30 outside of maybe the horror community, if you want to call it that. But it was absolutely
26:34 class. The opening scene, brilliant. It's one of the best opening scenes I've seen in
26:38 years, especially when, I won't let on to what happens, but there's a scene where someone
26:44 rises above and then behind them, Evil Dead Rise comes up and it's like, "Dah!" And it
26:48 just sets the tone for the entire movie to be really class. And if you have Netflix,
26:53 I'd recommend you go by the DVD or the Blu-ray or whatever it may be you're seeing in cinemas.
26:56 But if you've got Netflix and it's on there, I'd heavily, heavily, heavily recommend going
27:01 to see Evil Dead Rise. I think it's great. And I know because it's a new film that a
27:05 lot of people have seen it and a lot of people will see it's Evil Dead, but then see it's
27:08 a new Evil Dead and turn it off, think that it's like a rubbish new version. It's really
27:11 not. It's a 10 out of 10. It's really good. Watch it while it's on Netflix. Perfect horror
27:15 film. And arguably my number one recommendation, even though I haven't put it as number one.
27:20 - Yeah. No, it's a great film. Totally agree. My second choice is because so few people
27:24 have seen it, and I know I don't think you enjoyed it particularly. It was a bit divisive.
27:27 But Last Night in Soho, which is on Netflix now, I absolutely loved Last Night in Soho.
27:31 A lot of people didn't. Very few people went to see it in the cinema. It made an enormous
27:34 loss to the cinema. Like it made no money at all. I don't think Edgar Wright will get
27:39 to make a film of that size the next time because I think that was his big blockbuster
27:43 and it basically died at the cinema. But it's well worth a second view, even if you've seen
27:47 it for the first time in the cinema. I enjoyed it the second time I watched it. For those
27:50 who don't know, it's Anya Taylor-Joy, who's fantastic. I think we can all agree on that.
27:55 Matt Smith gives an amazingly evil performance as the bad guy in it. And it's about her.
28:00 She moves to London. She's a fashion designer. And she essentially goes through a portal
28:03 which takes her through to London in the '60s. It looks beautiful. It looks amazing. She
28:08 goes backwards and forwards between modern day and the 1960s. At first it's fun. Then
28:12 it gets very dark. Then it gets very, very dark. And there's a lovely twist at the end,
28:15 which I massively enjoyed. I think it's worth seeing again if you watch it the first time.
28:19 If you've not seen it, it's a great film just to pop on of an evening. It's not massively
28:23 long. It's good fun. It looks lovely. And I think more people should see Last Night
28:27 in Soho. And I feel bad that it wasn't a bigger hit for Esco Wright. So Last Night in Soho.
28:33 You know what? It actually grew on me a lot more in time. I thought it was really well
28:36 done. Really good couple of twists in it. And Anya Taylor-Joy is like a dream to watch
28:44 every time.
28:45 She's so good, yeah.
28:46 Like, such a good actor.
28:48 I mean, she's in almost every scene. In fact, I think she is in every scene. I don't think
28:52 there's anything there without her. So yeah, it's just great to see her performing in any
28:57 film.
28:58 It sounds weird, but to me, she's a bit like Florence Pugh, where she's so different looking.
29:03 And I mean that in a really good way. She's strikingly beautiful.
29:07 Yes, she is.
29:08 But also really interesting. And I think that really brings you into any character she plays,
29:13 because you're kind of transfixed by this kind of really interesting, beautiful-looking
29:18 person. But also as an actor, they're both just brilliant. I mean, I rate Florence Pugh
29:23 slightly higher, but I mean, that's not a bar I think Anya Taylor-Joy would mind being
29:27 under too much, because Florence Pugh is, for me at the moment, completely untouchable.
29:33 My number one, and I think I've chosen this as number one because, look, I have loads
29:38 of issues with the ending of it. Like, absolutely tons. But I have to be honest and say, I think
29:43 when I seen this in cinemas, which would have been 2008, yeah, 2008, it was genuinely the
29:51 first hour and a bit the most scared I've been in a cinema. And I don't really get scared.
29:56 Like, I actually was like, "Oh, God." And when I watch it back, I still kind of get
29:59 it. And I think the second, I think the third, the fourth, and all the little things that
30:03 I've kind of spun off from it are actually not too bad. I haven't really seen that many
30:07 bad films per se, apart from the newest, newest one, which is absolutely rubbish. But most
30:14 of them are good. And I think the second one and the third one and potentially the fourth
30:17 one are on Netflix, definitely the second and the third. And they're quite good. Like,
30:21 not as good as the first, but quite good. And I will state this, the end's ridiculous
30:25 and kills it. It could have been one of the greatest horror films of all time. But the
30:27 end is a bit ridiculous and kills it a little bit. And I think it strikes me as they didn't
30:31 quite know where to go. But the first hour and a bit is so, so, so good. It pushes it
30:36 to one of my favorite horror films ever, but I'm going to choose Insidious.
30:39 - Yes, very scary.
30:40 - It's my number one. Yeah, super scary. Does the creepy stuff very well. The fact that
30:45 for the best part of like an hour and a bit, you don't actually know what's going on. When
30:49 you find out what's going on, you're a bit like, "Eh, okay." Like, you've gone into like
30:52 the devil's sitting room. That's a bit stupid. But like, I think it'll go down in horror
30:59 history, the bit where Patrick Wilson's chatting at the table to his mum, I think. And like,
31:05 the Darth Maul devil thing comes behind him. I think the only way Insidious could have
31:12 been more scarier for that first hour and a bit is if like Guillermo del Toro made the
31:17 monsters because that's the only thing that could make it scarier. But I think Insidious
31:22 is great. And I think it's a perfect horror movie. Like, because it brought like, I mean,
31:28 you just got to look at like the offshoots, like the Nun and the Nun 2 are horrendous
31:32 films. But there's a reason there was a demand for it because the Nun came from that and
31:36 the Conjuring world's part of it and stuff like that. And they all sort of feel connected
31:40 because of Patrick Wilson and whatnot. But Insidious has five sequels with three of them
31:45 actually quite good. The new one's not that great. Like, it's not awful, but it's not
31:50 great. But the original Insidious, that the first hour and a bit was just so, so scary
31:57 to someone who doesn't really get scared. And I think if you're going to be watching
32:00 a good horror, you want to be scared. And I think that's probably the scariest of the
32:03 three films I've chosen. And when I look through films that are on there, because the Descent
32:07 isn't on there, Insidious is the film that scared me most.
32:10 No, it's a great choice. It's a properly scary film. It really, really is. I actually might
32:14 watch it again over the weekend because I've not seen it for a wee while. One choice, it's
32:17 probably my number one. They're all my number one choice. But I'm going for Under the Shadow.
32:21 It wouldn't be me if I wasn't choosing some Iranian film. So this is essentially Aran's
32:26 answer to The Babadook. It is elevated horror. It's in Tehran. Exactly. And it is. And it's
32:34 similarly terrifying to The Babadook. Instead of The Babadook, you've got a djinn, which
32:38 is this kind of malevolent spirit, which exists in that part of the world, but it doesn't
32:43 exist, but people think it exists in that part of the world. And basically, there's
32:46 possession, there's grief, there's bombing. Basically, a housing block in Tehran gets
32:52 bombed and there's an unexploded bomb. And basically, an old woman who lives in the building
32:58 says that this bomb is haunted by the djinn. And lots of terrifying, terrifying things
33:03 happen. It's really, really good. Don't get put off just because it's an Iranian film.
33:08 Iranian cinema is really good and quite mainstream. It's well worth watching. I was quite surprised
33:13 to see it on Netflix. And it might be one of these films that's not on Netflix for a
33:17 long time. You know how sometimes Netflix only has films up for a month or something?
33:20 It was really worth watching on Netflix while it's on. And it's really scary. It's only
33:24 an hour and a half long. And it's a great Halloween film, I would say. And I think that,
33:29 yeah, I wouldn't even want to say that much more about it. It's got lots of twists and
33:33 turns. You're never terribly sure what's happening in it until maybe the final third. And it's
33:37 got a killer ending as well. So yes, I would highly recommend Under the Shadow.
33:43 - Before we leave, you touched on Babadook there. And I think the legend of the Babadook
33:47 is the best thing I've ever seen in my life because the Babadook is a brilliant film.
33:51 So good. Like I know we're talking Netflix and stuff, but watch it on any streaming platform.
33:55 It's a fabulous film. But when it was on Netflix for a bit, I don't know if you remember this,
34:00 they put it into the LGBTQ+ section by accident. And everyone was kind of like, "Why is it in that?"
34:06 And people were trying to work out if that was the case. And it ended up where at Pride
34:13 events, people started dressing up as the Babadook. I'll never ever forget it. It was
34:18 the Babadook in a Pride scarf or something like that. And it said, "The Babadook is Babashook."
34:23 And it was just like doing that. And it was just brilliant. So a very good, positive legacy that
34:30 came from it as well. That was very, very funny. But yeah, I think those six films,
34:34 you can't really disagree with any of them. I've seen all of them. You've seen all of them.
34:37 I'm sure we'll do more horror stuff because it's my favorite time of the year. But happy Halloween.
34:42 >> Happy Halloween. We've got another two weeks of Halloween film,
34:46 so plenty more Halloween discussions to come.
34:48 >> I was going to do a nexus this line, then I realized I can't do that word, swearing.
34:53 >> Best case.
34:54 >> But thanks for joining. Join in next week and the week after,
35:01 whenever we fancy doing it when we're not being lazy.
35:03 >> Absolutely. See you next week, Rian. Bye.
35:05 >> Hate you, John.
35:06 [MUSIC]