Tapeworm: A Movie Podcast - Christina Ricci Hates This Movie! | Casper (1995) Movie Review

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

My deals and discounts:- Zivolife (30% Off)- Quantum Energy Square (25% Off)- Good Feels (20% Off)🔗 Get them at: https://MyDeals.Page/1laf🎁 Code: TAPEWORMThis week on Tapeworm Podcast, Razsal and DJ float back to 1995 to revisit Casper, starring Christina Ricci — a movie that mixed ’90s nostalgia, emotional depth, and groundbreaking CGI in ways no one expected.They explore how Casper became the first film to feature a fully CGI lead character, how its new backstory turned a cartoon ghost into a symbol of loneliness and friendship, and why Ricci later said she hated her own performance (spoiler: she’s wrong).Expect behind-the-scenes trivia, wild fan theories, and a surprise Dan Aykroyd Ghostbusters cameo — all wrapped up in that perfect blend of comedy and creepy that makes this movie a true ‘90s gem.

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My name is DJ. And I'm Razz. And welcome to the Tapeworm podcast. So right off the bat, I do want to say, because, you know, it's the opening line. Christine Ritchie has come out and said that she does not like this movie. I understand her reasoning, but I don't agree with her opinion. Her reasoning is basically, first of all, her main co-star is CGI. So she was acting against nothing.

Like, I think there was tennis balls and strings and stuff as placeholders for Casper. But she says that, you know, her acting's a little stunted. She says that her acting is terrible in the movie. I don't think it is, to be honest with you. I think she did a pretty good job, but that's just my opinion. Yeah. So I'm going to assume it's pretty safe to say that we both watch this movie as kids, correct? Okay.

So I'm going to give you a brief little history of Casper as a character. Did you watch the cartoons or read any of the comics growing up? No, I haven't. No? So I definitely grew up with the cartoons from the 60s, the Harvey cartoons. I specifically remember the Harvey cartoons because at the end it would be, it would zoom out you'd see the man in the moon and he'd give you a little wink and I don't know why but that always stuck with me. Casper the Friendly Ghost started out as the children's storybook character.

He was created by, and I'm going to mess these names up, I apologize. Seymour Reed and illustrated by Joe Oriolo in 19th, for a short story intended for children, which kind of blows me away knowing that he is pre-World War II. I never imagined Casper as that old, I guess. The main idea was pretty simple. Casper stood out because he wanted to make friends with people instead of scaring them. Casper's first appearance in animation came in 1945, with the cartoon short The Friendly Ghosts produced by Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures.

Over the next decade, Paramount released dozens of cartoon shorts featuring Casper, and he became pretty recognizable character at theaters and on TV. Most of those shorts, though, you know, obviously in 1945, they were theater shorts. So you would actually have to go into the theater and they'd play like before the movie that you were going to play, see or something. I know a lot of people, shit, that was before our time too. But a lot of people don't, I guess, yeah. In 1952, Harvey Comics acquired the rights. to Casper from Paramount and launched him as a comic book series.

The comics stuck close to the original concept, Casper trying to make friends, often dealing with other ghosts and supernatural beings that weren't quite as friendly. So Harvey Comics, it was possible to see Casper from Harvey, Harvey Comics. And, um, shit, what is that? Archie. So technically they're from the same universe, which is kind of fun. I don't, I didn't look into it to see if there are any crossover comics, but I would, I'd have to imagine there is. I imagine so. I mean, if they didn't, they definitely, they're missing out on something.

I do believe, and he's going to come up a little bit later, but I do believe that Richie Rich was also a Harvey Comics, but that that'll come up in maybe like two more segments foreshadowing. So in the 19th series, another shift happened, Harvey Comics developed an animated TV. series featuring Casper, which probably what a lot of people remember. That's the one that I personally grew up with. The show ran for years and stayed in syndication, so it kept Casper in the public eye for several January. Ownership of the character changed hands a few times in recent decades. Harvey Comics eventually became part of Classic Media. Classic Media was acquired by DreamWorks. In turn, DreamWorks was bought by NBC Universal. So technically Universal holds the current. rights right now. I did not know that DreamWorks was bought out by NBC. Yeah, that's basically

basic background. I don't know. I knew that I knew of Casper as a character before this movie, but I didn't really know, I did not know that it was a storybook character first. And I was looking, trying to find it. I found some, it's, I can't tell if it's a hand draw, like a hand drawing of the book or if it was the actual illustration. But I wasn't able to find any story. I don't think it was published, to be honest with you. I would really like to see that book, but yeah, I don't think we'll ever have a chance to do that. Yeah, probably not. And it's kind of interesting to know how olden the character actually is. Yes, it is. So I don't know. It's weird to me to find things that are pre-World War II. I don't know, I don't know why that's fascinating to me,

But I don't, I guess in my mind, like, World War II was so long, not even that it was long ago. It was just like there's, how do I say it? I feel like World War II is the beginning of the new era of media. Does that make sense? I mean, that's, yeah, that's fair. I don't know. Like, you find out that a comic book character is pre-war War II, and it's always like, no, that just, it doesn't seem right. Like, don't, don't quote me on this.

but I'm pretty sure Batman was, I think he was a radio serial from the 20s. I would be shocked at it. I definitely know that he was a radio serial. I don't know what year that was, though. Yeah. But same with like the Phantom. The Phantom, there was the Shadow.

They were all radio serials. I don't know. I hear you typing. Are you looking it up? Yeah, so Batman was first created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. first appeared in Detective Comics 27, published 1939. 39 as well, okay. So also pre-war War II.

It's a little weird sidebar. I've been listening to last podcast on the left's current series about Heimlichin. What is his name? Heinrich Himmler? Yes. So it's been in my mind a lot lately. Casper was directed by Brad Silberling. It was his first ever feature film.

Stephen Spielberg was executive producer, and his company Ablin Entertainment was instrumental in getting the film to Universal. Originally, director Alex Proyes, was attached, but he left after creative differences. He envisioned a much darker tone for the film. I don't know what that entails, but I would kind of like to see a darker version of the Casper. I just, I don't know, it always intrigues me knowing that there is a different. I guess style of the same movie somewhere, even if it is just written down or in somebody's head. So the script itself went through a few different changes. J.J. Abrams even contributed as an uncredited rewriter, which once again amazes me because I didn't realize that J.J. Abrams is

that old. But unlike the cartoons, the film gave Casper a new backstory. He's a boy named Casper McFadden, who died young, which added a more emotional, even somber edge to the story. Principal photography started in early 1994, with most interior shots taking place on soundstages, where Winstaff Manor was built entirely as a set. Some exterior shots were filmed on location in Camden, Maine, but most of the Manor was actually built on a soundstage, which that place is Like there's so many rooms and everything. I would love to see the size of that soundstage. A major accomplishment was the use of computer generated imagery for the ghosts.

Casper became the first ever fully CGI lead character in a feature film, which I did not know that. I didn't know he was the first CGI lead character. Yeah, that's interesting. I wouldn't have thought that. Yeah, I wouldn't have either. I mean, I guess it makes sense. 95. That was pretty much the start of.

Yeah. What year did Jurassic Park come out? Because that was the, that's the one that most people are like, I want to say 95 too. No, 93. Well, 93? I was going to say 94, so we're both wrong. So, well, okay, so they probably worked on that 92, 91. Are you still looking at Jurassic Park?

Was it industrial light and magic? Not that I'm seeing. I'm seeing Universal. I'm seeing Amblin. I wonder who did the special effects on that. Let me look. It's so hard. Okay.

Yeah. No, it was. So Stan Winston did the practical effects, animatronics and the, you know, practical effects. Yeah. And Industrial Light and Magic did all the CGI. So Phil Tippett and Tippett Studios did. They used stop motion and then later used the stop motion.

to develop methods to animate the dinosaurs, which is kind of cool. Anyway, I bring that up because Industrial Light and Magic, famous four Star Wars, handled the effects. And they had to invent new techniques for both animation and integrating the ghost seamlessly with live action performances. One scene with Casper and Christina Rishi's character took eight months to complete. So just one scene taking eight months to animate and everything. fucking insane to me. I read somewhere that the kitchen scene where the uncles are eating and all the foods pouring down and Casper's trying to sweep it up real fast, I read that that has more animation in it than all of Jurassic Park.

I don't know how true that is. But yeah, even still, that is insane because you got to think all of those ghosts are transparent. So, I don't know, have you ever done any video editing? No. Okay. I, like, I used to do some light video editing back in the times of YouTube poop. YouTube poops way back. And it wasn't even, I was more focused in, like, cool special effects, you know, doing, taking a still of a background and then recording over it and seeing, like, I would make myself, like, predator heat vision type deal.

Yeah. Uh, that, just that kind of stuff. Just fun little things. That shit took fucking forever. And that was, you know, early times. So I can only imagine what it was like in 1995. Filming was difficult for actors like Bill Pullman and Christina Ritchie. They often acted opposite of empty space or foam models as placeholders for where the ghosts would be added later.

Mostly because, like, this is the first time that, you know, there's a full lead CGI. character. So they didn't really know how to film it too well. So a lot of the time, they were just talking to nothing is one of the reasons why Christina Ricci says that she doesn't like her performance because she, acting is very much a, kind of like a bouncing things off of each other, a chemistry thing. And most people don't have a lot of chemistry with nothing. But so after shooting, the footage went to industrial light and magic, where animator, Composited the Ghosts frame by frame a process that took almost a full year I didn't know that they went frame by frame that's almost like when when you see people

Colorize old black and white movies where they go frame by frame and actually paint in the little frames you'll see that in a lot of the like 1920s movies the really short movies Spielberg actually filmed a little cameo as dr. Harvey's reflection unfortunately it was cut so we We didn't get to see it. Spielberg later said that he was relieved, admitting he's not big on being in front of the camera. So Casper premiered in May of 1995. The reviews were mixed,

but the film was a box office success and made cinematic history for its innovative special effects. It also set the stage for how live action films would use digital characters and visual effects through the rest of the 90s and beyond. So I use Google TV. as my main streaming box. I don't know.

I don't really like Roku. I cannot stand fire TV. The only one that I truly actually like is Google TV. Have you ever used a Google TV? Just Amazon, really. Okay. And probably a Roku, but yeah. I'm sure it's the same way.

Do you, so I know with Amazon, you have like a overarching, like a home screen for all your things. Can you search for movies? on the home screen and then it'll tell you what apps you can watch that on like what what that movie is streaming on i don't remember it's been a i think i've used my amazon tv like once in the last like four years oh really so i couldn't tell you okay so with google i have a voice remote so i can

just talk into the remote and it'll give me the it gives me like an overview it tells me who's in it who's directed by a little, you know, IMDB blurb. It also gives me ratings. It gives me a rotten tomatoes and it gives me a IMDB rating. So I went and, you know, asked for Casper. It came up with the thing. I just want to see what apps, like where it was streaming. So I brought it up.

The first thing that I noticed was it was like a, I don't know, eight out of 10 stars on IMDB. I don't know if that's actually what it was. But then it showed me rotten tomatoes. It has a 59% on rotten tomatoes. So why is IMDB score so high? And then the rotten tomatoes is so bad. Well, actually, the IMDB rating on Casper is actually 6.2.

Is it? Yes. Okay. Then why was I think, okay. So that, that kind of, it's kind of the roughly the same, you know. Yeah. It's 6.2 out of, out of 10. Yeah.

So that would be 60%. You might have been looking at our, the other movie we're looking at doing because there is a huge difference in those ratings. Is it the one that we're talking about doing next? Yes. Okay. Well, I have rotten tomatoes up right now. I just looked up Casper. 59% for the 1999 film.

17% for Casper meets Wendy starring Hillary Duff and Shelley Duvall. I did not realize that Shelley Duvall was. was in that movie. Hmm. But that's a 17%. Casper, a spirited beginning, which I don't even I don't even know what this

is. Steve Gutenberg's in it and Lori. What? Okay. I feel like I have to watch this right now. It has a 0%. Like, I didn't know that that was a, I didn't know that was an option. And then there's not even a

rating for Casper's Haunted Christmas, which that movie I watched. so much as a kid see i think christmas the christmas one is the one i have not seen oh really yeah huh that one's fully cg i and it's that weird blocky cg yeah that like the early thousands i want to look it's like they wanted to look realistic they also wanted to look like claymation yeah in a weird way it's not good i i remember he like man i remember he like man i remember he does like a like a school play

type deal it's it's good yeah and reminds me you know the art style reminds me of that it you pointed it out to me the witch movie the witch show that will only like cartoon network or something

scary godmother yeah that yep yep the other thing that it reminds me of is twisted metal three yeah but that was one of my all-time favorite games so that's why god so 22 minutes into that movie there's just a really bad scene that looks like it's out of a PS1 game oh yeah that's what of a fucking twisted metal three was PS1 like some of the scenes aren't bad i'm yeah the early stuff but the it does it gets worse

as a movie goes it looks like yeah it does that's something that i feel like that's something that we'll have to like we got to crack open a uh one of the feel goods code tape for him for 20% off. Got to crack open a feel good and watch one of these movies or watch this movie because it feels like it's going to be a good time. Even if like the movie itself sucks, we're going to have fun making fun of it. I mean, that's fair. I feel like you almost have to either be high or drunk to enjoy some of the stuff.

Oh, yeah, true. True. Especially when we're talking about Casper. Well, there's definitely some movies that I want to wait so we kind of find our voice a little bit more with the podcast. Mm-hmm. and then we can get into some of the great movies that I want to watch. Just because, you know, even like just us talking,

I can feel that we're a little stunted, like not getting everything that we want to say out or knowing how to say stuff. So once I know that we're a little bit, I guess, more loose talking into the microphone, I feel like some of those movies would be a lot more fun. I want to talk about some fan theories real fast. Are you a fan theory person?

I prescribe to a few head canons. Yeah. I usually am not, but watching this movie specifically. Like, so, okay, I feel like in this movie, fan theories don't fucking matter. Like, it's just a fun thing to think about. When it comes to, like, a new Marvel movie, first of all, I don't like Marvel movies to begin with, but that's a whole different thing. But if you watch a Marvel movie, there's all those people that, immediately go and start looking at fan theories to see like what's going to happen next that i have no interest in that i just want to you know watch a movie and have some fun thoughts about it this movie

specifically while watching it i was like oh shit what if this this this happens i'll get into it in a minute but one fan theory that fans discuss is why casper's father isn't a ghost so the film says that spirits with unfinished business stick around. So it would make sense for Casper's father to haunt the manor. But one theory says that he is so mentally unwell by the end of it, that

he didn't feel guilt or any regret. So it just allowed him to move on because of how mentally unstable he is. So they say that Casper's real unfinished business is forming friendship. He never actually gets to move on because nobody

ever wants to be friends with him. Which that doesn't make sense because Christina Ricci by the end of the movie, I would say is pretty friendly with him, but I don't know. Yeah, I think the, I mean, I'll just come out and, and spoil it now. The romance subplot, I don't remember as a kid. And I just, I don't think it was needed. I do remember it as a kid. And I think mostly because of who it is at the end. But I'll get into that when we get into it. But don't think that we needed it, first of all. Second of all,

it's kind of fucking creepy. It is. The whole time it gives off kind of a... Yeah, I creeped by. Like, the main like, and I was reading it, so many people are like, oh yes, this line is great, this is the best. That line fucking disgusted

me. You want to take a guess at what that line is? No, I don't know. Can I keep you? Yeah. It's so fucking weird. Not right at the end. In the, when it's like halfway through, I don't know if, I don't remember if she realizes that he's a ghost yet or like knows that there's ghosts yet or if it's right after they

start making a friendship. But she's like sleeping and he whispers, like gets in her face and whispers, can I keep you? That's fucking weird. Yeah, I missed that part. But yeah, no, she definitely, because like she first meets Casper like very early on. Yeah, so. And I think it's, so first of all, this movie also weirdly sexual. I don't understand.

Like, there's a, there's a scene. She goes, she finds her room when she first moves in and she like plops on the bed. And he becomes a pillow. And she starts like, you know, fluffing the pillow behind her head and everything. And I swear the face that he makes is, yeah, it's just so fucking weird. But back to fan theories real quick. There's a lighter theory. I don't know how light you want to consider it, but basically Casper and Richie Rich are secretly the same character.

If you look at the designs from the comics and the cartoons, they pretty much look identical. They're blonde, round face, similar clothes. Fans like to joke that Casper is Richy Rich after his untimely death. There's absolutely no evidence for this, but it pops up all the times and memes and online discussions. That's just kind of something fun. Uh, some people read Casper's character as a symbol for loneliness and the need to connect, suggesting his unfinished business isn't anything supernatural or threatening. It's just the simple heartbreaking quest for a true friend, which I don't agree with because he would have,

you know, by the end of the movie, him and Christina Ricci are true friends. He would have, you know, evaporated or turned into the tinglieness in your foot when it falls, sleep or whatever the fuck he says he's made out of now my fan theory which i looked it up so i i was at work you know in my own little headspace and i thought of this when i went to look up other fan theories for this episode i did find this too so other people have thought of it but not i haven't i didn't find exactly the way that i thought of it so it's different variations on it but basically Spoiler alert. At the end of the movie, or closer to the end of the movie, you find out that his,

Casper's dad was working on a machine called the Lazarus, and its whole point was to bring ghosts back to humans. And yeah, that, that was clunky. It's, it's whole purpose brings them back to life. But they are technically alive, aren't they? Oh, they're dead. They're definitely ghosts. Yeah, but is a ghost alive or dead?

If dead. Are you sure? Yeah. What constitutes alive and dead? I think a physical body. Okay. So if it constitutes a physical body, then yes, they would be dead. However, if it's a consciousness, you can't say that a ghost is dead because the ghost is conscious.

I think you're getting a bit into semantics there. They're dead, but they're still people. Okay. So the Lazarus machine is to bring ghosts back into a living body. Is that better? Yeah, good enough. Okay. So you end up seeing that there's, the machine uses a serum, right?

And there's only enough serum to bring back one person, correct? Yeah, there was only one model. Yeah. Now, what if the Lazarus machine also works the other way? What if by putting a live person in the machine and turning them into a ghost, you get serum? What if it takes three people turned into ghost? to bring back one ghost. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Okay. Oh, you're talking about the uncles? What if the uncles? Yes. Okay, so I'm going to play off of another one. Basically, you find out in the movie through newspaper clippings that the dad's insane, right? The dad goes insane. He gets shipped off to a mental institute.

The names, so Casper's name is actually Casper when he was a living human. The names, stinky, stretch, and fatso seem more like adjectives than names. Correct. So somebody's fan theory is what if they're homeless people that the dad didn't know who they were? He just named them as like adjectives because didn't know their actual names and put them in the machine and turn them into ghosts. Now that's going a little bit farther. But I mean, I can get behind that. Yeah.

I mean. And so that's also why they're such a dick to Casper because technically it's Casper's fault that. their ghosts now kind of indirectly yeah i can see that yeah but yeah that was just a that was a fun little thing like when i thought of that i was like shit what if that's what if that's all it really was now i do want to bring up like do you notice the cameos in the uh in the mirror scene i'm specifically talking about the beginning in the beginning oh the um in the that one specifically um are you talking about the dan acroyd yeah that's one of them yeah um i forget who's the Who was the priest?

So that's the other one I found that kind of interesting. So it was Don Novello. Okay. And I found it more like you just kind of you recognize the voice right away. Yeah.

Like he's been all over. He's a that guy. Yeah, exactly. It's like, oh yeah, him. But no, I find it interesting because the character he's playing is like an original character that he created back in like the 70s.

Oh, really? And he still does that. character even today. Really? Yeah. Like I think actually it was, he was just on the cold late, what was it? Late show with Stephen Colbert. Just like a day or two ago.

Oh, really? Yeah, and he played that character. Huh. I did not know that. I mean, that it makes sense for the beginning of the movie, which basically some people inherit the mansion and then they try to, I guess, exercise the ghosts. I don't, I don't really know what the right term is for that. Yeah, exercise, I guess.

Exercise, yeah, I don't know. But yeah, there's, is it just those two? And the construction workers. Okay, but that's not really a cameo as much as the, um, there is another set of cameos later in the mirror scene. I want to say George Clooney's there. Yeah, uh, Clint Eastwood. Yep. And, shit, what is her name?

Damn, the Cripkeeper. That, that's the big scare when. Yeah. Mel Gibson was also, I think, one of the faces. I think it was Mel Gibson, not George Clooney. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay.

For some reason, I get the two of them confused. I don't know why. They were like heart throbs in the 90s. Superstar status, yeah. Yeah. There is another cameo at the end, but we'll get into that later. I want to bring that up later because we'll see if you recognize the person. I don't remember this, so I don't think I will.

Okay. I was watching it with the fiancé, and I was like, do you know who that is? Like, no. And I explained it. She's like, oh, my God. Yeah. Do you still have IMDB? Do you mind reading the little blurb that IMD has for this?

An afterlife therapist and his daughter meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mention in order to rent the premises of a kid's spirit. Okay, so so far, that seems to be the most accurate IMDB reading that we've had. Yeah, it's, yeah, actually. Like, the other ones, yeah, sure, they like scratch the surface, but that's actually, yeah, that's pretty much this. If mornings feel harder than they should, your sleep might be the reason. The original bamboo sheets by Karloha create five-star comfort that has.

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Okay, I'm a huge Stephen King fan. Maine is where most of his books take place. So there are a few specific things. I would have been great if it would have been like creepy mansion and Derry, Maine or some shit, which is the town where it takes place. But right away, we end up meeting Carrigan Crittenden, right? Some shit like that. So her dad passed away and all that that man left her was this shitty mansion.

She is like the definition of like a Karen. I kept thinking of Cuella every time that I saw her. Yeah. I will say they got. At least from a name perspective, the perfect actress to play her. Yeah. Yeah, because her last name is Moriotti. Fair.

Yeah. She does a really good job. I do like this actress. She really sells it on her being a complete fucking bitch. But I don't necessarily know anything else that she's in. But I don't know if she's always that good at playing it. I think she did good in this movie, though. So she finds a map promising treasure inside the house.

And with her lawyer slash family friends slash lover question mark, Dibbs, she heads to whip staff to claim it. Unfortunately for them, the place is haunted. Casper, a lonely, friendly ghost lives there with his quote unquote uncles, stretch stinky and fatso. So when they come, the Kerrigan and dibs, they try to get rid of the ghosts. The trio, I don't really remember what, what do they do in the beginning? I don't think they're really shown much. No, I think it's, yeah, I think it's all just, so in the very beginning, there's a cold open with two boys going in trying to take a picture of them being in there, which that's another cameo. I want so much say it's a cameo, but he's only in it for one scene, but it's smalls from, I think it's, is it smalls?

It's the nerdy kid with the glasses from the sandlock. But yeah, he, he, they go in. in to take a picture and Casper decides to take the picture for them. So you see Casper right away. They run out screaming, blah, blah, whatever. Basically, they get scared shitless and chased out. Basically, this is where the cameo scene starts because you see people trying to work on the house. They get thrown out, or not thrown out, but they scatter like crazy.

Then the priest comes in and he's like, can't execute. exercise the ghosts, no problem. And then he walks in and immediately walks out and his heads on backwards. And he's just like, oh yeah, not a problem, not a problem. And just walks away. And then Dan Aykroyd comes running out of the house. And he's like, who are you going to call somebody else? And just walks off, which is fucking great.

He's in his full Ghostbuster uniform, which that made me laugh. I like that one a lot. So Casper, he's constantly hoping for a friend. He ends up seeing Dr. James Harvey on TV. Dr. Harvey is a paranormal therapist who travels the country with his daughter, cat, supposedly helping ghosts cross over to the other side. He has ulterior motives, I guess. He's talking to these ghosts trying to find his dead wife, which, yeah, at the end, it comes back.

But I guess, I don't know, his wife passed away. and is that when he kind of lost his shit and became a paranormal therapist? Or do you think he was doing that before his wife died? It seems to be when she died. Yeah. That's what I was thinking too. Yeah. Because, like, he went to a respectable school.

Yeah. I forget, because they showed in the movie. They, because the uncles are, like, throwing his frame stuff and playing, uh, Shit, what is that called? With the clay pigeons, I can't, I can't think what it's, what it's called.

But yeah, uh, yeah, what even would that college degree be? Well, psychology, but, uh,

but is there a specific, like, ghost psychology? Yeah, I don't know. Did he, what is that, what is it,

is it ghost hunters with the man who like, that TV show with the man who thinks that he's, like a weird sex symbol, but also out here trying to, I don't even know what the fuck they do in that show. Anyway, that's so far from the point. So Casper gets excited. He thinks that maybe Dr. Harvey could help and that, you know,

Cat could maybe be a friend. Winky Winky with his little, anyway. Dr. Harvey and Kat move into Wipstaff. Basically, Kerrigan thinks that Dr. Harvey can therapy the ghosts away. So I guess he helps them cross over. So if they cross over, they wouldn't be haunting Wipstaff. anymore. But the whole reason that they want

WIP staff to be unhaunted is so that they could get the treasure out of the hidden area. I don't know. Carrigan's a fucking bitch. That's all you need. So Dr. Harvey and Kat move into Wipstaff. We see Kat is used to moving from place to place and there's

some tension with her being the new kid at school. Her father's peculiar job doesn't help. People think he's kind of insane. So you get to see that going to the new school. and immediately start getting picked on. You know, somebody comes up like, yeah, my name's Kat. This girl's like, meow, just dumb shit like that.

Until she's like, yeah, we moved into WIF staff. And every kid goes slackjaw. Although you see it, Casper goes through and ties all the kid's shoes together. So once the bell rings, everybody just falls flat on their face. I fucking laughed, like audible laugh as a 30-year-old man. There are some really good little comedy bits in this that I don't think I was expecting as much. It's not. I agree.

There is, I think this kind of started like the, I don't want to quite say like slapstick humor, but the kind of humor and like kind of self like retro referential kind of humor that you end up getting in like Shrek and like those movies. Yeah. I agree with that. It's not as like slapstick as Georgia the jungle was. Yeah. Or I'd say even Monkeybone. Yeah, I think it's a lot more, like, there's visual comedy. There's also spoken comedy, too.

But it's, I don't know, it's more, I'd say it's more well-balanced between comedy, like just physical comedy and dialogue-based, which gives you a more well-rounded movie, in my opinion. So Casper ends up trying to introduce himself to Kat, which leads to the classic, Girls meets. Girl meets friendly ghost and then completely freaks the fuck out moment. This is the scene. Actually, I think it is. So she goes and selects her room and she goes up.

And she automatically picks Casper's old room. Casper has a fucking line here that I was like, this is gross. I don't like it. I don't want to watch this movie anymore. He's just like, oh my God, there's a girl in my bed. Yes. I'm like, what are you going to do? She's like six.

Like, what the fuck are you doing, man? But then I started thinking, too, like, yes, he died when he was, like, what, 12, I think the movie says. Yeah, around there. I think Cat is supposed to be 13. So, yes, it's age appropriate. The girl in my bed thing is a little fucking weird. But I guess this is more of a moral question. Do you continue to age after you died?

Yeah, I was thinking that too Because like When did he die like 18? It was the turn of the century So early 1900s I think he was born in 1900s So he's like It's a hundred year old man

Yeah You're trying to fuck this 13 year old girl Like Like where's Chris Hansom Me and Eat him This is the second episode in a row That fucking Chris Hansom comes up But

I mean This is Hollywood we're talking about. Yeah, true. What would that be like? Like, could you imagine? Okay. Somebody who actually pays for, you know, AI video generation.

I want to see the whole like Casper comes in, Chris Hansen comes out, like, take a seat. And then Casper floating away and then getting tackled by fucking police. Like, I want to see that whole thing because it's just, it's fucking hilarious. But yeah, this is also the scene where, you know, she goes to. flop on the bed and he becomes a pillow and she like lands on it like back of his back of her head lands on his side and you kind of see the face on the side of the pillow and she's like not comfortable and starts fluffing it a little bit and kind of hitting it hard and he like goes cross-eyed and has this complete like ecstasy face and i was like oh he just like she's going to lift up her head

and the back of her head's going to be like ectoplasm or something it's fucking weird But yeah, so she ends up freaking out. And then before, I don't, I don't remember if she chases down and then I think Casper introduces himself to the dad as well. Yeah, he finds her, he finds him in the closet. Yeah. And then do the uncles come home? Around that time, yeah. Yeah, they come in.

They went to like the Bermuda Triangle, right? That was a little throwaway joke. So they end up, you know, trying to drive cat and her dad out. the uncles, the ghostly trio, but they're not having it. They don't give a fuck. They're persistent. They just try to make the best of it. Pretty soon, Cat becomes the topic of school gossip.

She ends up kind of popular, mostly because her house is, according to legends, super haunted, which it fucking is. So her class decides they want to throw the Halloween party at her house. And Kat's just kind of like, okay, I would like friends. So meanwhile, and I guess I didn't. didn't understand this part as a kid. Now it makes complete sense. Dr. Harvey's trying to kind of connect with the ghostly trio, just trying to convince them

to cross over. I didn't realize as a kid that that's the whole reason they're there is because he's trying to get them to cross over and, you know, fuck out of the house. But, yeah, for some reason, like, that part always, that was secondary to me. That was the weird thing. I wanted to see Kat and Casper as a kid. But now I'm kind of more interested in the trio, to be honest with you. I don't really care about Casper.

I want to see more of the uncles. So yeah, he's trying to convince them to cross over. But he's also mourning his late wife, Amelia, which we kind of talked about earlier. And his main, like, his ulterior motive is to find her ghost. So the ghostly trio is like, oh, yeah, we know Amelia. Like, who doesn't know Amelia? implying that she kind of like sleeps around as a ghost, which I don't know,

it's kind of fucking gross to me. Like you're, you're exploiting this man who obviously has some sort of mental issues. But then again, you guys are dead. Yeah, and that's the vibe I got from that. Yeah.

I don't think that's what they were trying to go for, but yeah. I can see that. I think they were just like trying to, wait, I'm sorry, you don't think that like she sleeps around was the vibe they were going for. Correct.

Yeah, that's kind of like what I picked up on it. But yeah, I think they were just like she was a very nice person, very giving. Yeah. You know, that nice person in town that always says hi and stuff like that. Yeah. That's, I think, the vibe they were going for. Yeah, I can see that. They end up having several therapy sessions with the ghostly trio.

And it's, it's more of like gags to kind of break up the movie. Mm-hmm. Which I kind of find them as the, um, the best parts of the movie, to be honest with you, those little gags with it. But a cat goes and starts exploring the house. She finds an old playroom in the attic. Casper and Cat begin to bond, and he finally starts to recover memories of his life, which I don't know why they were repressed, maybe, because he is a hundred years old.

But, yeah, he starts remembering some things about his living life. Remembering his father, a brilliant but troubled inventor and the sled that, caused him to die, basically. He begged and begged. His dad said no. Then finally, his dad just gave him the sled. And he went outside and sled for hours and hours. And the dad was like, okay, it's time to come in, but didn't force the fucking kid to come in.

And then the damn kid dies of hypothermia because the fucking dad is more concerned with building. I don't even know what he's building at this point because it's not the Lazarus because fucking Casper's not dead yet. so what the fuck was the dad doing? We'll be right back after this break. Hey, Raz, quick question. How much caffeine do you usually slam before we record? Two cups of coffee, a cold brew, and whatever's left in that mystery can on your desk? Yeah, that's what I thought.

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staying out in the cold too long and his inability to move on is tied to his loneliness, allegedly. So back to Carrigan and Dibs. They're obsessed with finding this treasure and stumble upon a secret underground laboratory. Technically this happens after Casper and Kat go like the whole, so while they're remembering Casper's like, yeah, the machine and starts, you know, running through the house, bringing cat with and they end up going through like a secret passage and then going into a chair and the chair brings them down into the basement on like rails and stuff when i was a kid i wanted a

fucking like i wanted a house with secret apartments and stuff like that like in this movie i still want this as an adult like that shit looks so fucking cool like secret rooms doors like behind bookcases yeah dude i would i would fuck that up all day you'd never know where I was. Like, I'd be like in the walls watching you or something. Be fucking creepy with it. Have a little, um, like cut out so you can pull the eyes from paintings away and just look out. Exactly.

You're going to my house. Every mirror's double-sided. Go to my house, like, why do you have paintings of random fucking people on the wall? Like, don't ask questions. I'm going to go disappear now. Just be like the Scooby-Doo paintings where the eyes are obviously like people's eyes moving back and forth. Or we could take it in a completely different direction and it could be like Alfred Hitchcock's psycho looking through the pannings like that. Anyway, so Kerrigan and Dibbs end up

finding this underground laboratory. I think they follow Kat and Casper down there. Yeah, so the lab is full of like gadgets, this huge machine called the Lazarus, which is meant to bring the dead back to life even though I will die on the hill that ghosts are already alive. And they think that the treasure must be in the lab somewhere. So Kat and Casper get the Lazarus working, just as Kerrigan and Dibbs try to steal the formula that powers it, kicking off a mad scramble involving ghostly chases and double crosses. At one point, Kerrigan tries to kill Dibs to test if the Lazarus works, and then accidentally drives her car off a cliff.

and then coming back as a ghost herself. Meanwhile, Dr. Harvey, feeling down after a bad night out with the ghostly trio, dies in an accident where he just walks into a hole. He missed the best part of that, though. So they got to the bar, they're bonding and having a good time. And they're having such a good time that the uncles kind of turn around on him. And it's like, you know what, he's a pretty good guy. We've been the trio for long enough.

Maybe it's time we make it the quartet. So they get stuff to try to kill him until eventually they're like, he's too nice, we can't kill him. And then that's when he opens the door, turns around and look at the uncle's. It's like, let's go to the next bar and then falls in the trench. Yeah. And I think the best part is the facial expressions of the trio because they're all like, they see what's happening. And they're like, no, but yes, but no, but I don't know. Like they want to tell him like, no, don't stop.

It just, uh, you're going to die. But then they're like, no. Like also quartet. But yeah, I did forget about that. So yeah, he dies in that accident. And he returns as a ghost. This part kind of, I feel like it's, I feel like I may have written this down out of order. I can't remember if the dad comes back before the showdown with Kerrigan's ghost.

No. Or if, okay, so Kerrigan's ghost goes down first. Yeah. Right. Okay. So she goes and she was, she's trying to steal the formula so she can come back. the formula and the treasure box. Yeah.

So she flies into the safe where the treasure has been this whole time. And she brings the box out. And then she's about to like go into the Lazarus to become a thing. And Kat and Casper are basically like, what about your unfinished business? And she's like, what unfinished business? I have no unfinished business. And that that allows her to cross over. Like it's it's kind of like the most cop out version of like the evil

The like the big showdown of the movie and it's just like fuck it whatever fuck her I mean I don't mind she was a she was a fucking bitch to begin with but yeah I would have liked to see you know a little bit more not that there weren't stakes but like it did feel kind of like brushed off you know like fuck it whatever she just yeah is over I see that however I also think it's it's kind of a good tie-in to the story because it shows that like the uncle seem happy like they don't really seem to have any issue yeah then they have to resolve they just probably like staying around scaring people so that's why they don't move on it's more than just unresolved issues it's also just there's a sense of of willingness needed yeah i feel like it's something like you have to admit it to yourself yeah you have to say it out loud or something yeah but yeah so she evaporates and goes goes back to, you know, whatever.

Then, now I'm trying to think, is it, does Casper open the treasure first or does the dad come in? I believe the treasure. Treasure, okay. So they open up the treasure box and it's a baseball glove and a baseball signed by, I wrote it down, uh, Duke Snyder, which was Casper's favorite player. I don't know who that is. I'm not a baseball person. I'm not a sports person in general.

So they're about to put Casper in the Lazarus to bring him back to a human body. And her, I guess, boyfriend asked Kat to go to the dance, like, for them to be an item. But then it was just to make fun of her. I forget what their plan even was. Yeah, I don't remember what their plan was. But their plan ends up getting spoiled by Casper, I believe. And they get scared out of Winstaff. So then Kat's mom comes and basically let Casper become a real boy again for one night.

And they have a funny little exchange like, you mean like Cinderella? It's like, yeah. So I have till midnight? Like 10. It's like, but Cinderella got till midnight. It's like Cinderella wasn't a 12 year old boy, which he's not a 12 year old boy. We already established that he's over 100 years old. So he becomes human long enough to go dance with cat at the ballroom.

Do you recognize who Casper the real boy is? Don't look him up if you didn't. I looked it up already, but I don't remember in the name. Okay. So this is the way that I explained it to the fiancé. They went, they had this dance about, what is this, 1995? Yeah. About five years later, four years later, he's about to get onto an airplane, but he has a vision

and freaks the fuck out and gets everybody off of the airplane. Well, about seven people off of the airplane. And then the airplane fucking explodes while taking off. And then death keeps hunting down these people. Any idea? Yeah, and Final Destination. Yeah, Devin Sawa. Yeah.

He's the main character. That is the boy who Casper turns into. Didn't he also play Stan? Stan? Yeah, Stan. And an em in an eminem. I don't know. It definitely looks like him.

Looking up. It might actually be him. Oh my God. Let me just. Yeah, it was Devonsawa. Yeah. Yeah. He's also in a great movie called Idol.

So he was a teenage heartthrob, quote unquote, in the 90s. He was fucking everywhere. Just about the same as JTT, Jonathan Tyler Thomas, I think his name is. He was, that's the kid from home improvement. Girls were obsessed with him. So basically, Devin Sawa, he did a few things. People fucking loved him. And then early 2000s, he just kind of like dropped off the face of the earth.

I don't remember if he's in the movie with the killer video game. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. He just all of a sudden just stopped being popular. He's in a really good movie. I shouldn't say a good movie. It's a good movie in the sense of like. Basket case is a good movie.

Called idle hands that I fucking love. We'll have to watch that one year for Halloween. Um, but yeah, anyway, they end up kissing. Sorry, when they go down and they start dancing, one cool thing is they're like, they're dancing back and like doing the sway dance. Mm-hmm. And the camera pans out and they're just floating. Mm-hmm.

I thought that was a really cool. And nobody really notices. And she doesn't even know that it is Casper until he's like, can I keep you? And once again, I was like, gross. Fucking stop it. It sounds like he's going to murder her and turn her into a ghost. Like, that's, that's immediately what I thought of. Well, based on your fan theory, you know, might be true.

Yeah, you know what? Could you imagine? Like, he just shoves her into the Lazarus, turns her into a ghost, and then gets enough serum and then makes himself into a real boy. And it's just like, fuck you. Oh, God. No. But, uh, so, yeah, they kiss. Then the, there's a.

this scene where cat's mom and cat's dad have a cute little like you know oh my god i miss you i love you uh they she does say one fun thing she's like what if i told you that you knew you had three crazy friends that will keep that always keep their promises applying that the ghostly trio actually did know uh amelia and got her to come down to talk to him which i don't know it was implied that Yeah, so she's technically an angel. She tells him, stop looking for my ghost. You guys love me so much that I have no unfinished business. So she was able to move on and become an angel.

Sappy, dumb shit. I don't know. I could have done without that part, too. But that's fair. That clock strikes 10. They're kissing. As they're kissing, Casper turns back into a ghost. And every single kid in there freaks the fuck out.

And it's another, like, I think, I want to say it's another wide shot of, like, them super sped up running away. Mm-hmm. Uh, which I love that shot. That shot's just funny shit to me. What is the, what's Casper's final line? I know he has, like, a little stinger. I don't, I don't remember it. And then it's probably not important.

I know that you just finished the movie. So I was hoping that you would remember. I feel like he just turns around and he's like, uh, and everybody. Or does he turn around and go poo? Probably something like that. It's something stupid. And then, um, the ghostly trio come up and I'm trying to remember if that's right.

Yes, okay. So the ghostly trio come up and they start performing, you know, Casper the Friendly Ghost song. And I was like, why are they all dressed like Little Richard? And then the song comes up and I'm like, wait a minute, that's Little Richard. Little Richard recorded the theme song for this. So that is actually Little Richard. And I was like, oh, shit.

You get a little, that's a cameo that we did miss. Rodney Dangerfield. Okay, yeah. Yeah. And then at the end, Fatso becomes Rodney Dangerfield. And I think he says, like, Rodney Dangerfield's catchphrase was, I'll never get any respect. I think he comes through and says that, doesn't he? Yeah, I think so.

Okay. I know it was something. Anything else you want to say? No, no, I think we're hammering it. All right. We'll be right back after this break. Ah, DJ, my stomach hurts. I swear these terrible movies are making me sick. Dude, it's not the movies. Your gut is crying out for nutrients. That's why you need Zivo life. Zivo life? Sounds like a superhero.

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Anything's better than blaming my indigestion on bad of movies. What would you give this movie? Boy. It's definitely an interesting flick. for the young, for kids. I think it was the start

of some interesting comedy, an interesting period of film. So I'd give it a three. Three out of five? Yeah.

Okay. I had a really fun time watching this. I'm not going to lie. Like, it was, it was, it was a fun.

I'm, there were a few times where it was like gross, but honestly, what does this come in at? Like an hour 45? Right around there, yeah.

It was a breeze to watch. It didn't feel like, I don't even, it didn't feel like I watched it for an hour. It flew right by. That could be nostalgia talking, but I really enjoy this movie. I don't think it's a perfect movie. No, of course not. Which is why I do, I really would like to get away from the star rating.

I just don't know how to do it without, like, copying somebody else. Like, movie dumpster has a really good rating system where it's, either on a shelf or in the dumpster, which is basically just like a yes or a no movie, which I really like that. I just, you know, I don't want to copy that.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you could definitely could just do a simple yes or no. Yeah. I mean, we could try to theme it, you know,

but it could just be a matter of, you know, watch or pass. That's true, yeah. We'll, we'll figure something. We'll workshop it out.

By the way, if you haven't ever seen, or I'm sorry, if you haven't ever listened to, or seen, they do very, video podcast now movie dumpster go check them out it's a great time it's it's like this show but better but uh yeah definitely i i'll give it a four and a half like it's not perfect there were some

times of like gross but yeah like i said it was super easy to watch it was funny i really really did enjoy it it's probably just nostalgia but i did have a fun time with it there's like funny little one-liners like when they first moved in or as soon as they pulled up to the house. Kat's dad was like, it's cute, isn't it? And Kat goes, yeah, if you're Stephen King. And I was like, I see what you did there. But, and honestly, like I said, I'm a huge Stephen King fan.

So you just mention his name and I'm like, yes. But yeah, I agree with that. I have. I can see that, yeah. Yeah. That's why it shocked me when I, when I brought it up and I saw how low that score is, like a 60%. And that's, you said it was a 6.2, right?

Yeah, 6.2 and IMDB. Okay, which would, out of 10, that would be about 62%, right? Yeah. Yeah. The one thing you got to consider too, though, is like in the spirit of Halloween and October, hocus pocus. Right. Cult classic. A lot of people love that.

Yep. And that has a very similar rating. Yep. And that one was actually, so I don't even think that was, I think that was a box office bomb. I don't think it found it's that movie specifically. I don't think it found its cult until much later. This one was actually successful, which I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it's not surprising that it was successful.

It's surprising that it was successful and has a low rating. I didn't really look into any critic ratings. I don't know like what Cisco and Ebert said about it. I'm sure they had something to say about it. But, uh, yeah, anything else you want to say about your ratings? Not particularly. I will just say, I think if they leaned more on the humor, like the shoelace scene and so forth, I probably, it probably would have been higher for me.

Yeah, I can see that. It was, it's like a weird dromedy. Mm-hmm. But I'd say it's more comedy than it is drama. Yeah. I don't know. I think as I got older, the ghostly trio and their comedy scenes

definitely resonate more with me. Just be, maybe it is because they're cynical. And as you get older, the more cynical you get. But yeah. So that was 1995's Casper starring Christina Ricci.

Now, I do want to, real quick, I want to give a little shout out. So we don't, we don't really advertise ourselves that much. Or really at all, to be honest with you. So the fact that the podcast is getting some sort of traction, the fact that it gets any kind of listeners that aren't us or like our family or friends is kind of amazing.

There is one person specifically that I do want to shout out. I don't know anything about you, but I see that you listen on a, I'm not going to say the name of it because I don't want to set it off. But it's a Amazon-based smart speaker. The name starts with an A and ends with an XA. Honestly, I didn't even know that, like, I guess I want to know, like, when do you listen to the podcast? Because I wouldn't, I never thought to listen to, I have a Google smart speaker. I never would have thought to listen to podcasts on it. For some reason, that never crossed my mind.

I didn't even know that people still use these as much smart speakers in general as much as I'm seeing here. But we've been listening to just about every episode. But the whole point, I want to say thank you. I thank everybody for listening. Much love to you all. But if you want to see more from us, more tapeworm goodness, go over and check out our TikTok. It's going to be tapeworm movie pod on TikTok. Plan on working on some maybe some YouTube, some Instagrams, probably more Instagram here in the future.

But we'll see how that goes. Don't forget to like, rate, view. and subscribe wherever you get your podcast at. And join us next time when we talk about the sphere. I believe it's an alien movie, correct? I'm not trying to give too much away. Yeah, that's kind of the premise. It's a horror movie, right?

I am excited. I've never seen it yet. So I've never seen it yet. That's a clunky sentence. I've never seen it before. That's still not right. Whatever. You know what I mean.

But until then, have a good one, and I will see you later. See you. I don't like that. Yeah, see you later, sound. Yeah, that's weird. I will be watching you. Until then, I'm D. And I'm Raz.

Thank you for listening to the Tapeworm podcast.