The Review Review

Poltergeist (1982) / Geistin' Makes Me Feel Good (Guest: Kimbo)

• Ben McFadden & Paul Root • Season 3 • Episode 24

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It's The Review Review RAPID FIRE for Spooky Season! Our returning guest, Kimbo, joins Paul for a short stay in the studio for "Poltergeist," (d. Hooper ((?))  1982). In our most questionably rated adventure since "Earth Girls Are Easy," we attempt to invoke the spirits of the MPAA to explain their logic in the PGness of this film. Can armchair Quarterback parents be more effective than ACTUAL parents? And of course, that f*****g clown. Go into the light 10/6!

**All episodes contain explicit language**
Artwork - Ben McFadden
Review Review Intro/Outro Theme - Jamie Henwood
"What Are We Watching" & "Whatcha been up to?" Themes - Matthew Fosket
"Fun Facts" Theme - Chris Olds/Paul Root
Lead-Ins Edited/Conceptualized by - Ben McFadden
Produced by - Ben McFadden & Paul Root
Concept - Paul Root

SPEAKER_04:

I know.

SPEAKER_01:

So it makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_04:

I know.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Hi everyone. It's me, Paul. Welcome to a special edition of the Review Review. What is the Review Review? The Review Review is a podcast where we take a movie that's seven years old or older, two hours and twenty two minutes or less. Normally not part of any major franchise, but it is spooky season. So we do break those rules. And this movie was on my breaker list. And maybe you heard that laugh before if I didn't cut it out. We'll see. Kimbley! Kimbo? Is it Kimbo or Kimbley?

SPEAKER_04:

Kimbo.

SPEAKER_01:

Kimbo. Okay. Madame Duane. Madame Kimbo. Kimbley brought us kind of poltergeist. And I know again what you're thinking, that is a major franchise with mini movies, but it was on my breaker list.

SPEAKER_04:

But I feel like you guys allow franchises so long as the first one. You just don't allow number 57 of a series.

SPEAKER_01:

When are we gonna get to do Fast and the Furious, by the way?

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know. Give the people what they want.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. How lucky for everybody that we did this movie, poltergeist Kimbly. Do you want to tell the people what you've been doing?

SPEAKER_04:

I've been watching a lot of shit. That's what I've been doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you don't want to talk about what you've been doing. You want to talk about what you've been watching.

SPEAKER_04:

I've been watching a lot of shit.

SPEAKER_01:

Jesus Christ. Okay, yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_02:

If you don't play with us, we will kill you.

SPEAKER_01:

What have you been watching?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, first of all, I've been watching a lovely show called The Twisted Tales of Amanda Knox. I quite enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds scary.

SPEAKER_04:

It sounds spooky. After watching this, that's nothing. Then I've watched The Summer I Turn Pretty, also spooky, because I don't know what this girl's thinking.

SPEAKER_01:

Spookier than this? Mm-hmm. Whoa.

SPEAKER_04:

Then I'm interested. Then I watched a cinematic masterpiece called Practical Magic.

SPEAKER_02:

If you want me to take it up in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. Like that's fair time.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, dear listeners, let me tell you, I originally wanted to bring a beloved film to the pod. To be fair, a film.

SPEAKER_01:

But you did that. Are we not doing that?

SPEAKER_04:

Let the lady speak. So, beloved listener, I tried to bring you a good because my quest is always to bring a movie for all people.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm. So I This is a PG-rated movie though.

SPEAKER_04:

There's a lot to unpack here.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Anyways, I tried to bring you practical magic, as you may or may not remember, listener. I unfortunately have a problem of falling asleep in movies. And we turned on practical magic and I took a nap. And my plans to bring practical magic to the pod were derailed sadly.

SPEAKER_01:

So this is where we ended up.

SPEAKER_02:

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So through a series of unfortunate events, we have ended up with this horrible film.

SPEAKER_01:

But it's spoilers, and not even no Lemony Snicket here in terms of the unfortunate events. These just happened. There's no responsible party. Lemony Snicket make you fall asleep?

SPEAKER_04:

No. Mid afternoon and a full belly after lunch made me fall asleep.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. That'll do it to you.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean.

SPEAKER_01:

So you watched Practical Magic. We were gonna do that movie here.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, on the pod. The whole thing was like, oh, it's spooky season, you can come back, but you have to bring a spooky movie, and I'm a spirit cat, so I thought, oh, practical magic, everybody loves it. They're making, they're currently making another one because it's so beloved. I sat down to watch practical magic to bring it to the pod. My first time watching it, and I fell asleep.

SPEAKER_02:

Be careful though.

SPEAKER_04:

And then I got up and I said, Well, I'm gonna have to watch it again if I'm gonna bring it to the pod. And that was the toad.

SPEAKER_01:

So I I should mention, Benjamin's not with us today.

SPEAKER_04:

Benjamin is also a big fan of practical practical and doing other things. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe in a magical way. I don't know how he stirs his coffee, if that's a hands-free kind of thing or what.

SPEAKER_02:

Dick!

SPEAKER_01:

Unfortunately, Ben couldn't be with us. We're not gonna tell you what he's doing, and we're not entirely sure what he's been watching. Although I think I saw Thunderbolts somewhere on Probably the Summer I Turn Pretty. That would make a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, we did tell the people, or you told the people recently, to watch the Hunting Wives, so I did.

SPEAKER_01:

I did indeed. And according to one Eric Driscoll, that shit rips.

SPEAKER_02:

You're at the eight ball.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go.

SPEAKER_01:

Just in case anyone was curious, what have I been watching?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. What have you been watching?

SPEAKER_01:

Kimbo.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01:

I watched a movie on YouTube for free. And it's full feature length. I think it's 78 minutes at least.

SPEAKER_04:

Are you a hundred years old? Who watches a whole movie on YouTube?

SPEAKER_01:

It's free. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to pay to watch the perfect weapon starring Jeff Speakman?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01:

I could have. By the time I got to the end, to be honest, I would have. I would have paid for it.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01:

What is the perfect weapon, you ask? Who is Jeff Speakman? What is this? This is a gentleman who got a movie contract with Paramount. He did one movie, they did them dirty, and he is quite a martial artist, and that's for certain. And we'll he's a very good karate man. And there are all sorts of great actors propping this movie up. Dante Bosco. I I was getting good with my jacks, by the way, before I'm in jacks. And I hurt my hand.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, your injury.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh Professor Toru Tanaka.

SPEAKER_04:

Your season ending in just a game song.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm on the IR now. It's not my put me on the pup. But it had a bunch of good supporting stuff and great karate and shit like that. And it has I got the power. You remember that? That song is the shit. And that's in the movie. So if you're in the mood for just like a rock em sock em robot type.

SPEAKER_04:

Am I am I dating you if I say that the time that I remember remember the song I got the power in a movie is from Bruce Almeyer?

SPEAKER_01:

No. Not at all, because it is in that movie as well. I know, but he has the power of God or Jeff Jeff Speakman, depending on who you ask.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. Well, I just didn't want to make you feel old because my reference is much more current than yours.

SPEAKER_01:

But that would make you feel seem old and or me or who because mine is younger, like me.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm young.

SPEAKER_01:

You are so young and so energetic.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You're very spicy. That is interesting. Well, we've talked about what we have been doing, kind of, why Ben's not here, kind of, and what we've been watching, kind of. Let's just get to this fucking movie. What do you say? Let's let's talk about some facts. It's not yet. You're you are excited.

SPEAKER_02:

Archaeology is the search for facts.

SPEAKER_04:

Poltergeist, SLM Production Group, MGM, PG. We're gonna unpack 1982, one hour and 54 minutes. Budget, 10.7 million, 35.8 million adjusted. Opening weekend was June 6, 1982. Made 6.9 million in the US. That's 23.1 million adjusted. Final gross in North America was 77.2 million. That's 258. Oh, 43 million adjusted. There was no international release, so that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a lot of fucking money though. Spielberg, the magic touch, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, Midas. Other other releases this weekend, Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, Hinky Pinky.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh. I've never heard of that, by the way.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean weekend top five, Star Trek Two, Rocky III, this movie, Hanky Pinky, Visiting Hours. Other films from 1982, like of course, this is the list you chose to highlight.

SPEAKER_01:

I do. Ben does these. He sent me this.

SPEAKER_04:

Ben sent you this.

SPEAKER_01:

For a minute. Yeah. They're almost useful. Of course. He does them all. And he he curates this. He works very hard.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, you're both out to get me. Other films from 1982. Friday the 13th, part three. There are multiple parts of Friday the 13th. It's one day. How many parts do you need?

SPEAKER_01:

It sometimes can happen multiple times a year. And there has to be at least I mean, there's like 12 of those. 13.

SPEAKER_04:

How dumb are these people they keep getting into this much trouble that there's 500 parts?

SPEAKER_02:

So forget about it, code.

SPEAKER_04:

Anyways, Halloween 3, season of The Witch, The Thing, Slumber Party Massacre, The Amateville Possession, Q the Winged Serpent. What the fuck is this?

SPEAKER_01:

Horror movies are nuts.

SPEAKER_04:

Ben. The Leonard Box average is 3.5. Follow these loons. At Run BMC and at Paul Axe Badly. And me, Kimba.

SPEAKER_01:

No problem. You'll find it. Obviously.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh Sisko and Eber were split. Roger is up.

SPEAKER_01:

Roger's always the cool one.

SPEAKER_04:

Rotten Tomatoes is 88%, 79% popcorn. Meta is 79, 7.6 user. Major Award wins a nomination, six Saturn Awards winning Best Horror Film and Supporting Actress for Zelda Rubinstein. I mean, can a movie really come on the review review without any Saturn Awards? I think when Harry Metsali is the only exception here.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you're right.

SPEAKER_04:

Three Oscar nominations, including Best Score for Jerry Goldsmith.

SPEAKER_01:

Will you agree, potentially, that the music in this movie is fucking fantastic?

SPEAKER_04:

To be fair, you are quite the movie music guy.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, relish that compliment. Yeah, I am. It's probably the last one you're gonna get for this episode. Um I will say, unfortunately, I was a bit distracted by what was actually happening in the film to truly appreciate Mr. Goldsmith's work.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you think you were so immersed in the film, partly because of that fantastic score? It was almost like the score wasn't happening. It was like part of your life. Did you feel like you were in the house? Were you being geisted?

SPEAKER_04:

Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Misgeisted.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Don't act clueless about clueless about this. Director of this film is Toby Hooper, R.I.P., The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974, Life Force, and The Mangler. Writers, Steven Spielberg, The Fablemans, Michael Grace, Cool World. We've talked about Cool World on this podcast. It's a horny fucking cartoon, that is. Mark Victor, Marked for Death, starring someone you said, if I were to work in the industry and I could work with anyone, it'd be Steven Segal, which I've always found so strange. But yeah, Marked for Death. Director of Photography, Matthew F. Leonetti. Strange Days, the butterfly effect. And another, maybe this is for you. Hard to kill. Another Steven Segal movie. Ben really sets you up.

SPEAKER_04:

Did you just call me a cockroach? Hard to kill? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

That sounds like something Steven Segal would say that. Tell me if you like this. Someone says, like, and you can take that to the bank, and then the other guy goes, I'm gonna take you to the bank. The blood bank. Oh, that's a no. That's a no. It's from Hard to Kill. I thought, sorry, I thought you were like an expert on this.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

Ben. Music was Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P. Hollow Man, the Mummy. Listen to our mummy episode. Dennis the Menace. We did that for Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_04:

The Mummy?

SPEAKER_01:

The Mummy for the Mummies. Brennan Fraser. I guess The Mummies left Brennan Fraser. Producers, Steven Spielberg, Gremlins, Kathleen Kennedy, Congo, Frank Marshall, Congo. Joe Beth Williams.

SPEAKER_04:

Sorry, hold on. You put Frank Marshall in here, and the credit Ben lists for him as Congo, not like Jurassic or like any of the other things, or like Kathleen Kennedy, who runs like Lucas films these days. These are the credits Benjamin Picard.

SPEAKER_01:

These are titans of the industry, but Ben loves the movie Congo. He's obsessed with bad gorillas.

SPEAKER_04:

Stop eating my sesame cake.

SPEAKER_01:

Bad gorillas.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm concerned for Ben.

SPEAKER_01:

Me too. Me too. Joe Beth Williams was Diane, The Big Chill, Kramer vs. Kramer, and the Kevin Costner directed Wyatt Earp. Craig T. Nelson was Steve, The Devil's Advocate, Action Jackson, and The Incredibles? Yeah, The Incredibles, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And you're forgetting a very important role of Craig T. Nelson's On Parenthood.

SPEAKER_01:

The movie with the Ron Howard movie with Steve Martin and Keanu and stuff.

SPEAKER_04:

Don't be an asshole. What? Never went to Robert. We're referring to the television gem.

SPEAKER_01:

The NBC melodrama, the hour long.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what? Just because you have poor taste in television, that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that show.

SPEAKER_04:

No. No. What? You don't like it.

SPEAKER_01:

I have to be in the mood. Beatrice Strait, R.I.P. was Dr. Lesh. Network Deceived Power. Dominique Dunn, R.I.P. Dana was primarily TV credits. Want to mention also this was a person who was like really horribly, unfortunately, nightmarishly cut down very early in life by a horrible human being and really unfortunate circumstances. Researching this movie and this franchise in general was a journey for Ben.

SPEAKER_04:

For Ben.

SPEAKER_01:

Oliver Robbins played Robbie. Airplane 2, the sequel, Poltergeist 2, the other side. Heather Orke, R.I.P. Carol Ann was primarily credited in TV. Michael McManus played Ben, the neighbor with the remote. Yeah. Primarily TV. Virginia Kaiser played Miss Tuthell. Ben's wife. Whatever. Space Raiders. Dreamscape Volunteers. Richard Lawson played Ryan Streets of Fire, Stick, How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Martin Casella played Marty. Six Weeks, Heart Like a Wheel, Robocop 2. And Zelda Rubenstein, Steen. R.A.P. played Tangina, Southland Tales, Lovers Not, Teen Witch, a movie about witches. It's much better than practical magic. Give it a try.

SPEAKER_04:

It's fun fact time.

SPEAKER_02:

Fun facts, fun facts, everybody.

SPEAKER_01:

It's fun fact time.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, here listeners. This will shock you just like it shocked me. But real human skeletons were used in the swimming pool scenes since the crew decided it would be too complicated and expensive to get fake ones. That's a place not to stay. Get the fake ones.

SPEAKER_01:

That is really a thing though. Like so many movie productions use actual sanitized human skeletons. A lot of them do. Really? It's cheaper to rent or lease them. It is.

SPEAKER_04:

To rent to rent those. To rent, lease, or buy those.

SPEAKER_01:

It's cheaper. And the the this next piece of this is the crazy part to me.

SPEAKER_04:

Joe Beth Williams was not made aware of this until after the scene was finished. You gotta warn this woman. You think she called her agent?

SPEAKER_02:

I want a fucking stunt bump.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. The film was originally given an R. This is actually the most insane fun fact. The film was originally given an R-rated from the MPAA film ratings body due to scenes of child peril despite middle hore in the film. Yeah, the in the bathroom he's like the disgusting. The r the rating was lower to PG on a Spielberg appeal. The film predates the PG 13 rating by two years. That is insane. The fact that this movie is only a PG is out of control.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

SPEAKER_04:

Through on-screen the on-screen credit goes to Toby Hooper, evidence suggests that much of the directorial decisions were made by Steven Spielberg. In fact, Spielberg had wanted to direct the film himself, but a clause in his contract stated that while still working on E.T., Spielberg could not direct another film. Members of the cast and crew, including executive producer Frank Marshall and actress Zelda Rubenstein, had stated that Spielberg cast the film, directed the actors, though this has been often contested by several other performers, designed every single storyboard for the movie himself. Hooper maintained he did half of the storyboard. Based on the evidence, the DJA opened a probe into the matter but found no reason that co-director credit should go to Spielberg. Spielberg has also said it's Toby's movie. The line, they're here, was no. The line, they're here, was why are you laughing?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if the retake was different at all.

SPEAKER_04:

How am I supposed to say it?

SPEAKER_01:

Any way you like.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

The delivery of that by that little girl is so fucking perfect.

SPEAKER_04:

There he is.

SPEAKER_01:

It's creepy, but it's like okay.

SPEAKER_04:

The line there here was voted as the number 69 movie quote of all time by the American Film Institute.

SPEAKER_01:

And I don't know what year that was from, but at some point it ranked that highly.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean.

SPEAKER_01:

Pretty good. Pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_04:

Pretty good.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm gonna tell you the log line.

SPEAKER_04:

Please do.

SPEAKER_01:

I know I should try to spook you out. I should try to make this scarier.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm still overcoming overcoming the trauma of the spooky. So thank you for taking pity.

SPEAKER_01:

Of course. That's what I do. I take pity all the time. A family's home becomes the center of paranormal activity. Come on. That opens a doorway to the other side. With help, they must cross over to get their dime back. That's a pretty good log line. This episode was brought to you by the MPAA.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

So careful.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

Be careful with how you do this. Okay. Okay. We'll be back. I've great news from the MPAA.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We are rated R. Really, really have to listen to it.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what you do? You buy yourself a tool to some five. This predates PG.

SPEAKER_01:

Pretty good. You should listen to it. We're R.

unknown:

Well.

SPEAKER_01:

Just so you know. Normally, by the way, we would play Cinephile, but Ben's not with us. He got us the fact sheet, but he still has the cards. Remember, Ben's power comes from the cards. The only way to slay him is to get the Cinephile cards.

SPEAKER_04:

Wolfman's cards. Kimberly cards! Yes, Paul.

SPEAKER_01:

Kimbly.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, Paul.

SPEAKER_01:

I always I never know. Kimbo. I watched this movie. Poltrygeist. Poltegeist? Poltergeist. Long time ago. Definitely wasn't 13. Definitely had a parent that was like, I watched this with my mom when she lived in a trailer in Long Beach. I was very young. She was like, let's watch Poltergeist. And I was like, let's never sleep again. I was terrified by this movie. I didn't watch it for several years, especially with the steak and the chicken and the face and the Martin Casella's whole deal. I watched this movie years later. I had a blast with it. I now own it.

SPEAKER_04:

You do own it. Watched it concerned.

SPEAKER_01:

4K? That's the thing, is like I guess I would have given it one or two stars when I was young, like one. One Zelda. Having just watched this and now being at a four Zeldas in between mini watches. I just watched it today.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm close to four and a half Zeldas.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

But I'm gonna stick to four. There's a couple things that keep it from bumping up. Yeah, that point five. But I think this is like an essential horror movie, not maybe as approachable as Gremlin's, another movie that I really love. That it's like, this is PG? What the fuck is happening in this world? What is society? I I think it's just really special and important. And the cool thing about this movie is compared to so many horror movies, especially ones that have supernatural or fantastical elements, so much of this feels so tangible or real or lifelike or true to life. Joe Beth Williams is great, Craig D. Nelson's great, the kids are great, the production design is great. It's a really good-looking movie that feels lived in. That these people have lived this life, this idyllic life, until we get to this horrible point in their story. But I'm still walking away with four Zeldas.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

Cinema began quite recently. For the pod.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Practically now.

SPEAKER_04:

Practically now, because as previously mentioned, I had different intentions, dear listener.

SPEAKER_01:

And you decided to give a gift to the people.

SPEAKER_04:

What? No, it was told poltergeist. I was told after I accidentally napped through about 70% of practical magic. I was told that I could not watch it again so I could bring it to the pod, and that watching it again would be a crime. And so to poltergeist, we we landed. And I agree with a lot of what you've said about like the family feeling very lived in.

SPEAKER_01:

That's encouraging.

SPEAKER_04:

But they feel very lived in until they don't.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And as someone who does not have children of my own, I apologize in advance for judging these parents, but what the fuck were they giving? I will give it to scary clowns.

SPEAKER_01:

That clown is scary as fuck.

SPEAKER_04:

That clown is so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Was that somebody's like, was that like their great-grandfathers and no one had the heart to just like throw it in the fire where it belongs?

SPEAKER_04:

I there's there's so many parts of this movie where I just like don't. You got me until you don't. But we shall unpack.

SPEAKER_01:

Alright. Well, the MPAA thanks you for staying tuned to this episode as it is a public service announcement. We're kind of split almost right down the middle. We're at four Zeldas and two scary clown dolls. Let's talk about poultry.

SPEAKER_02:

And now, our feature presentation.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that the movie starts with like that black screen, nothing in terms of audio or anything, and it takes it kind of gives me the impression that the movie's like, we're gonna let all this stuff take a while.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think when it first started, I was like, what's happening? Why is it taking so long? And then it eventually got a move on. It does kind of put you in the mood.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that. Okay. I ca I definitely feel that with the TV sign-off and the dog romance. I like how the filmmaker is like giving us a lay of the land and who's in the family. It's like, okay, there's a mom, there's a dad, there's three kids, there's this dog, and like the dog is so fucking cute. Eating the chips and blah, blah, blah. And everything feels really idyllic aside of this like little girl like talking to the TV. And in the first time she's talking to the TV, I think I kind of feel like Craig T. Nelson, like, eh, kids gonna kick kids are dumb. Like, what do I what do I do? Kids talking to the fucking TV. What do you want? So it makes sense to me. Everything, even in the very beginning, because I think that's the maybe the heart of our This House has many hearts. That's the heart of our argument here is that I think the movie is so massively successful in its mission to scare you.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Where it's like that the clown is scary. The music, even the mood at the beginning where you're seeing this idyllic neighborhood and this weirdo holding a case of beer, riding a kid's bike or whatever. But every like something just feels off. Even where everything's very tame in the large first portion of the movie.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, or even the battle at the remotes between the football and Mr. Rogers, like it's all like a little kooky in very like normal circumstances.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you pick between Mr. Rogers and football? Let's say it's a football program that you have rooting interest in.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, I like the snacks that come with yeah. I don't know that Mr. Rogers comes with snacks.

SPEAKER_01:

And if you're with a let's say you're in Craig D. Nelson situation, you're with a group of pals, pounding brewski's.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, put on that fucking cardigan dog. Like, I don't know. Maybe that doesn't work. The Tweety Bird burial thing, too, I find very sweet.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, it's sweet until later.

SPEAKER_01:

It's I I just find it there's something that you're saying that rings true with me where Joe Beth Williams said after the little girl goes through this whole thing, the bird dies, she catches the mom about to flush it down the toilet.

SPEAKER_04:

But also, whose first reaction is the bird dies down the toilet?

SPEAKER_01:

And flush it first.

SPEAKER_04:

Why would you put it in the toilet? I don't know, but also it's a bird. Like it's a sizable bird.

SPEAKER_01:

That's gonna cause you plumbing.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

You're gonna call a plumber and you're gonna have a dead bird in there, and then you're gonna have to explain it to your kid when the plumber's there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, and it's gonna be so much worse. My concern is that this didn't happen on a school day.

SPEAKER_01:

On the daughter catching her, too, though.

SPEAKER_04:

But that's also yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

The dog going to dig it up immediately. Mean funny. Like the movie's hitting all these great little humor points that I think I sometimes forget about with this movie. Is lulling me. It lulls me.

SPEAKER_04:

They're luring you in. I love it. So they can get you leaner.

SPEAKER_01:

But that's what it's trying to do.

SPEAKER_04:

I hate it.

SPEAKER_01:

So they get goldfish for Carol Ann. Because losing the bird, she's like, Can I have a goldfish now? And then the mom doubles back where she's like, uh, they turn into sharks. It's like you just helped her deal with death.

SPEAKER_04:

And now you're like, Yeah, it's but also like the answer of like, don't overfeed your goldfish. Also, she gets two goldfish in exchange for one dead bird. What's happening here?

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe she'll get three cats and then maybe and just two bats and five bears and just keep growing and growing here. Six spiders.

SPEAKER_04:

But it's like instead of being like, oh, don't overfeed your animal, it's gonna turn into like how does it go from overeating to becoming a shark? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I don't think the five-year-old understands either. I think she's I mean, kids are dumb.

SPEAKER_04:

Did you just call me a five year old?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm just saying they can empathize, I think.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

You're not dumb.

SPEAKER_04:

Me and the children.

SPEAKER_01:

Kids are dumb.

SPEAKER_04:

We're like this.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you're friendly.

SPEAKER_04:

That would be over goldfish sharks. You can't see a dear listener. That would be like the two hand emojis, like together. Hand in hand.

SPEAKER_01:

And the five-year-old walking hand in hand with your opinions and thoughts. I mean standing on similar soapboxes. So it's bedtime for everybody now. We've gone through the first day with this family and seeing that they're having a pool built. Can we have a pool dad? Can we have a pool dad? Can we have a pool dad? And he eventually, you know, breaks down. 'Tis a fine bond, but that whole thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

It's bedtime for everybody. And this is another part that I like again, where like I really like this group of people where the wife and the husband are like rolling joints together and being funny and like occasionally reading and jumping on the bed and making jokes. And it all it feels like a family. It just feels like human beings.

SPEAKER_04:

I feel like the dad checking on the kids, the older daughter's on the phone, he busts her, he's like, Nope, time for bed. Yeah, it's all very normal.

SPEAKER_01:

The clown is not normal. The the tree, like the Craig T. Nelson thing where he's telling the kid about the tree, I think is nice. Where he's like, This tree's old, it protects us. And there's almost like a level, I feel like, of truth there at first, almost, and like the tree is almost possessed, and it gets pulled out.

SPEAKER_04:

The lies we tell ourselves.

SPEAKER_01:

I guess, or our children in this case. This is when the movie, though, decides to get scary, because you're like, the tree's gonna do something, or the this is gonna do something, or the clown, or this, or that, or whatever. And it's the TV touch, like where the TV reaches out, yeah. Or whatever. And it's like, that's a jump.

SPEAKER_04:

That is a jump.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's a legitimate jump. That's like an R-rated jump.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I mean, you I brought this up previously, that very early on they said the word shit.

SPEAKER_01:

They do. I think you're allowed a few shits in a PG.

SPEAKER_04:

That's what you said. I said language. Like, it's just fascinating to me that the MPAA says in the PG some of this might be not be suitable for children. There's not totally referenced drug use. There's cursing, and now there's spooky scaries. How who allowed this?

SPEAKER_01:

Like very visceral spooky scries, like goo and viscera and blood and you know who allowed this? Fucking Steven Spielberg walked into the MPAA, dropped meat, and they were like, whatever you want. Sorry, sorry, Steve. What do you do? I can't can't fight City Hall. I don't know what to tell you. But after the TV touch and this earthquake that they're investigating, where it's like, how does no one else in this neighborhood feel a 6.5 earthquake? Why is it only us? And that is the very beginning of the come up part, I think, for Craig T. Nelson. Is like right there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I think that's fair. Because until then, he was just like a normal dad. Also, the storm, the sun, he was like, listen, like when you see the first flash of lightning, you count until you hear the thing, the thunder, and then that's how you can determine if it's getting closer or further, like very normal stuff. But the earthquake is what that's him off.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and like that glass breaking in the kid's hand the next morning by well, also when she's like, Uh you spaz or it's like a fucking seven-year-old can't squeeze a glass hard enough to pop the bottom off. Like, what is that? Kids are dumb and weak. Well, I could beat up a ton of kids easily.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Carol Ann gives the they're here, and at breakfast, mom asks, who's here? And we get the actual look at the whole pool construction thing and everything, and the dog barking at that spot in the bedroom and wanting to play fetch with it. And the chairs stacking them. So by the way, did the chair stacking thing was that cool to you? Or did anything about the spookiness of this movie you were like, that's kind of cool, that's kind of fun, any of it?

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know that in the thesaurus of my life that spooky and fun are intertwined.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04:

But I will give credit where credit is due and say that that is impressive how they pulled that off. Because I don't think I noticed a cut. So to make that happen, I will give props.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

But I I don't know respectfully that fun and spooky belong in the same sentence in my vocabulary.

SPEAKER_01:

I gotta say, I really appreciate how much you're personalizing all of this. I think that's very important for myself and for the listener. It's like you have two very different opinions here: one person who likes a scary, and another person who isn't as much a fan of a scary. And maybe, you know, I might be able to pull some of you non-scary peoples my way. That's I mean, that's what I'm trying to do.

SPEAKER_04:

I really tried to make practical magic happen, you guys. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

Then you got a gift. Why are you apologizing?

SPEAKER_04:

Good for you, Jack.

SPEAKER_01:

I actually I also am pretty impressed like with the chair stuff, and a lot that's the thing we talk about on this podcast a lot, is that there are there need to be more models, more practical effects, stakes that clearly are pushing something up from under the counter, but I don't give a shit. Just stop throwing big matte CG buckets of garbage on a screen because it's cheaper or it's easier or whatever the motivation is. I'm just eh. The movie keeps trying to be funny, and some of it floats for me, and some of it doesn't. Like the mosquito thing and the neighbor that's working for me for at points, and at points like them coming apart and as quickly and as intensely as they come apart makes total sense to me because what they're dealing with is unreal, unprecedented, paranormal, the whole thing. But the fact that so many other people are like and I yeah, people are weird, people are strange when you're a stranger.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

But it almost leans into that too much, I guess. There's something about the relationship with the neighbor at this moment, though I've never been bitten by a mosquito. It's like I mm okay.

SPEAKER_04:

I think it would have benefited by being a little tighter, perhaps.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree. I think that's where we're gonna, as we keep talking about this, where we're gonna end up like you and I will be the hands together emoji.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's fun.

SPEAKER_01:

I also think the effect now where the move this is, I think, where the movie kind of hits full bore, where we like really move into this the second act really gets moving. Yeah, I agree. And the tree smashes and grabs Robbie, and mom and dad are just panicked and fucking bolt out, and that's when the spirit, the geist, yeah, the geister, is there and goes MPAA full R rating child peril. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

This is where they lose me. Okay. Parents. It's like I understand that Robbie has been kidnapped by the haunted tree. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_01:

And the tree's exiting.

SPEAKER_04:

And the tree, right, and with Robbie. Yeah, with child. But then the parents, all their attention stays on Robbie and oh, Robbie, Robbie, Robbie. But no one thinks Carol Ann is also in this room. Someone should protect Carol Ann. And it's because these bozos forget one of their children that they end up losing their child.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is horrible, obviously, for anybody. And I think that's the thing that I struggle with a little too, I guess, where it's like, okay, in this insane fucking situation, what would I do? Like, I don't know. Like, would I would my brain default to like, oh, the big one will watch the little one? Like, at it because the older sister is still in the house.

SPEAKER_04:

But nothing.

SPEAKER_01:

But then she's yeah, and then the older sister comes out and she's like, kid's gone.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You're the big one. You're supposed to be watching the little one.

SPEAKER_04:

What's happening? I mean, truly insane. So that's I think where as parents they lose me.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Because in my mind, this is all preventable. Not the Robbie part, but the Caroline part. And the Caroline part I think is a bigger problem than the Robbie problem.

SPEAKER_01:

So if Robbie gets eaten by the tree, that's not as big a problem. Does he go to the same place that Carol Ann did?

SPEAKER_04:

I think so, because it comes back with goo on him.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

But the uh lights and everything start appearing in the TV and there's communication happening in the TV. Everything is kind of through it's like white noise electronic stuff. And they hire the Team Who Ghostbusters? Always. Or Craigslist Ghostbusters.

SPEAKER_03:

Basically.

SPEAKER_01:

Craigslist. Uh Ghostbusters in my town. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Craig T. Nelson goes on Craigslist and finds knockoff Ghostbusters.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, what are the coaches' picks for this? Oh, nice. Okay. Okay. I'm going with that. But the Team Who Ghostbusters show up, and I again directorial stuff, detail shit. That Craig T. Nelson, it's like middle of the day or early in the day, and he's got a Budweiser cracked. Where he's just like, fuck it, man. Like, fuck it.

SPEAKER_04:

Again, your child is missing and you're having a brewski. What is happening here?

SPEAKER_01:

I think there's probably like a level of stress. He can't cope.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm sorry. I've been watching a lot on Amanda Knox and the way that people the way that people present themselves in in um times of crisis, I think is very fascinating.

SPEAKER_01:

Tells you who they are.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Or the perception of the things. Like I just think in Amanda Knox's case, like the way she was behaving wasn't how people expected a non-guilty party to behave.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

And so I think it's interesting to me that Craig T. Nelson is dealing with this traumatic event to his family and sitting here having a beer in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the thing it makes me think about is that people have kids.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Which neither of us do.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. In this situation.

SPEAKER_04:

We're armchair quarterbackers.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely my favorite thing. But the kid These two people decided to have kids, and the kid could be this is a horrible thing to say, but like kidnapped or something horrible could happen at any point. Which it's and if this if he had no coping skills for this, like, huh. Like, that's the thing, is like there's no way to know, and it's discouraging to see. Yeah. But it makes sense to me that some people are just like, I can't, I don't know what to do. I don't know, I have to numb this. And I'm like, I'm not saying you should be that person. Anything like that, but people do that. So it just felt authentic.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I'm judging you, Cry T Nelson.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no. The room that Carol Ann and Boy. Boy? Is this name boy? Robbie. Their old room.

SPEAKER_04:

What are you talking about, boy?

SPEAKER_01:

No boy, G-rated. Their room is now fully possessed. It can play fucking records with needles and ride hoax on tigers and throw Star Wars shit everywhere. It hasn't aged super well in because it's all stop motion or some such and it doesn't look great. What it's trying to convey still works somewhat, but the way that it looks is just not amazing.

SPEAKER_04:

A smidge dated, but that's just a smidge.

SPEAKER_01:

And the movies from 82. For 82.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Not bad.

SPEAKER_04:

Not bad.

SPEAKER_01:

I think the effects mostly hold up. Some of them not as much, but some definitely. Well, I'm only but eight years old. I'm a dumb kid. What do you I am a fucking idiot. I am a child.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

We get the explanation of a geist versus a ghost. That the geist, the noisy German version of a ghost, uh is a mad spirit that can be called upon for whatever reason and goes away as soon as it gets what it wants. Yeah. Or achieves its goal goal. And ghosts are haunting. It's like a permanent thing.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, they're there for the long haul.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I'm glad I got that. So they're calling for Carol Ann, and that's the big thing that's happening now, because we don't really go into where Carol Ann is.

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

We're all we're experiencing all of this through Through the lens of the people left behind. Mm-hmm. And kind of the kind of the paranormal researcher people too. Yeah, yeah. Well, people left behind. As you just said. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So brilliantly.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh-huh. Very brilliantly. I do like this thing where the jewelry and stuff falls into the house and Carol Ann moves through Joe Beth Williams. I did her performance is so good.

SPEAKER_04:

I did really like that moment because I it did bring me back to bel like not believing that's not the right word, but kind of um feeling that maternal instinct that went out the fucking window when she like left Caroline. It made me like that moment I thought was very nice.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. When she walks up to the doctor and and holds up the scarf to her to smell it, and like the doctor can smell it.

SPEAKER_04:

There's something very nice about that whole thing.

SPEAKER_01:

It's practic it's so practical that there is no special effect other than this actor doing great work in this moment. It's practical magic. And that's what you want. But the Ghostbusters decide to have a little conference before bedtime, mostly with Joe Beth Williams and Craig T. Nelson kind of listening in the shadows.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And the sun participates somewhat, and the older daughter's been sent off.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, the older daughter's like, you guys are fucking.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm out of go.

SPEAKER_01:

She's like, I love my sister and all, but like, uh, this is a I am the smartest of all of you.

SPEAKER_04:

And I am getting the fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_01:

This also, if you can. I don't love the all the whispering.

SPEAKER_04:

There's so much whispering.

SPEAKER_01:

Like people speaking in a volume that's a little easier to hear. Robbie is the one that comes up with the plan uh in that moment. As we kind of get the idea that gives us hope that Caroline can come back, is like when the jewelry and stuff is coming through, it's like, oh, stuff can come in, stuff can come out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a way. And Robbie talks about the rope and everything. And this is the also the night where after the conference, Marty is like, Well, I gotta eat these people out of house and home. Not what you thought. Eat these people out of house and home. I'm going to, he's eating chips or something, and then he goes into the frid, he gets chicken, he grabs a steak, he's like drinking things and whatever, and then the steak starts crawling across the kitchen. This is the same kitchen where the chairs have moved and all this. So the kitchen is a pretty difficult spot too, and the maggots on the chicken wing.

SPEAKER_03:

Horrible.

SPEAKER_01:

Like because the thing, the ghost, the spirit, the geist. Zick geist knows what he's he fears or what you fear in this moment or whatever. And this is actually the guy that I am expecting from pretty much the moment I see him. I'm like, oh, this guy's gonna be antagonist. Like, this guy's gonna be a victim. If it was this was a movie that killed a lot of people, I would assume this guy's gonna be.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I had to look away. That was a bit gross.

SPEAKER_01:

The face rip hasn't aged perfectly well. It's it hasn't aged.

SPEAKER_04:

So I couldn't watch it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, luckily it looks kind of hokey at moments, but there are moments where it looks extremely fucking graphic, and you're gonna want to maybe turn away, depending. I turned away a little. You turned away.

SPEAKER_04:

I definitely turned away.

SPEAKER_01:

I turned away a little. I won't lie. That felt like that almost felt like NC17. Well, I is that an X-rated moment.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know. That was not appropriate for children. That's all I know.

SPEAKER_01:

It's fine, kids are dumb. So Robbie gets in a cab by himself with the family dog.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, the dog is smart enough to know I do not have a I've had enough time to leave.

SPEAKER_01:

And the parents from 30 feet away are just waving their son goodbye as their daughter is missing and whatever. And the mom says, call me, like they she just got dropped off from a date?

SPEAKER_04:

I just I don't it was wild.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Highly questionable parenting.

SPEAKER_01:

And also, they're sending him to his grandma's. Is the idea that this fucking seven or eight-year-old kid won't tell his grandma everything that's been happening?

SPEAKER_04:

Why couldn't grandma come pick him up? Like I just have to do that. Why couldn't one of them take him? I well, you know, I mean, I just again not a parent, but I feel that if something had happened to one of my children, that I would be clinging to the others.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And like letting them out of my sight or like making sure there is a safe transfer of child to able-body adult, not a random cab driver in suburbia.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so that's very weird to me. There's a level of me also being like, I don't know if I'd be comfortable even if it's somewhere else in the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_04:

Why am I not getting in the cab too?

SPEAKER_01:

I that I don't get why they aren't just all sorry for the parents have to be there to help the Ghostbusters. They have to be. So the parents have to be there. But all the kids should be, like the other two kids should be with grandma. The the uh like you shouldn't have your kids in two different places. Is that I I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

It's all astonishing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But the Ghostbusters lose Marty because for some reason, after feeling like he ripped his fucking face off, he was like, I think I've had enough. Why? Why not more? What's wrong?

SPEAKER_04:

You know what? What's your problem? Marty wise.

SPEAKER_01:

What? No. I don't know. Seemed like a good time to me. But they're calling in reinforcements. They are calling in the army monster squad style. Everybody's gonna show up and help. When Joe Beth Williams also has this moment, I do you agree that she just has so many great moments?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And is just like a lot of performances do a lot of lifting in this movie, but she like most of it is on her.

SPEAKER_04:

I agree.

SPEAKER_01:

Like the mother-daughter relationship thing, and I feel I gotta be better like you. I feel, me and my experience, that she is there is seems like there's a feeling of like having a legitimately tough time that like this person has probably done a lot of backstory or whatever, blah blah blah, and had a real kind of relationship or attachment with this with Heather O'Rourke or whatever, because it's just it feels the mother-daughter thing there feels very real at times.

SPEAKER_04:

Totally. And I think when we f when I first started watching the movie and the credits came up and it listed this woman first and then Craig T. Nelson, I thought, oh, that's very interesting for a movie made in the early 80s that a woman would get for spilling here. But obviously, I think after watching the movie, it makes sense for so many reasons. But yeah, I think her performance is really important for basing this move this insane movie in reality.

SPEAKER_01:

It is an insane movie. It it is a fantasy movie, it's a fantasy horror movie.

SPEAKER_04:

Ugh.

SPEAKER_01:

When Joe Beth Williams opens the door and then like it screams at her and she slams it and she's like, and like is all mad. I'm like, yeah, what did you think? Like if this was gonna be the moment that they were like, mission accomplished, we're out of here. Like, no. The room screams at her, and Craig T. Nelson gets pulled away by his boss because he is the guy that is working for the developer that's been making all these neighborhoods in this area, his being the first house that was occupied, and we find out that his daughter was born in that house. Carol Ann was specifically born in that house, uh, which is very important that we find out essentially later that why everything is happening at this house and not throughout the whole neighborhood, and why they're tormenting this family. But as Craig T. Nelson is on the walk with his boss, and his boss's like, You look like fucking shit. He just like lays into him, and it's like he lie, the Craig T. Nelson lies about everything that's happening, says he has the flu and all this stuff, and doesn't want his boss to know that he's going through this insane experience or even one shred of the truth, like, yeah, my daughter's missing. You you can't involve the authorities here at this point because it's a little too nuts. But he's offered partnership at this real estate group and a new house, overlooking the whole development, and the boss guys like standing with Craig T. Nelson at a sizable cemetery.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And the boss is like, yeah, we're gonna move the bodies and the headstones, and it's all gonna be relocated, and it's gonna be fine. And that is kind of the cheese that we find out here that the problem is that there are unhappy spirits that have that were at rest that are no longer at rest.

SPEAKER_04:

Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Or it's implied, maybe I guess at this moment.

SPEAKER_04:

But I think it's the cheese that we need at this moment.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree. It's good at applying cheese at the correct times. And I'm not saying necessarily of the jokes all the time, but the right amount of toppings. Yeah. We've talked about nachos recently on this program: olives, cotti hot cheese, hot sauce, chives. It's important. Almost exactly at the halfway point of the movie. The movie has really good act breaks in in terms of the way the movie breaks down. The way the second act and third act get moving and stuff work really well, but like it does such a great job at the almost the exact halfway point of the movie of being like, okay, here's the backup. Here's Zelda Rubinstein. This house has many hearts. On the winter mind. It's the heart of the house. This house has many hearts. I like when Craig T. Nelson is also like, I was trying to tell her with my mind. And I didn't. And then she was like, I heard you, I just don't play that shit, or whatever she says. I like it. I like I like the relationship that Zelda kind of seems to have with almost everybody. Like that it's a little push and pull with Craig T. Nelson, like a little more push than pull, whichever the negative is. And she the mom has this kind of innate, maybe could have been misplaced, but wasn't, I think. Trust in this woman, Zelda, the the whatever I forget the character's name, shows up and is doing all this work or whatever, and the mom is immediately like, cool, on board. Do you think also it's all like I will try anything?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. I think there is a little bit of reality in that, in that she is desperate to get her trial back. So yeah, desperate times call for insanely desperate measures.

SPEAKER_01:

Up to and including bringing Zelda Rubenstein in your house to read your mind and throw balls at stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Whatever. Face it. And say cool shit like, there is no death, it is only a transition. This house has many hearts and it is clean. Horrible creatures from other dimensions are popping in and faces are popping out of things and all this other shit. The movies just starts going, it's going crazy, essentially by the end of the second act. It's just throwing a lot of shit at you, which I've enjoyed. A lot of ham, a lot of cheese, a lot of toppings. But they're still like trying to reach Carol Ann is the main thing. If we can communicate with her, we can save her.

SPEAKER_04:

Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

So something else that I liked that felt very like detail-oriented in the whole deal was Zelda Rubinstein asking questions like, who is she more afraid of? Who is she more likely to listen to if you are stern with her to do what we want her to do?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought that that was like kind of brilliant. And I like that the parents resist it because he's like, I don't spank my kids. Like, that's not me. That's not my shit. And she's like, Well, this is like un like desperate times, desperate measures. Did that hit at all? Did you like or not like that? I did.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, I thought like that was not what I would expect in that moment. Because I feel like as a child, if I was Carolyn, I would probably just want a hug.

SPEAKER_02:

Like all your final kids. Sure.

SPEAKER_04:

But I do, I do appreciate um, because also I think that like so much of the story is centered around the mom and the mom's experience. And so I also appreciated that they had to go that route to give Craig T. Nelson a reason to be there too.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Zelda has this idea that they're going to I think it's Zelda's idea. They're gonna write numbers and symbols all over these different objects and balls and shit, and throw them into the gate that's in the parents parents, the kids' room. Parent smart, kids dumb, parent smart. Okay. In the kids' room throws the stuff into the gate and it starts transitioning into another area of the house where Ryan, one of the other Ghostbusters, is catching and verifying that, yeah, these are what we're throwing in here. This is what's happening. We there's a way into this dimension, and there's clearly a way out. And they are now gonna do Robbie's whole rope thing. They're gonna tie a rope around somebody, and somebody is gonna go and get her. And I love it, almost reminds me of Indiana Jones, when Craig T. Nelson flicks the rope back toward the camera and into the gate. Like I almost, I'm almost like ready to be tied to the end of the rope that's being thrown into the gate. Like the way the the camera angle is, I just really love it. Coach is gonna wait, no, coach. Craig T. Nelson's gonna go in. Coach calls an audible, mom's going in to go get Carol Ann.

SPEAKER_04:

Says enough this shit. Off I go.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, she says something like, We don't know if I'll be strong enough to pull you out, but you should be trying to that is they're trying to apply some levels of logic or whatever.

SPEAKER_04:

Some level of logic of like Craig T. Nelson is a grown man and pulling him out is different than pulling a woman and small child out.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, he's a big dude. He's like well over, I think he's like 6'3 or 6'4. He's a good sized guy.

SPEAKER_04:

I believe you're correct.

SPEAKER_01:

He's a diver, he's a coach, he's a lawyer, he's a good-sized guy. So the skull face now, this is one of the first kind of I don't want to call him monsters. I guess it's like a spiritual monster. It's a monster. A monster. Like this huge skull face pops out from the door portal in the closet. Which is I thought was pretty cool. I fuck with it. I fuck with it.

SPEAKER_03:

Of course you do.

SPEAKER_01:

It's good. It that special effect has aged surprisingly well.

SPEAKER_04:

I feel like they're we're getting to a part where there are quite a few of those jumpy moments that pop up. I will say that I think they are executed well. But I also think that there's a level a small level of predictability to all of them.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't disagree with that. I am but I'm also just satisfied by the execution, so I don't necessarily mind. Like, I know Caroline's gonna live through the whole movie. Caroline's definitely gonna live. They're not gonna kill a child like in a PG movie. Like, I feel pretty.

SPEAKER_04:

I would hope, but look at all the other things.

SPEAKER_01:

I had an R in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04:

Look at all the other things that happen.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you, MPAA, for bringing us this episode. Please watch all the MPAA PG-rated movies from the 80s. You'll really enjoy them. Your kids will love them too. So I love you, Dad. Carolyn lives, her and Joe Beth Williams come through the portal because she got her just covered in like essentially Ghostbusters pink ectoplasm or whatever. It looks pretty gross. It holds up well.

SPEAKER_04:

Nasty.

SPEAKER_01:

And it is adorable when Carolyn wakes up and goes, Hi daddy. I love that.

SPEAKER_04:

Of course you do.

SPEAKER_01:

I loved that. What's wrong? I mean, that's the cheese, and it's just cheese this time. It's cheese, okay? I'll admit it. But I do like it. There's some level of kind of like, I'm okay, everything's okay. I assume that if you're the parents in that situation, that you're like, oh my god, do we need to go? Also, shouldn't the next scene have been at the hospital?

SPEAKER_04:

One would think. But again, these parents are not functioning at full mass.

SPEAKER_01:

Some four foot-four lady that they've never met comes in, throws a ball at something, gets their kid back, and says, This house is clean. And they're like, Oh, okay, let's go to bed.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds good. Phony duck tea. So the next day they've gotten a moving truck. Finally, finally. And Joe Best.

SPEAKER_04:

The turnaround is so fast.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he they got that moving truck the next day. Something like that. And Joe Best's hair has that streak of gray, like they kind of repeat in Nightmare on Elm Street with Heather Langenkamp. And her daughter's like, no, not good. Diet. And everyone's like a little too cozy, and the movie feels a little too cozy, a little too fast. And that's part of what you're talking about. Like the predictability. Yeah. It's like, wait, we're still going?

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Because, dear listener, I feel like if they had just ended there, then the movie would have been a crazy adventure, but the end satisfaction. They just get in the truck, it's over. Yeah, we're like, we're out. But no, nothing can be that easy.

SPEAKER_01:

Because even the dog is like, are you sure? Like they do a close-up of the dog's face as people are about to be attacked, and the dog's like, I don't know. It's like looking side to side and shit. And it's like, even the dog, come on, guys.

SPEAKER_04:

Even the dog.

SPEAKER_01:

I just feel like they really just wanted to be like, uh, hit hit the audience with the like, you you thought we weren't gonna use the clown, huh? We're gonna get you with that clown. And they do another thing from Nightmare on Elm Street, a spinning room where Joe Beth Williams ends up on the ceiling, and that's a pretty good effect, I think. The spinning room effect always works. I think.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01:

So you do feel like the effects mostly hold up well.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, sure.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I've been making some headway here. So it's gonna be exciting to find out.

SPEAKER_04:

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I try not to, but I have an OCD thing about counting.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. So now full on the beast is here. The weird thing with like almost like a beak face and whatever that's in the doorway.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, can we go back a beak? Please. Because Craig T. Nelson, for God knows what reason. Bad ghost, that you go pass. Nope, gotta go quit my job alone or whatever. Go to work. So he leaves his family. If my spouse was to leave me alone with my children and to pack up my house after that, and to pack up my whole house in one day, there would be divorce papers.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing I think that doesn't make sense about this is that there's a second movie where they're still together. I just don't see how that happens. That makes no sense to me. Too many bad choices were made by too many people. But it is a horror movie, that's what happens.

SPEAKER_04:

So he leaves them, and so just retracing our steps here, like then all this crazier shit happens while he's at work, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_01:

Quitting his job or yeah, picking up stuff from the house.

SPEAKER_04:

Why is he still at the office at in the middle of the night?

SPEAKER_01:

He's yeah, he's there until like pretty late, it seems.

SPEAKER_04:

Is he stupping? Is he saying bye to his secretary? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Fucking rated triple X. You son of a bitch. Oh, I'm so mad. So the extending hallway, like lens pull when Joe Beth Williams is trying to get to the glowing door. Very disorienting, very cool. And coach finally comes back, he's in the game, ready to get everybody out of there. Like, don't go into the light, Carol Ann, we're moving away from the light, we're getting out of here. And everybody is piling into the car and everything's going crazy, and nobody can work the keys, and nobody can do and everybody's just so panicked, and it's almost like a little too panicked.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, you just completely skipped all of the skeletons popping up out of nowhere and the tombstones popping out of Noah.

SPEAKER_01:

Coffins.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, and all this scary shit. So I too would be panicked.

SPEAKER_01:

The level of panic is just almost absurd with some stuff, though. You're you're say okay, I'm saying this level of panic where he can't find a key, like, is like a little too much, but there are movies that you feel like I don't wish to bring on a crisis to your life. Right.

SPEAKER_04:

But I don't know that would you be such a steady Eddie in that moment?

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing that I'm trying to say about when Robbie gets pulled into the tree. I'm not thinking, I'm just running out to because the threat has moved out of the room. So it would have been ideal if somebody stayed. It would have been great if somebody communicated to somebody, stay here with Carolyn. But in that moment, I think you're just running as a parent, you're running toward the danger to save your kid. But I don't know, armchair quarter bapping. Right. Armchair quarterbapping the badge bat. Adults are stupid. All this crazy shit happens. Joe Beth Williams in the swimming pool, and the neighbors save her, like they end up useful in the end, which is nice to a degree, yeah, helpful somewhat. But when they're finally about to go, Craig T. Nelson's boss is like, No, stick around. We love you, we need you. And the house is going crazy, and he grabs the boss and he's like, You never move the bodies, you son of a bitch. You only move the headstones. Love it. Love it. Where it's just like the core, the these corporate scumbags or these developers are gonna do whatever the fuck they need to do to make a dollar. Yeah, makes no difference to them. And it's just very interesting that this tribal burial ground, apparently coupled with the birth of their child in the home, being the first home in the whole development, and some sort of like her aura or something is meant where she's like, she's just this incredible life force, and it's just all this, all these crazy tumblers in a lock lining up, apparently. So, okay, but cars and you know, hydrants and everything popping up and all this other shit, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.

SPEAKER_04:

The other child comes home in the middle of all this, they're loading up the car, and then there's hysteria whether the other daughter can get in the car.

SPEAKER_02:

The boy just says, Drive, drive away, dad! The older sister's like trying to get into the car. I mean, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so funny to me. They leave, they go to the Holiday Inn as was promised earlier in the film. And I do like the final joke where they're like, let's just get a little dab of a little dab of sour cream or some other kind of cheese on there, where he pushes the TV out of the hotel room.

SPEAKER_04:

I did appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01:

Why didn't you do that in your own house?

SPEAKER_04:

Hindsight's 2020.

SPEAKER_01:

I guess. I guess. Kimbo.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, Paul.

SPEAKER_01:

Is there anything in terms of poltergeist that we didn't cover? Is there anything I could potentially say or do to bring your score up before we wrap this?

SPEAKER_04:

I don't think there's anything you can say or do in this moment. I think that you've had some compelling arguments along the way. Are you clutching your pearls or your heart?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm just very happy to hear it.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh. Yeah, I think that there are some qualities of this film that could perhaps raise my score ever so slightly. I don't know that this is a movie that I am looking to revisit.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04:

But now I can say that I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01:

Got that notcha on your belt.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, I'm gonna say this one thing.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

If Craig T. Nelson doesn't do this, I don't know if he's in parenthood.

SPEAKER_04:

Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Star maker. You think Poltergeist?

SPEAKER_04:

Really? You think that poltergeist is a star maker for him?

SPEAKER_01:

I think it was the thing that really springboarded him.

SPEAKER_04:

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

I think so.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I could be wrong. Listener, let us know what was the springboard for the coach. Hit us up. Let us know. We've gone over poltergeist in pretty good detail, I'd say.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Pretty good detail. I'm gonna give my score first if that's okay with you. Because I think we're we're more excited. I'm very excited to hear where you end up. Is that okay?

SPEAKER_04:

I was gonna say so much for ladies first.

SPEAKER_01:

I I was so close to giving this a 4.5, and I think I've gotta admit, just having watched it, it a lot of that 0.5 I wanted to give it really is nostalgia pole. It's it's it's kind of more of a heart. It's a no, it's still a great movie. It's well written, it's well edited, it's beautifully scored, it's well So you don't think it's a four with a heart? It's not a four with a heart, but it is a four.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I it's just on the cusp of the four. The movie's way too good to throw a heart on it. But there are some things like you were saying, it could be a little tighter, could have ended sooner, and we could there could have been a this or a that, and I don't want to armchair quarterback, this movie made by two incredible filmmakers and a group of incredible people. But four is a score that is basically saying I would recommend this to just about anybody, and leaving the heart off is saying, and it's not just a thing for weirdos like me. I think a lot of people would maybe like this, but I also get I would be careful about who I recommend it to in the end, just because it's like it's got some gore, it's got some if you're not into that, eh? So there's a conversation, but a four.

SPEAKER_04:

But yeah, he recommended it to me.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Kimbo, I watched Practical Magic. And here we are recording an episode for Poltergeist.

SPEAKER_04:

And here we are.

SPEAKER_01:

So what do you want? I couldn't watch it twice.

SPEAKER_04:

We wouldn't be recording this because I would be um I think that you brought some very good points about Joe Beth Williams' performance. And I think that really humanized a very silly set of circumstances in a lot of ways, it's a good way to put that. Even though some of her choices were still questionable as a parent.

SPEAKER_01:

Not as an actor, but as a parent. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Well, I think her choices, I mean, her choices as an actor reflected the material she was given to work with, right? Like if someone had written a character that cared about her children more.

SPEAKER_01:

I just want to be very clear that as an actor did everything she was supposed to do. Yeah. The character as a parent, terrible job.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, but that's not her fault. She didn't write the character.

SPEAKER_01:

Not at all. She did her job personally.

SPEAKER_04:

She did her job well. Yes. Um, and I think there are just some other things, like I think Zelda Rubin's team was really great. So I Saturn Award winner. Hey, Saturn Award is kind of a big deal. I mean, you're a sci-fi horror, but Saturn Award is kind of a big deal.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean I had to do the Ben thing because Ben's not here.

SPEAKER_04:

We miss him.

SPEAKER_01:

We do.

SPEAKER_04:

So I will say that I because of your intelligent POV and some further reflection, I will say that this gets two and a half scary clown dolls.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes! Yes! Yeah, you're on you're on the scary clown doll, like Robbie ripping it up, yelling, I hate you, I hate you! It has no more power.

SPEAKER_02:

Yellow Adrian! We did it!

SPEAKER_04:

The joy that is coming out of your bees.

SPEAKER_01:

Another MPM. I'm so glad that to me, a two and a half is one of those things where it was like, despite anything or whatever else, it was worth watching.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, sure. I don't know that I'll be aware of it. I wouldn't want to watch it again. Yeah, I don't need to watch it. But I'm glad I watched it again. Kind of. I'm not looking to own it on DVD. Like some oh sorry, 4K, steelbook, whatever. Forgive me.

SPEAKER_02:

So go back to the club.

SPEAKER_04:

But you know, I've seen it. I can now participate in conversations in the world about it if someone was to bring up poltergeists.

SPEAKER_01:

Happens more often than you might think.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I wait for that moment. So, dear listener, it's a- Depends where you are. If you see me in the wild, feel free to bring it up.

SPEAKER_01:

If you're anywhere near Cincinnati, Ohio, it's all anybody talks about.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

It's bizarre.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

We're gonna walk away at a four and a two and a half.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, so you didn't change?

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't change.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I stand strong with this movie as one of the pillars of like suspense horror.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh my.

SPEAKER_01:

I really do.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I love so many of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but in almost any case, that's not a movie that I'm gonna like put in somebody's hands that's not like a serious horror fan.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Something like this, I feel, is just a lot more approachable, especially in that the movie does sometimes seem to go like, isn't all this shit crazy? Like there is a level of that that I really appreciate that not a lot of horror movies do. So four and two and a half instead of a two for poltergeist. Thank you everyone for joining us. Ben, thank you so much for the fact sheet. You did a great job. Anybody who is near Ben, get those Cinephile cards, let me know. I will be there in a flash to take care of business. Uh, we want to thank Jamie Henwood for our bookend themes. We want to thank Matthew Foskett for what you've been doing, why are you excited, what you've been watching. We want to thank Chris Olds for our fun facts theme. Don't forget to check us out on Review X2 Podcast on Blue Sky and Instagram. Ben is at Run BMC on Letterboxd. I am at Paul ActsBadly. Like, review, subscribe, rate, share, all the things of the show. We're so glad that you tuned in for our second episode of Spooky Season. Uh say scared, but not at like an R-rated. Keep it keep it PG.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, vroom vroom. Hi everyone, this is JJ, the co-founder of Good Pods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Good Pods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than two million podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Good Pods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Good Pods on the web or download the app. Happy listening. Hi everyone, this is JJ.

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