Excuse the Intermission
Alex and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
Speak No Evil: Politeness, Horror, and Human Boundaries
What if the very essence of politeness could lead you into a nightmarish scenario? Join us for an insightful episode as we compare and contrast the new American thriller "Speak No Evil" with its original Danish source material. With special guest Erica Crouse, we dive into the nuances of film performances, marketing strategies, and the surprising box office performance. Despite a strong opening of $20 million worldwide, we explore whether the intense marketing campaign caused audience fatigue, especially given the overshadowing success of "Deadpool and Wolverine."
Our fresh "Cinema Showdown" format brings an exciting dimension to analyzing casting choices, narrative differences, and marketing approaches between the two films. We critique how the American version's marketing may have revealed too much, underestimating the audience's intelligence, and discuss the stark contrast in character portrayals, particularly Scoot McNairy's more pathetic and unlikable character in the remake. Erica Krauss provides her expert take on how the pacing and development of friendships differ, highlighting the deeper emotional connections in the original versus the rushed setup in the remake.
Finally, we scrutinize the cinematic setting, production design, and technical elements that differentiate the two versions. From the claustrophobic woods in the Danish film to the polished manor house in its American counterpart, we discuss how these settings enhance or detract from the horror atmosphere. We also delve into the thematic elements of human behavior and boundaries, examining how politeness and the fear of confrontation play critical roles in both films. Tune in for a compelling analysis that not only contrasts these two thrillers but also reflects on broader themes of human interaction and psychological tension.
how's it? I'm alex mccauley and I'm max fosberg, and this is excuse the intermission a discussion show surrounding movies. On today's episode, we will be comparing and contrasting the new american thriller speak no evil to its original danish source material of the same name. Erica krauss is back once again to help us in this endeavor, which is a new episode format for us here at ETI, so a lot to look forward to on the other side of this break. This episode is presented in partnership with the Gig Harbor Film Festival. The Gig Harbor Film Festival will take place this September 26th through the 29th in beautiful Gig Harbor.
Speaker 2:Washington. Hosted at the Galaxy Uptown Theater, this year's festival will feature 85 wildly rich films from across an array of genres. This year's festival will showcase five world premieres, one US premiere and 48 Washington State premieres, while also bringing films from 13 different countries to Gig Harbor. The festival opens with the world premiere of the Dogfather, the Legacy of Don James, which chronicles a time in history that changed Washington.
Speaker 1:Husky football forever. This year's attendees will enjoy exclusive premiere screenings, q&a sessions following the film blocks and, for VIP pass holders, an immersive all-access experience including epic parties and events throughout the four days. Digital programs are available now via the festival's website and for more information on scheduling, vip passes and general admission tickets, please head over to wwwgigharborfilmcom. You can also follow the festival on Instagram at Gigharbor Film. All right, gang, we're back and ready to talk movies once again, but first a quick check-in Erica, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I'm good Ready to talk about this movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is one that was circled on your list for a while right yeah, yep. Yeah, that'll be fun, and also, too, because I don't think that you had seen the original before this right.
Speaker 3:No, I watched it over the weekend, okay, max how are you doing today?
Speaker 4:Great yeah, just fought traffic coming down the I-5. I'm here, I'm ready. I also watched both versions of Speak no Evil for the first time this weekend.
Speaker 1:Very nice.
Speaker 4:And ready to get into the brutally nihilistic ending of that original one.
Speaker 1:Absolutely right. We have a brutal schedule upcoming here. We welcome the challenge, though, of festival season here in the Northwest, so a lot to look forward to.
Speaker 2:there it is.
Speaker 1:We are one weekend away from the Gig Harbor Film Festival and less than a month away from the Tacoma Film Festival, and we'll get into more of that, but a really fun time of year around here on the pod, all right. So so we're here to discuss the new film from Blumhouse Studios, speak no Evil. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last three months, you've no doubt seen a trailer playing in theaters or on TV or advertised on social media. This movie is a remake of a Danish film by the same name, that released in 2022 during Sundance Film Festival. I'm not sure exactly how many of the casual movie goers out there are privy to that fact.
Speaker 1:I mean, I know our ETI listeners are some of the smartest people in the world out there Some say the smartest, some say, but I do think that that kind of makes for an interesting first talking point. But first I just kind of, of course, want to talk about the movie's performance this last weekend. Speak no evil 2024 opened. Second at the domestic box office deadpone wolverine still crushing it. But this film opened at 11.4 million and pulled in another 9 million internationally. So the film has made 20 million dollars so far on a production budget of $15 million. An interesting place to start, like I said, more numbers-wise than kind of word of mouth and advertising.
Speaker 1:I've been reading that this is a success for Blumhouse to open here at $20 million. Now, yes, it made its money back opening weekend when you look at the worldwide gross. But Erica and I were talking before we went live here and because this movie was so heavily marketed I feel like I've seen it non-stop everywhere and it played on, I think, 3300 screens. When I saw 11 million and before I started reading the variety and the, the dead spin and the hollywood reporter articles kind of analyzing its performance, I was like ooh, that's not good. And then I'm reading that this was a strong showing. What's your reaction to 20 million opening weekend worldwide for a Blumhouse film that was this heavily marketed.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm really surprised that it wasn't number one at the box office.
Speaker 1:What was number one? It was Deadpool, deadpool and Wolverine with like 50 million. Still. That's insane office. What was number one? It was deadpool and wolverine, with like 50 million still. That's, that's insane, that's the power of marvel. Uh, that looms over every movie um, this is the nerdy stuff you're gonna have to really get invested in.
Speaker 4:But uh, yeah, you know it is kind of interesting. It might be a situation where maybe it was overmarked, marketing right and and so much was in your face, the whole, you know, for the past three months or whatever long, I feel like that like, yeah, you're, you're, like I've seen the movie you're a little fatigued just from everything out there.
Speaker 4:Um, also, you know, I think it's interesting because this is like a legacy remake would you call it that? Or, or, I guess, an american remake of a film that came out what? Two years ago, right? Um, so, maybe, maybe a little, a little too fast to to jump the gun there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was thinking I was thinking about the times in which we've seen this happen before because, like ringu, came out in 1999, I believe in japan such a different time than though 100 agree but then already in 2001, I believe, is the american remaker, maybe it's 2002 or something like that, but a similar window of release for those films.
Speaker 1:So we've seen it happen before. We're like an international phenomenon, you know, comes on the scene super strong, whether it's during a festival or just during its theatrical run in its home country, and then an American producer and or movie studio think, okay, we, we need to pounce on this popularity right away. I just felt like we haven't seen it done this recently and in maybe the last 10 years or 15 years or so, and so I I kind of don't know how to feel about there's no real like precedent that I can think of to call on for this yeah, not a lot.
Speaker 4:You can compare to, uh, in the last decade, you know I I also think, like I know we all love james mcavoy, jimmy mack, as, as I call him, when we're on the french river area together together but not going through your 19 different split personalities together there's much more between us.
Speaker 1:You have one for each pod, that you work on each pod, each class you're in yeah, yeah, school introduced a whole new set of personalities I didn't know I had.
Speaker 4:But yeah, maybe he's not. Maybe he's not the draw that we all thought he was, you know, and and maybe maybe him in this sort of role isn't that draw. Uh, even though you know he was raved about in split, seeing him as a bad guy and and a hulk of a man I mean, he is gigantic in this movie yeah, he basically gets to play the beast role, which he ends the split film with the entire time.
Speaker 4:That's exactly what I thought, yeah yeah, I don't know, I I don't know why it didn't open bigger, because, again, it is a thriller, it is a horror. We always talk about how those movies are evergreen. That that's going to be the movie that you're going to go out. It's also kind of a weird time in the year where school has really started back up, so maybe a lot of people just aren't going out right now. They're they're, they're staying in because you know we've got school every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people are a little, a little tired, I guess, of the day-to-day, but also it's spooky season. We talked about this with beetlejuice, beetlejuice and how that movie maybe is going to be the official kickoff, and then we have this movie following it up and you just kind of didn't see it. But also, too, maybe it's a blumhouse thing because, afraid, a movie that we haven't talked about, um, in a couple of weeks and we didn't really report on, completely bombed at the box office, opened with like eight million dollars or something which is so bad.
Speaker 1:I haven't heard one person talk about it or seen one of my friends on letterboxd review that movie. I think it was in theaters for literally three days.
Speaker 4:It's wild how that movie just meant nothing.
Speaker 1:When you know, when you sit down and watch the trailer for the first time, like oh, that's fun, I could have a cup of coffee I bet you that's gonna be a streaming superstar once it.
Speaker 1:Once it gets to I, I wouldn't be surprised by that streamer yeah um, okay so so let's kind of start with the awareness behind the two films. We've already talked a little bit about the marketing, um, but this is really fun because the two of you have both already said that you watched the original for the first time in preparation for the release of this movie. So when it kind of comes to the original versus this new release, let's just talk about word of mouth awareness in coming to the films. So, erica, were you at all aware that there was an original?
Speaker 3:No, not at all. I think you told me actually, and I didn't realize that there was an original. No, not at all. Um, I think you told me actually, and um, I didn't realize that there was one so soon like there was. It was just two years ago that that came out, um, but I had this movie on my watch list for pretty much the whole year. I was really looking forward to it and, yeah, I had no idea that it was a remake, which was weird.
Speaker 1:I feel like you know, sundance is usually January, february I can't exactly tell you the date in which that film festival ran during 2022, because we were still kind of coming out of the pandemic and so I think a lot of those festivals did like virtual screening offerings, at least for their movies. But I remember it making a lot of noise, at least for their movies, um, but I remember it making a lot of noise and I put that original film on my watch list right away once I heard people in the industry starting to talk about and then it finally, I think, hit some sort of streaming service, maybe shutter or something, here in the united states around like summer of 2022. I watched it and I enjoyed it, um, but didn't think like I need to see another american version of this right away. But there was news of the remake. I would, I wanted to say like within the calendar year of 2022.
Speaker 4:Is that what you remember? I think I remember telling you about that news on on one of the episodes and you audibly groaning like, um, yeah, I was, was. I remember that movie making a lot of noise too in its festival run and just the you know like, oh, this is, there's a crazy vacation, horror. I remember when you had finally fired it up and you talked highly of it. I, just I, for some reason, I just never. I never got around to it.
Speaker 1:Well, no knowing about it and just kind of maybe knowing what I had said and what you had heard other people say it is. It's totally one of these headspace movies where you kind of have to check yourself and be like am I ready for this? Because everything I'm hearing is almost like I need to. I need to already be in kind of a dark spot.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I had no idea going into it about. I mean I knew it was a vacation horror right. I knew like they meet some crazy people and some crazy things happen. I had no idea it was going to go as dark as it goes, and it goes hard it does.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that ending. I had seen a lot of talk about the ending, so I think that I was expecting something interesting to happen, but I was not prepared for the ending of the original yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we have kind of a little section here where we're playing around with this new episode format.
Speaker 1:I think what what we're landing on now and, listeners, you tell us if this sounds good, but it's like a cinema showdown.
Speaker 1:So we're going to kind of take the the different aspects, the same, the same structure behind each film and kind of clash them together. So talk about the casting, talk about the act structure, how the movie begins, how the movie ends, and see which one we kind of give the advantage to, um, but just to kind of like put a bow on on the marketing side of it all. I think that this is a really good example and Max, you touched on it there at the beginning of like the first one had such strong word of mouth and and it was kind of one of those movies that when you were recommend, when the movie was recommended to you, it's just kind of like it's a lot, go in expecting kind of a tough ride, a movie that's going to challenge you, but no one really told you what that challenge was going to be yeah and then with this american remake, you know in the trailer everything that's gonna happen in the movie.
Speaker 1:and now maybe that's intentional, because you are playing to american audiences and I'm not trying to hate on american audiences or anything like that, but international audiences can just stomach a lot more and they don't prescribe to this this same formula of like the good guys have to win at the end or the bad guys have to lose at the end, necessarily so, and just kind of an interesting, an interesting thought there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think also American audiences, they, you know, they have to know exactly what kind of movie they're going into. Right, and I think that's something we always kind of talk about is the problem with trailers these days is that you know, you have to, you almost have to know exactly what you're watching.
Speaker 1:You have to know that Abigail's a vampire.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and it's just, it's just horrendous, it's just a bad, bad way to go, like marketing a movie.
Speaker 1:I feel like you're just they're constantly American and, like we said, we don't want to underestimate our audience here on ETI. We think that you guys are some of the smartest people out there, based on the interactions that we have with you and everything. But, like American audiences in general are just always underestimated. I feel like when or like disrespected, I guess, would be the better word to use here when it comes to like what they can handle and what they can stomach, because it's not like this is a PG 13 movie and you have to make everybody happy. Like, if you're going to see this movie, I think you kind of know what you're getting yourself into and if you don't get a happy ending, you're not going to be that upset. At least you shouldn't be that upset.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, it's. It shouldn't be a surprise All right.
Speaker 1:So we'll talk about the casting here to begin with. In the original film. Obviously, it being a Danish movie, we don't have any personal relationship to these actors, but let's kind of talk about the different character traits that the actors in the original had, because they're quite different from what we got in the original. So what were some of the things that stood out to you guys? Because we really have a tight knit cast here of basically just six actors, two different families husband and a wife, husband and a wife and two children I felt, like you know, watching the original the, especially the guy who plays bjorn is or not bjorn um is his name patrick in the original patty yeah yeah, that's how little he stuck out to me um I just don't think that he really.
Speaker 3:You know I've seen so many trailers for the american version too. You know, I was expect, I knew what to expect, as far as crazy, but his character just felt like so lackluster compared. But in the original, like I don't know, I didn't feel very connected to any of them.
Speaker 1:But or protagonist family.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah protagonist and the antagonist I I think well.
Speaker 4:So that is interesting because I do think the danish film you know the performancesvoy, especially in the american version is just so he's like, so like psycho, right like he's so zany and and over the top, when you watch the danish version he's just like that version of patty is just very, he's almost like more in control of himself and the situation that's going on, because he is so like you can tell he's there's rage there and he's evil, but it's, it's under. He keeps it all under the surface. Um, apart from the, you know, probably the, the dancing scene, uh, which are is in both films. Um, I thought that I thought it was really interesting that in the american version, scoot mcnary's character ben, they make him 10 times more just pathetic and like I I I hated ben through the whole movie.
Speaker 4:uh, with the American version in the Danish version, he, he, just you can tell he's. He's maybe depressed, but like they make him, like he finds the bunny right, as opposed to the American version when McAvoy it's another, it's just another game to McAvoy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, so like and and like he is, he's kind of more on the daughter's side in the Danish film Right, like when he turns around the car to go back and get the bunny. It's like, it's a big like All right, yeah, he's a good dad. He's a good dad and the wife is just like getting his leg pulled to go back and it's just like he's kind of a fucking dweeb and a baby about it.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, it was. It was weird to see scoot in such an unlikable role and it was 100 by design and I think that he embodies that, that character, well. So maybe it's just the way that it's written, but I couldn't agree with the two of you more, and that's that was.
Speaker 1:One of my big problems with the original film was, if you want me to be emotionally invested in the protagonist family that they're experiencing are those are much more um, I would say, nuanced as well than in the American version where really it's just kind of like this family who is on vacation and they're sick of the nine to five corporate life and and that's really it. There's not too much more about like the loss of a job or infidelity and all these other things that are happening within the family structure of the American family who are. They're living in England. But the American family, the McKenzie Davis and the Scoot McNary family in the remake that stuff is really hammered home, I think, to try to make you empathize with the family more, hammered home, I think, to try to make you empathize with the family more.
Speaker 1:In McKenzie's date, in McKenzie Davis's case it really worked for me and I thought that that was great and really welcomed, because whether it was the husband and him just kind of being sick and tired of the nine to five grind and the wife and the daughter feeling like they're unfulfilled in their life as well, just was not enough for me in the first one. And so in that first film I love the mood, I love the tone and we'll get to all of those things um a little bit later, but all I really have is that the antagonist family. They're kind of toying with these people, and because it is a lot more subdued in that original version, they're kind of toying with these people and because it is a lot more subdued in that original version, it's not as over the top and as entertaining as it is in this one, and so that's where, like, I just think the casting my, my thing is the casting in the original um is is nothing in comparison to in the remake. The remake, I think, does such a better job of of fleshing out these characters and giving giving everybody more to do.
Speaker 1:In Scoot's case, for the Ben's Ben character, it almost goes in the opposite direction, though, where you just like care even less about him, yeah, um, but it really works for Mackenzie Davis and you know, mcavoy is just so entertaining, as you've already said.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's McAvoy is just and I've read that he he didn't watch the original at all because he didn't want any sort of influence or anything to compare to, so he really was just going off the feels of the script, which obviously. The script is so well written that you can almost get different, you can get different characters from it, but ultimately they fall under the same umbrella. I mean, it feels like the same person, just one's kind of turned up to 11, and the other one's just a little bit lower.
Speaker 1:Which is when you're writing a character that is deranged and psychotic, unless you're going to write a movie that is deranged and psychotic. You almost, unless you're going to write a. A movie. That I think about all the time when I think about these two films is funny games and how, when Michael Haneke decided to remake that film one of his most infamous movies comp to these.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he, it's same director, different actors, american actors for the remake 10 years later and he just does a scene for scene, shot for shot, same script, same everything remake. That's his remake is just an literally just the american version. Like the whole movie is just the same, but in english, and I almost think that that's the kind of thing hearing you say that about McAvoy that he wanted to avoid. He didn't want to just do the same thing over and over, where he's like my version of what a character a person in the world who is doing this would look like is this. Yeah, not that. So I do respect that, like the guy. Maybe he isn't the box office draw that Blumhouse thought he was going back to split, but he's. He's like a world class actor. He's really fun to watch.
Speaker 3:He's what drew me to this movie. Seeing him in the trailers, I was like he sold me. That's yeah.
Speaker 1:How do you feel? How do you feel about the Mackenzie Davis character in the remake?
Speaker 3:I liked her. I think I mean I like her as an actress already. So that's the thing about this new one is that I was already on board with just the cast already because I just historically really like the things they've been in. So I knew I probably wouldn't be disappointed and even though Scoot's character was so infuriating, I think he played that role really well. But Mackenzie Davis, I liked her. She was also like there was moments where I was like dude, you are, you're driving me insane, um, but I think that's the point. But I think she she killed it.
Speaker 4:She's a lot less sad than than the original wife. Uh, wife, right, like she, mackenzie Davis in this film definitely like, takes charge more and and you're right has a lot more to do, um, which I think is is true with the whole American cast. But, um, but, yeah, she's just, she's just way more, she's just louder and like in in your face more with, uh, you know how she's feeling, what she wants and and taking action. I mean she and and taking action.
Speaker 4:I mean she's the one who you know, uh, you know spoiler we're getting into spoiler territory but she's the one who slams the hammer into the the bartender's head right, like she's the one that kind of gets to go like you're next slash ready or not have that moment, yeah, totally uh, after you know, yeah, scoot mcnary's weak ben like does just the weakest like attack out of the closet, um, but yeah, so yeah, mckenzie davis, I thought, I thought they really good job.
Speaker 1:I I can't remember what else she's been in blade runner 2049 is my big one for her okay oh yeah the little part though, right yeah, but important. You know, she's kind of like the Daryl Hannah character from the original in 2049.
Speaker 3:She got a lot of praise for San Junipero in that episode of Black Mirror. Oh, okay, that was like one of their best episodes and I think people still talk about it, but she's um the lead in that episode so.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about act structure now. Well, first I'm giving it, I'm giving casting to the remake yes, absolutely, yeah, absolutely and maybe we're just being dumb americans by saying that, but I think that well, they just brought more to the table 100.
Speaker 3:I think.
Speaker 1:I think that that's a fair, objective statement to say it's not just because we love mcavoy and scoot and all these actors who we have long-standing relationships with.
Speaker 3:I actually think that they just brought a lot more backstory. There were better performances, yeah um.
Speaker 1:however, the nuance don't want to. We don't want to, you know, disregard the nuance of of the actors, um, and their performances in the original, but we'll move on to act structure now. For me, this is where the original lacked a little bit, especially in that first act, because I feel like we sped through the vacation a lot and then hearing that the budget was only 15 million, that made a little bit more sense to me. I feel like it whether or not the script was written this way by design or the producer said you have to do it this way I was like I just feel like they just want to get us to the farmhouse, they want to get the families together, they want to have them isolated, because in the original one you spend more time kind of developing this friendship on vacation between the two couples. Is that how you guys saw it?
Speaker 4:I totally agree, I think so. Eric and I saw this together over in Geek Harbor and, yeah, I think, like I turned to you at one point, Erica, and I was just like man it's fast, they're just speeding through this.
Speaker 3:But see, I guess I kind of picked up on that too from the first one and maybe I just wasn't as invested in the first one when I was watching. I just wasn't as invested in the first one when I was watching. I felt like it was fast.
Speaker 1:Can I ask real quick yeah, which order? What order did the two of you watch these two films in? Original remake, original remake, original.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, fair I wish I would have done it the opposite way.
Speaker 4:Oh, we can talk about that later. Okay, interesting, interesting yeah.
Speaker 3:I just I I don't know, I maybe I'm just not remembering correctly, but it just it really didn't make a huge impact on me, because I felt like my biggest complaint with both versions was that that first act and like just them building a relationship, was just like not there and I was like, oh OK, like you're just going and visiting someone you don't even know. When they show the picture of the family together, like on their fridge in both versions, I'm just like, when did you guys take that? It's like and it looks like they're at that dinner that we see, cause they're wearing the same outfits and I'm like, and I was under the impression that that was their first dinner they had together and I don't know it just it confused me a little bit. It just was too fast.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I felt the American version was a little faster because there wasn't. You know, we have the pool scene, right, that's like the initial contact. But then in the original doesn't Patrick like make a toast and you know kind of again, just kind of like he exudes this confidence. Confidence and attention.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:That he gathers and and and then when I I really do love in the original, when the dad finds the bunny and comes back, and then patty and his wife are talking to the wife, the wife, uh, and he and Patty again, like, make sure, make, makes sure to say like, oh, bjorn, you're, you're a hero, right and like, and that I think that just that little tiny moment is like oh, that's how you can see where this whole bromance right yeah.
Speaker 1:Where he starts to develop it and and that I feel like was just kind of missing. And again, maybe that is supposed to be the nuance of the american version is that, like scoot is just so desperate that it it actually doesn't even take much for mcavoy's character, to get him on the hook and for him to kind of start playing with him.
Speaker 1:But I still just needed more. Because for me personally I don't know about you guys, but in a movie like this, that, and especially in the original one, because once you get to the farmhouse you have this insanely good, imposing sense of dread. Like I in my letterbox review for the original one when I first saw it, I was like this is 1960s Polanski making a funny games movie. It's like I think it's that good as far as like building an atmosphere that you just want to nope the fuck out of we were just like it's so good and it feels so real.
Speaker 1:However, to get to that point for a movie that isn't like this isn't a slasher, this isn't some sort of horror film where you are where you really need to suspend disbelief but I have to I do have to buy into the fact that, like, these couples would actually want to meet up together after they've already been on vacation. Yeah, and in the original one I feel that more than in this one, and that's why I just needed more time with them together to kind of build that bond, build that rapport, because, like I'm saying, that would take a lot for me to. To meet a couple, to meet anybody on vacation, to meet anybody like even just at the grocery store, at plain pickleball, like it doesn't matter. Like to make a new friend later in life, when you're 35, 45, whatever like it doesn't happen let alone travel halfway across the country, the state, whatever, wherever you live, to go visit these people.
Speaker 1:And so I needed more of that in the american version, because then once we just speed through that first act and we're at the house and they're trapped there. I'm kind of like, even though I know what's coming because you know I've already seen the original most people have they know what's coming more because of the trailer you're just kind of like all right, well, you're, yep, here you go, like made your bed, now it's time to lay in it, because you couldn't say no, you had to be polite, another small moment from the original is I love when they have dinner with their other friends and they bring up.
Speaker 4:You know, the idea of going to visit these strangers and like there's a conversation there and like, and again it just kind of is like that's such a good scene in the original. They're like going against conventional thinking. Uh, because I, I think even their friends are like well, you don't even know these people yeah, why would you do that?
Speaker 1:and they're like but this is what? Yeah, people don't trust each other anymore. Like why?
Speaker 1:not you know, da da, da da da, and which is great, because that's like that's a classic horror movie trope, right like just say no, yeah, don't. Don't say I'll be right back, don't go into the dark house, don't do whatever, right. And so it's like don't go on vacation with these people. That that I thought was just done better in the original. One sounds like that's kind of consensus. So then, once we get to the house and this nightmare kind of starts to unfold, how do you think that was handled in comparison to the original?
Speaker 3:um, I mean I I like the remake so much more than the original because pretty much the second act in the first one just still wasn't doing it for me. I was like, okay, I'm not really feeling the sense of dread, I'm I'm not really feeling like the tension too much like, as you know, compared to the remake. Um, and you know, there's moments that the mom is having Louise and they're just she's so freaked out a couple times and I'm just like obviously I get that that's where the story is headed. But I think maybe putting myself in her shoes, I'm like I don't know if I would have like picked up on that vibe that you're getting, but in the abrid or the remake it's like it's there like the awkwardness is very in your face because james mcavoy is very in your face. It's so much more subtle in the first one so it wasn't doing it for me. But I mean I was tapped in for sure, but I felt that that was also kind of rushed a little bit too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I love the design of the house in the remake.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:Even though it is kind of like an open, like farm area where in the original you're like in the woods, right, and it's a little bit more claustrophobic and a little scarier, but that house is a little bit more run down. This is this house that they go to. This farmhouse is like almost, like a.
Speaker 1:It's almost like a manor.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but like a maze too Right. Like it's almost like a mouse, a big mousetrap.
Speaker 1:Remind me of the game mousetrap, where, like, there's low ceilings and there's these weird doors and and sharp corners right and skinny hallways um you know, what I thought was a really good subtle part of the production design of the setting that we get introduced to in the second act there in the original or in the remake, excuse me is when they show Agnes to her room that she's going to be sharing with their son and it's like this attic crawl space basically.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's like blankets, sleeping bag, maybe in a pillow on the ground, and then the next scene we go to, I think, is scoot taking out the trash from dinner and you get a really good wide shot of like two full stories of the house. And that's great, because if you know the relationship that this young boy actually has to james mcavoy, um, it makes perfect sense that they would just kind of have him tossed away in the smallest room available, even though you what you can see from the house is like there's a lot of space here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good, little subtle trick yeah not even a trick, but just a little kind of like detail yeah, um.
Speaker 4:But yeah, you know, I I think, a lot like erica said, the the awkwardness and the uncomfortable moments are way more in your face and in the american version. But then I think that also kind of kind of plays against it, right, because if in the original version it's way more subtle and way more under the radar where it's like okay, is the wife actually just kind of paranoid paranoid or overprotective or you know not.
Speaker 4:You know not open to, to a new experience or whatever. Where in this it's just like after, even after the dinner, where they pretend that McAvoy's getting head and all that.
Speaker 1:That's when you get up and you're like I think we're going to leave Even before that, when they're like here's a guy who's been, like, released from a insane asylum but he's rehabilitated and he's going to be your babysitter. Yeah, yeah, that's a hard no, that's a hard no. That's a hard no for me, even though, like the living quarters for my daughter if they were just like here's where she's sleeping on the floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, next is I'd be like we got to do better. We have to do better.
Speaker 1:But I mean, and you know, at the very end of this we kind of have overall effectiveness and and everything like that. I, the thing that both these movies do such a good job of is putting manners, politeness and kind of pc culture under a microscope. And like, when do you decide to stand up for yourself and and just say no?
Speaker 1:yeah and like be rude, be a bitch, be a dick, whatever to protect your family, right? And? And so it's great because I think that I love what you're saying, erica that, like in this remake, mcavoy is so up front with, with his intensity, that he's almost pressuring you to say you gotta, you know, do this, do this, do this or whatever. And in the original the patty character is so nuanced and they are gaslighting you the whole time into thinking like you're being rude, you're overreacting. We're trying to be good hosts, so stay that way. It's a good balance. Um, that you really get there in the second act before things get batshit crazy, and in the third act, in both films, just in a different way yeah, that's a good point so the third act then this is like the big difference between the two movies.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean the remake changes into straw dogs, right, I mean, like it is it, it it is, it is a. A total action becomes a total action thriller.
Speaker 1:Fight for your life, survive.
Speaker 4:Fight for your life barricade yourself in the house and, and yeah, cat and mouse game, Whereas in the original it's already too late. What a great way to put that.
Speaker 4:The doom has already happened and there is no winning, there is no escaping. You have already lost. And so I guess it kind of comes down to your taste about, like what you know. Do you want to experience that doom and that brutal feeling of losing while watching a movie, or do you want to, you know, have the excitement of a well-paced action thriller that you know we're going to win?
Speaker 1:How do you take your cup of coffee? Doom and gloom, or a little sugar, very dark. Okay, I love it.
Speaker 3:Both endings actually did it for me. I was really I don't think that I didn't like one of them and I liked the other. I think I liked them both for very different reasons. But I mean, I think you know wanting this to be a little bit more horror-centric that I appreciated the ending of the first one because it's just different. I don't think can I say a spoiler? Yeah, okay, cool. Well, I don't think I've really ever seen someone stoned to death in a horror.
Speaker 3:You know, maybe I don't know, maybe I have, but Buck naked too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, they linger on the shot.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, that was a rough watch and so I appreciated that. From remake also. I enjoyed like the drawn out ending where it's like this whole you know battle between the two and it really had you like on the edge of your seat a little bit. So I appreciated that as well. So I just I think they both worked. But, like Max said, it's kind of up to taste at that point. You know, the remake is definitely a much more like Americanized ending, which is not bad. It's just we see our you know protagonists kind of they win so and that's cool. But the first one is more of like a well, this is probably what would have really happened, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that's where it comes.
Speaker 1:That's what it comes down to. For me, is it's not necessarily anything that the American version did wrong, but I just think what the original version did so well is show us something that we, as an American audience, don't often get to experience. And when you watch so many of these movies, you're sitting there and you're like, okay, that's nice that people to experience. And when you watch so many of these movies, you're sitting there and you're like, okay, that's nice that that that people who I'm supposed to be rooting for are okay, but I would kind of like to see what it was. What would it be like, what would it look like, what would it feel like if they weren't? And that's what the original gives you. So like I'm gonna give act structure to the original because I think it does a better job of establishing a friendship between the two couples in the beginning. I love the sense of dread in the second act during the original version as well, and just like give me a bummer ending every now and then more often than not to be honest.
Speaker 1:But like you, are?
Speaker 4:you are the king of bummer, bummer endings.
Speaker 1:If I'm looking for a good time, I'll go watch Superbad.
Speaker 4:I don't need it in my horror films. I think the remake made a really smart decision to do it differently, just so you can have it both ways. You can watch the original and get that doom and gloom because think if the American version was the original. And. And and get that doom and gloom because think if, think of if the american version was the original. I think a lot more people would be whining and groaning about oh it's just, you know, it's a thriller where it's just a run-of-the-mill thriller where these people escape, right, and but because it does, the original does do something that movies just don't do often. It has the luxury of being like well, if you, if you want something different, you can go watch the danish version I think that's what helped the original version make so much noise when it came out totally right.
Speaker 1:Cause, instantly, people were drawn to that. Okay, so that's good. I'm happy to hear, I think that's a good endorsement for both films. Right, there is saying that because a lot of people have been griping about it. They've been bitching about the original or I mean, excuse me, the remake and how it's just so soft. At the end you can have your cake and eat it too, I, that's good.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then we've already we, we discussed the setting a little bit, mostly just talking about the farmhouse, the, the villa, whatever you want to call it. You called it a maze max. Do you want to expand on that a little bit? Because we really get to like go off and see different, different parts of this property in the remake as, as I would say, maybe not as well done as the original, because the original I feel like it's just so much darker and you're kind of trapped more. But the fact that the, the characters and, like I love, you know, there's the shouting scene in both films, but but the, the property just felt a little bit more expansive and I think I I like that for some reasons in the remake. I don't know how you ended up feeling about it, though.
Speaker 4:Well, I think in the original it's just a lot more desolate and so like it feel. You feel a lot more like they are really alone out there.
Speaker 1:We see the journey to them getting to the house more too, yeah.
Speaker 4:And I think there's made like it's more of a point to be like they have like trouble getting there and finding the way, as opposed to in the american version. They just kind of like argue about it and then they see like the war memorial and turn really fast. Um, but the whole, the whole thing in the original when they go out for like their hike or whatever, I think it's like a slide in the original and a swing in the in the remake. But I I felt like being out on that in the original. When they're like out on like a, it's like a cornfield or something, it just it. It felt way more, way more isolating. Uh, even though, even though they're like in the woods or in the remake and and hiking around the woods and making a fire or the, cliff jumping scene.
Speaker 1:The cliff jumping maybe too it's because some of that's like a lot of that's spoiled in the trailers yeah, probably you know.
Speaker 4:But also like if, if there's a cool cliff jumping spot with like that's safe, like there's going to be other people there Right In the original who's going to go hang out in, like just a desolate farmland. And also like the reservoir right the rock reservoir that they go and scream at and then eventually get stoned to death. Yes, like, who, like, who would ever just hang out there, whereas mcavoy in the remake takes them up on some pretty you know, it looks like a sound of music.
Speaker 4:Yeah, grass hill. Yeah, uh, julie andrews is right over there, uh, but yeah so. I think the original and also like, yeah, I love, you have to have the house in the remake. You know, have character and be a character in the film because you're doing the ending that you're doing, whereas the house in the original it feels a little bit more like run down and like way, almost like sketchier um agreed like a place that a doctor 100 would not live at.
Speaker 4:Exactly yeah and so even though I I enjoyed kind of the nooks and crannies in the remake, I think the original setting is is far scarier, uh yeah.
Speaker 3:I think I I mean, I guess, listening to you explain it that way, I probably agree a little bit more now because I liked seeing, like you said, like the nooks and crannies of the remake.
Speaker 3:I liked being able to go into that little cellar um with the kid. You know we got more interactions with the kids too in the remake and so him kind of taking her down there. I was like there's like just more to this property, um, but you know it does make sense. Like it is a little bit creepier just to have this like rundown place where they, you know you get there and you're like this is not what I signed up for, kind of thing, like it's just a little jar more jarring, I would say I I think also in the original.
Speaker 4:You know it's talked up so much when they're on vacation, like, oh, the west country, the west country is so beautiful, you have to come out and see it.
Speaker 3:And then you get there and it's just like in the woods this is what you were talking about like are their bodies out back?
Speaker 4:yeah, what is going on?
Speaker 3:yeah, whereas in the remake, you know, that's kind of shown.
Speaker 4:It is beautiful, beautiful, it is beautiful you know, he's like hey, I wasn't lying.
Speaker 3:This place is pretty sick, I know.
Speaker 1:They're having, like even during the dance scene, when they're having that lunch picnic. I'm like this looks very pleasant, aside from the child rearing and everything else that's happening right now. Like this looks like a great time. I can see why you all got a little little day drunk during right out here. I'd be doing the same thing probably. Um, so yeah, I think I think that, although I liked the way that everything looked and you know like it was photographed beautifully in the original or in the remake, excuse me, the remake just looks gorgeous um, that the original feels more claustrophobic, it feels more damp, it feels more old and creepy, like a haunted house or something that you would have in a horror movie. So so I think I got to give the the setting nod to the original for that reason agreed yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:Um, okay. So then, kind of going into to the look of it, the use of music, everything like that, we'll get to now kind of all the different craft and technical aspects of the film.
Speaker 1:Max, you're a million quarters deep into film school, I'm sure there's not a single movie that you watch nowadays that you aren't analyzing some part of the sound, design, the lighting, anything like that. So these are two really good movies that, because we are basically an all-in-one place kind of movie, have to use a lot of technical and craft tricks to help build suspense and dread and the mystery. So what'd you respond to the most?
Speaker 4:Well, I think the remake is just more, and this is probably because it's a Hollywood production, but it is just more snazzy, right, like I mean the the picture looks crisper, the the colors look brighter, the I mean the picture looks crisper, the colors look brighter, the movements of the camera are smoother, whereas the original it does have a bit of a static feel, but I think that also really plays into the tone and the visual setting of that original one. I will say I think wasn't the music kind of similar in both? I I feel like the had like a, like a. Yeah but.
Speaker 1:But in the original I feel like them they cut the music out of the back half of it basically a lot more, yeah, yeah yeah. So whereas during the big action set piece that you get at the end of the remake, there's, of course, a ton of musical cues and and ramping up of energy using, you know, the film um the film score.
Speaker 4:So yeah, it kind of I don't know you and you can be manipulated by all of that right and meant to feel a certain way from music, but also from the dropping out of music. I mean, I think if there is no music you might get locked in a little bit more. When there is music, you're having a lot more fun maybe, but yeah, I don't know, it's just a different style of filmmaking. You're having a lot more fun maybe, but yeah, I don't know, I it is a really it's just a different style of filmmaking when it comes down to a Hollywood production and a European or a Danish production, to be even be more specific.
Speaker 1:Something I know you are always paying a lot of attention to, erica, is the makeup in these films a lot more chance for some blood and some guts and some gore at the end of the american version. Do you respond to that?
Speaker 3:yeah, absolutely. Um, I think, visually, like, like max said, it's just it's a more expensive looking film, you know, and it's because it's a hollywood production, you know just, it looks bigger and better than the first one. But you know, I think a lot of us appreciate a little bit of a, you know, grittier horror, I guess. But, um, yeah, I mean visually, and then of course, we just get so much more time to see the makeup in the end, like the third act of the remake the acid oh absolutely.
Speaker 4:that's why I really enjoyed the remake. I love the acid of McAvoy oh absolutely.
Speaker 3:That's why I really enjoyed the remake, because we just there was so much more gore, whereas in the first one we really don't get a whole lot until like the very end. But we do get the tongue cutting scene and that was jarring, and you know they showed the whole thing, so that was impressive too.
Speaker 4:so I appreciated that yeah, a close-up too, and a dead kid in the pool, you know, yep I mean listen, we're doing things internationally.
Speaker 2:That we just aren't doing here stateside.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I think I think also too is just like kind of the production. We talked about the setting, right, but the the set design of the house in the original just felt more cluttered. This, this movie, is also really cluttered that the house was, and so I I love that because it did give off the same vibes the whole right. Both movies just are like a total vibe check where it's just like does this pass and does this not pass? When you're showing me little sculptures of like a woman with, with, just like mother's, mother's love, whatever it's called the weird shaped breast and the wide open mouth.
Speaker 1:That's just another like hard no for me.
Speaker 2:Like we're packing the bags and and leaving.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry that's not the pottery that I need to have on display in my house and so, but I liked it. They kind of showcased it a little bit in the remake. In the original again, it's just more of kind of like background stuff that that's made to make you feel uncomfortable, where it's just kind of like. This is a far cry from when we were on vacation in italy and dining out and we had our own separate space. Now it's like I feel like when I, if I'm in that house, I like if we're walking down a hallway together, we're on top of each other. Like we go into a room together, we're on top of each other.
Speaker 1:You get that feeling a little bit in both movies I think, more so though in the in the original because of some of the set designs and just the house not feeling as expansive, as big. So so I do like that part about it. The music thing is interesting because it's so tricky, because a great score you know over on silver screens I know that kind of the the thought is that a great horror score is when you don't really notice it. Yeah, I don't know if I really agree with that, because I think it's some of my favorites and I'm like you know what.
Speaker 1:You know what takes the witch from a 9 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10 movie for me is Mark Corbin's music. Same with, like Midsommar, same with some of my. You know, I have so many horror movie scores that I play every single year just around the house during this time of year, and so like I really respond well to music and so I kind of I like that about the remake because it uses it a little bit more. But I think it is so effective in the, in the original, to just have, you know, this poor woman naked at the bottom of this rock reservoir getting stoned. And there's no reprieve, there's no escape from it, like you are just stuck, locked in with the sounds.
Speaker 4:You just have to hear the rock hitting the skull.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and her crying, whimpering and going out like that's so effective, that's so disturbing, like you're probably listening to this right now if you've never seen the original being like.
Speaker 4:That's a no for me I don't need that in my life. How many stones do you think it would take to?
Speaker 2:to knock you guys out that's a great question, especially those were like those were like those were construction stones over there what a crazy
Speaker 1:such a crazy way to go out. Imagine just putting that to, putting that from pen to paper and then taking it being like this is how we're going to end our movie, and everyone just giving you the green light yeah, that's wild, um, okay, and, and so then we'll just kind of so which one are you guys going to give this to for kind of like movie making production?
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 3:I'm going to give it to the remake.
Speaker 4:That's just me personally though. Yeah, I think maybe the remake for this category specifically, it does more with what it's given and I know sometimes less is more, but I think again, for the type of movie that the remake is, I think it works really well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll agree with that. I think it was fun to have the remake be a little bit more showy just in, in a contrasting, contrarian style to the original. It was fun to kind of see them ham it up a little bit, not just with the performances but with kind of what they were able to use there on the canvas. So then, overall effectiveness. I mean I already kind of said what I think this movie is about. I think it's just a huge critique on PC culture and people being polite and people not wanting to make other people upset in the trouble that that can get you in, and life will be truthful and speak your truth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If you don't want to go, you're being honest, Ben if you don't want to go on the vacation, just don't go on the vacation you know, just say no.
Speaker 1:Um, if you don't want to go on the vacation, just don't go on the vacation, you know, just say no. I think that in this funny to to kind of quote that interaction there with Ben because I think the the increased patheticness surrounding the Ben character in the remake, I think you kind of lose some of that message that I love from the original so much. So I'm going to give this to the original because that film, although I still don't really I I in the original, I don't have as strong as a relationship to the protagonist, I still under I understand what I think that movie's message is a little bit more and that is just like it's. It's all the trap like being like, of course, be polite, be nice to people, all of that, but you you might be befriending James McAvoy, a psychopath in real life, if, if you just can't have boundaries we all struggle with creating boundaries, people you need to make boundaries.
Speaker 3:Yes, stop being people pleasers. Exactly.
Speaker 4:And I think that that comes across better in the original yes, stop being people pleasers, Exactly, and I think that that comes across better in the original. Yeah, I think it is really interesting because by the end of the original you are you are rooting for Bjorn and Louise, where in the remake I wasn't really rooting for them, but I was.
Speaker 4:I was just kind of expecting them to get away, where in the in in the original, like when they're in the car. You know when, after, after, Bjorn tries to run to that farmhouse and he kind of he had to like jump through the muck and and you know there's no one home and he comes back to the car and Louise and, um, Agnes, Agnes, and there's no one home and he comes back to the car and Louise and Agnes, Agnes are gone, yeah, and then Patty drives up and they're in the car and it's just total and utter defeat. And in that moment you're just like you're rooting for them to get away. And then when the movie pulls the carpet from underneath you and shows you that they don't, I just think that's way more effective.
Speaker 4:I think that kind of ending is always going to get more of a reaction out of me than what we got in the remake, even though the remake very fun, very well done action like and you know, again like the acid. Then what we got in the remake, even though the remake very fun, very well done action and you know, again like the acid. Or you know Agnes in that film having the tranquilizer in her pocket and Ant getting to take his revenge on McAvoy, I don't know. It's great and fun, but the emotional reaction comes from the original.
Speaker 1:For me, what do you think about the line that's said in both versions of the film? Why are you doing this? To us because you let us. What do you think about that?
Speaker 3:uh, well, I was gonna touch on something kind of simple like that maybe relates to that about like kind of going back to politeness, because I think something I really got from both versions is that you know, if you've ever been in an awkward situation, or if you've, I mean even being in a situation where you might feel like you're in danger, might feel like you're in danger like sure, I think, like we watch that and you're like just say no, like leave. You know, but then it's like there is still that fear of you're. You know you're with a dangerous person and like I don't want to upset them anymore. I'm just trying to like try to keep myself safe and I think that that you know. That could be a whole other conversation.
Speaker 3:You know, and like in the real world, but I really resonated with that Like it's not always that easy to say no and it's not always that easy and like not that simple. You know, because both watching both situations, you know they do have the opportunity to leave a couple times where you're like, oh my God. But you know, especially in these awkward, like that dinner scene to like in the remake, and you're like this is something really wrong with the two of them. But I'm like ha ha, cool, like oh, that's funny, and you're trying to like play it cool too, just for your own safety.
Speaker 3:It is sort of that feeling of like this shark is letting me swim with it right now. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Like the question. They ask yeah, yeah, because you let us, yeah, and so you do kind of want to walk that fine line. And we all have done that in real life, whether it's at a job, with a boss, with a coworker, with a friend or whatever who you're just sort of like. I know this person's kind of toxic probably not good for me, but if I all of a sudden cut it off or say hey, I don't think that should hang out with each other anymore, they might just snap.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 1:I don't want them to snap on me, and so it is.
Speaker 1:It's just a really, really interesting examination of how to create boundaries and and how to people please, went to people please, um, and so I don't know. I think both movies I you know we talked about how many people have seen this film already. I hope more see it because it's a great both, both movies it's a great thing for audiences to think about. You know, this is a lot more. It's, it's deeper than just being like a home invasion movie or a vacation horror film or something along those lines that we've seen again and again and and so I I like that about both movies. I just think for me personally it's probably done a little bit more and I think it's probably because of, just like, the little international nuances that the original one has.
Speaker 4:So that gets my vote yeah, and I think, I think even like it's more president, uh, today, right, like even than it was two years ago, that's very true messaging of that. Yeah, so that that helps kind of the 2024 version yeah, yeah, but uh, but I think, like I said earlier, I again, the emotional effectiveness and reaction that the original got out of me yeah, uh, is, is is, I think, more valuable than than the the thrill ride of the remake yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3:I do prefer the remake over the original just because I think I enjoyed it pretty much front to front to back, but the ending was definitely something more my vibe in the original match your freak scratch, scratch the whore, yeah, yeah, yeah but um, I think, just overall, like I kind of was saying earlier, I wish I would have seen the, the remake first and been like, okay, cool this. I really I enjoyed this. This was fun.
Speaker 3:And you know, a huge reason I enjoyed it is because of james's performance I mean that's just, he carries it um and I just had so much fun like Max and I were cracking up but like not in, like a this is funny kind of way. It was like a.
Speaker 3:This guy is fucking crazy yeah and it was just making me laugh because I was uncomfortable with them, you know. But you're like he's kind of charming in a way. Like he's, his character is weirdly charming and, um, it just got more of a reaction out of me, like just continuously. And then I would have loved to see the original after that to be like, okay, this is so similar, because even down to some of the lines they're like the same, um, and like, okay, I know it's gonna happen, but then the ending is like, oh my God, that's totally different than the remake. Um, I think I kind of struggled with having cause, you know, I was looking forward to this movie all year. So, um, I think I had like the element of surprise kind of taken away in a sense from the remake, but I still really enjoyed it Like I don't know. Yeah, in a sense from the remake, but I still really enjoyed it Like I don't know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was also thinking about the moment in the car before the screaming. In the original, you know, bjorn really opens up about how he is just depressed, like he just hates the grind that his life has become.
Speaker 4:Whereas in the remake they make it much more about infidelity yeah, the marriage, the marriage and the dick pic and um, and they have had sex and forever and whatnot, and then and and again, I, I, I think you, you, just you side more with bjorn, as opposed to ben in the original, because that is just a, a sad person who is just like kind of lost, so melancholy, yeah, lost their love of life, right when Ben in the remake is kind of kind of just pathetic, like and and is not, is not taking responsibility for anything in his marriage and and not really being active to try and fix anything.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the thing too. I don't really think that he understands this, this fix that he's trying to find. He just, for whatever reason, thinks that this stranger who you met on vacation has the answers. And when he's with him he's getting glimpses kind of of this person who he wants to be, like this guy who's who's big and got a scruffy beard and who drives he's wild wild, drives the car around really fast like just grows grows a good charismatic yeah, yeah, he's confident.
Speaker 3:I mean, he kind of he comes off as just like I'm just i'm'm, I'm fucking cool you know, and I'm like, I'm like the cool dad and everyone's like looking at him like, wow, you're cool. And you know you really see Bjorn like or Ben watching him with just this like admiration.
Speaker 4:What did you both also think about? Again another change in the original Bjorn and Louise have sex, which then Agnes ends up sleeping.
Speaker 1:That's why she's in the other bed. Yeah, and.
Speaker 4:Patty in his wife's bed, where in this one they fight and no sex. Now I know no sex is like again a very American thing right now, Like there's just no sex in movies anymore. But I also find that because in the original that's a great, that's a great like little again nuance where it's like he Bjorn has after this screaming therapy or whatever, he now has some, some life in him.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:And he is going to partake and act on it and and by making love to his wife and they are having an intimate moment that maybe that hasn't happened in a while. And then in the American version, instead they're they're going to bicker, and and that's why I mean they would stop their bickering and go get the daughter if that was the case.
Speaker 1:Well, and it happens once earlier in the film right when, like Scoot and Scoot kind of shows a little bit of disgust on his face almost I think it's their first night at at the farmhouse and McKenzie's making a comment about when do you think they last washed these sheets and he's trying to have this, this bravado about him that we shouldn't care. They're in the country, they do things differently.
Speaker 1:This is cool yeah exactly and like so let's get down and dirty kind of. And then agnes comes in and asks if she can watch her.
Speaker 2:I that cracked me up, her little breathing youtube penguin screen that she had so relatable.
Speaker 1:When I'm like, oh my gosh, if I need to start doing the five finger breathing thing right now with agnes like I'll do it.
Speaker 2:I just feel like I'm back at work.
Speaker 1:Um, but but yeah, he kind of has this moment.
Speaker 1:He sort of rolls his eyes, kind of looks um away from the camera a little bit and it's kind of just like, yeah, my socially emotionally damaged daughter needs some attention right now and I can't spend intimate time with my wife now or whatever. And then that's the only other time where they even really show any like, where he at least shows any like remotely physical attraction to his wife, Even really there's one moment where they kind of reconcile their differences Right and they hug a little bit in that bedroom as well Kind of a real creepy moment too. I don't know if you guys notice this, but McAvoy is looking through the stained glass.
Speaker 2:Erica was just like look, look, look. I was like great little moment, great moment. I love that yeah, um.
Speaker 1:So I think, yeah, I mean, I think we'll probably we'll grow to appreciate the american version for being more nuanced than we're maybe giving it credit for now, just because we think it's so loud and flashy as opposed to the original one, and so so that gives me hope for its longevity. I guess I will say, um, overall, I'd recommend both these movies, though I think it's it's pretty cool that we can kind of have two different versions of the same story.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I think both are are watchable and and rewatchable. Uh, and rewatchable, I mean, if you want to get down in the dumps with the original, yeah, absolutely All right, so I think that was pretty well done Our first little cinema showdown. Yeah, yeah. What are the scores? Do we keep score? Is there a score?
Speaker 1:I think we gave casting to the remake, we gave act, structure to the original, we gave setting to the original and maybe a split decision like a two, three there because, I went original. I think you went original yeah you preferred the remake yeah, maybe um craft technical, we went with the remake and then overall effectiveness. We're also kind of split decision yeah, so I don't know, yeah, they're both winners
Speaker 3:yeah, they both really are round. Yeah, heavyweight fight. They both really are good in their own way and they're very similar except for the ending, but there's also just so many little details that are different. The levels of intimacy are different. The levels of intimacy are different. They're both good. They both are effective. They'll get a rewatch for me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Not a, not a I don't know like not a good time, but it's actually a really good time.
Speaker 3:I think it's the best way to put it, I promise that. I'm not like so sick in the head that I loved the ending, but you know I do like a little shock value here and there, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Alright. So, looking ahead to next week, we have a little September roundup, anchored by one of my most anticipated films of the year, the Substance one that we're all really looking forward to, and then Max and I are also going to talk about one of our surprise favorites of the year so far Rebel Ridge.
Speaker 4:Want to give like a 10 second little teaser on on rebel ridge aaron pierre. Is everyone ready? Is everyone ready for aaron pierre? Time they need to be. I want to, yeah, because uh, he's coming. He's coming for us all. And listen, don johnson might just get me to go out and buy a can of chew because he's thrown heaters into that lip I all movie.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy you bring this up now because this will give fucks in. This will give our listeners something to watch, because you should all go out and watch this movie before next week's pod. It's on netflix right now so it's very accessible. I've been wanting to talk about some of the great movie spitting that I've noticed this year in 2024 just some incredible people spitting on screen. I think we need to bring you want to talk about putting manners and politeness under a microscope. You know what we need to bring back spitting towards the feet of someone who has upset you.
Speaker 1:Yep, such a power move so good, so good, and it's so nasty and it's honestly maybe the most disrespectful thing you can do to a person is spit at their feet. It's so gross and don johnson does such a good job of it, so good, oh, my goodness, okay. So that's gonna be a blast until next time, please follow. Excuse the intermission on instagram and the three of us on letterboxd to track what we are watching between shows, and we will talk to you next time on ETI, where movies still matter.
