The Flop House - Ep. #330 - Freaky, with Barbara Crampton

Episode Date: December 12, 2020

We break out of our normal format a bit for this BONUS EPISODE! How so? Well, #1, we watched a movie that we were all pretty sure we'd like (and, spoiler alert, we did) -- the body-swap horror-comedy "Freaky," and #2, instead of doing letters and recommendations, we take a bit of extra time to talk to our guest about her long career. Who is that guest? The wonderful Barbara Crampton, star of legendary horror movies Re-Animator, From Beyond, You're Next, and a little movie that doesn't get mentioned on our show a lot -- Castle Freak. And folks? Barbara is just an absolute ray of sunshine who was a delight to talk to (off-mic as well -- she spent a bunch of time just chatting with us and inquiring about our health and well-being). We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.Wikipedia synopsis of Freaky.

On this episode we discuss freaky Friday kind of okay Hey everyone, welcome to the flop house, I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Stuart Wellington. And I'm Elliot Kaelin, and Stuart Wellington, who do we have with us today? Oh man, this is such a treat We have a star of the small screen a star of the big screen a producer and a bad movie expert self-professed Barbara Carrington Thank you so much for coming Long time listeners of the show will know we're a very big fan of your work.

Yeah, so Stuart, you did a presentation of Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak in Yonkers. You hosted that with the Freak himself in attendance. And I, John, have been here a year ago. Dan, I want to say something that Stuart's stewards breaking lock down this was not like the other this is a well I'm getting about your love for well or your thoughts about love too strong no no he talks about it a lot and I'm easy with my affections I was just trying to get to the fact that also in the Brooklyn Alamo, I introduced a screening of from beyond.

So two out of the three of us have introduced Barbara Crampton screenings, which only leads me to ask, Elliot, what's your problem? I'll get to it, Dan. As you know, I only screen movies that are at least 70 to 100 years old. So I'm just waiting for the statute of limitations to run out. And then I'll show Reanemater, or maybe I'll show from beyond

to a movie that spoke to me very deeply when I was having a medical problem one time. And I was watching from beyond for the first time. And I was like, this movie really gets me right now. So that was a movie that really helped me through a difficult weekend. How did it help you? It was kind of like, it was my first time, this is getting probably in two personal. It was my first time dealing with a kidney stone and it was just a very painful experience and watching from beyond and seeing the characters in it dealing with kind of like their reality and their bodies

being warped, it really made it, it was like, okay, this movie is expressing kind of like what I'm feeling right now in a way that makes me feel less alone since at the time I was very alone because my wife was out of town. So it was just companionship I needed at the moment, you know. Yeah, misery less company, so you were watching Jeffrey Combs more than all this different creature from the beyond and it helped you. at the moment. Yeah, misery less company. So you're watching Jeffrey comes more

than all this different creature from the beyond and it helped you. Yeah, very much. There was a moment where I think he bites another person's eyeball out and I was like, yeah, that's what it feels like right now. Yeah, which is it that's kind of the opposite LA at the time I broke my arm in a car accident and my mother went to the To the grocery store, which is where we rented videos from when I was a child and she Rented me the movie body parts starring Jeff Fahey, which is about a guy who's in a horrible car accident And he gets a replacement limb from a serial killer that makes him a serial killer or something. So that did not work that way. So when Jeff Fahey comes on, yeah, when Jeff Fahey comes on the show, I'll let him down. I mean, but your mom gets you. I mean, that's what that story tells me is your mom really knows what you're into. 100%. Did you guys like bad horror movies growing up?

Or horror movies in general? Yeah, I mean, I feel like- There's something that happened to you later. No, I mean, my, like I've always, like I like being scared. And I guess the bad horror movie love came from the constantly like each weekend going to the video store like searching for the next great like scare and often being let down because I thought the box cover looked great and then by the time I got at home I'm like this is nothing like the painting on the cover.

Now this kind of leads me into a question I wanted to ask you Barbara which is, I mean you chose Freaky. You're like, let's watch this. I wanted to know whether you were a horror fan before you appeared in movies or whether you sort of were like ground down over the years and and and grudel of the. That's a good question. Well first of, I picked Freaky because it was coming out. And I know I was going to talk to you guys and I wanted to watch it. I was like, let's watch Freaky because that's the next movie I want to watch. But, you know, I didn't plan to be a horror movie actress. I just wanted to be an actor from the time I was about 11. And I just happened to be an reanimator and Stewart took me on this journey.

I wouldn't have a career in horror movies without him. And it's funny because I didn't grow up seeking out horror genre movies or television shows, but when I was younger, I would watch the outer limits with my dad and night gallery and shows like that. And when I was younger, I don't know how old I would have been, you know, somewhere in six or seventh grade, I guess. I watched dark shadows.

I loved it because that was my favorite show. And I would race home from school. My bicycle, we got out at like 10 to 3 and a 3 o'clock the show started and I just couldn't get enough of that show. I had nightmares every night about it, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop watching it. My mother didn't want me to watch it anymore and I said, I have to watch it, man. And, mom, I gotta watch this show. I don't like you calling me man anymore. Listen, my man. Man, and so maybe it was going to happen to me.

I don't know. I just hear all these stories about these people that grow up and they know so much about horror movies and they sought them out from when they were kids. Their parents watched them and they would get up from their beds and peek over the couch while their parents were watching a movie. I just, you know, didn't really have, it wasn't that impressed upon me when I was younger. I just, the things that I watched the most were probably the million dollar movie, which played on WPIX, Channel 11 in New York every day also at like four o'clock that came on. So I'd watch I'd watch part of his Collins and then you know I watch Miriam Hopkins or Joan you know Bennett or something

in a movie and I don't know I just you know I think careers are like that I don't I don't think too many people I know start out thinking, oh, I'm gonna do this in my life. And this is what's going and then that's where they end up. And I find that way in working in features and television shows, like the things that people call me up for and they say, I wanna hire you for this, I'm like, really? Okay, I'll do that.

And then, you know, so's so life is what happens to you when you're making other plans. It's the kind of, I mean, it's a cliche, but it's true. But I feel like since I came back, you know, I took a break from acting for a long time, I got married and I actually wasn't getting a lot of roles in my mid 30s to late 30s and I met my husband and he said, well I'm being transferred with my job so can we move up to San Francisco?

And I said, you know, I guess so because nobody wants me anymore. Nobody's calling me. I don't know what to do. And I really was just an actor for hire and I wasn't getting any calls. So I stopped working and I just raised my family and then I got a call out of the blue to be in your next. And that will be blew up. So when I went to the Toronto Film Festival for that movie and I saw all the executives because we hadn't sold it yet. Out, you know, in the lobby on their phones, calling their hire up saying, you know, we got to buy this movie. And then the next day we had five offers from

really big companies. I thought, wow, motherhood's really hard and acting's really fun. Yeah, that's the lesson. Yeah, so I said to my agent at the time who thankfully hadn't lost my number and hadn't gotten home to him in six years, since before your next, I said, I think I wanna kind of come back to this. I wanna come back to acting and do this again. And it was really only at that time in my career when I took that long break.

And I came back that I realized, oh, these are my people. This is my home. This is actually what I do. I didn't realize it. I mean, I went to a puarra conventions. I really, you know, in the latter part of my early life. And I, but I didn't really dawn on me until you're next.

And then I said, okay, my kids are going to grow up at some point. I'm going something to do. So why don't I just try to go back into acting? And then I decided that, you know, through some other fluky things that happened that maybe I would try to produce. But, you know, those kinds of things

weren't available to a lot of young actors when we were growing up. But again, when I worked on your next, I was working with Joe Swanberg and Amy Simons and Tight West. And you know, they were acting in this movie, but they were also writers and themselves. And I went, oh, this is what the people do now? This is what they do.

How come I do that? How come I didn't do that? Well, everybody stayed in their lane at that point, you know, on my career. That, you know. I was an actor. That's all I did. And you didn't have too many hyphenated people back then. And now we have hyphenates everywhere. I said, I have to become a hyphenate. That's what I'm... So I guess here I am now. Nobody is going to... Who's going to work with me in comedy? Or even though I think I'm funny. So I guess here I am now and nobody's gonna, who's gonna work with me in comedy

or even though I think I'm funny. Don't think so. So if I wanna work in this business, why don't I work where I'm a part of a club that I kind of will get one another. So I might as well continue on with our. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. That's getting into actually something I wanted to ask you about. I don't want to go too far down. We're already going so far down this road. But I just

let's keep going. Dan. This is a good road. What's wrong? I don't know. We're all at home. That's true. Yeah. Come on. We make the rule. We don't have a boss. Like no one's going to yell at us and be like, Dan, it wasn't what you're supposed to do They just confirms an impression that I had that like you know that you had Taken this break and then like people like Adam Wingard like maybe they're the people who grew up being fans of those earlier films and sort of like now wanted you to To be part of what they were doing, you know, like and I think that's absolutely true. I think that's absolutely.

And they could have called any number of women that are my contemporaries, you know, Felicia Rose or Caroline Williams or Kelly Maroney or Amanda Whizz or Heather Lange and Kevin. I'm friends with all of those ladies. They all want to work, by the way. So if anybody is listening to this podcast, you should think about them as well. And I think I just got lucky. Well, actually, was that an Alamo Draftow screening in Texas of reanimator and of reanimator and Stewart Gordon was there and so was Jeffrey. And Simon Barrett, the writer of your next talk to Stewart and said,

you know, we have this harmony of coming up and I don't know, we kind of like to reach out to Barbara Crampton to play the mom and it. What do you think? And Stewart said, oh no, she's retired. She's not doing, she's not working anymore. And that was kind of true. But for some reason Simon didn't listen to him and thought, yeah, why? I want a higher barbed-up cramped. And so they offered me the role Keith Calder and Jessica and Adam and Simon, they just offered it to me without talking to me. So really it was, it really was a flunky situation and and I said to my agent when he called me I said well don't they want to talk to me or you know don't they want to see what I look like now I mean I'm not on social I was not on social media at the time and they said and he said no they just want to hire you

do you want the job it starts in 10 days and I read the script and I thought, oh, it's a cute little script. This is nice. Yeah. I didn't like it. Why did you use me? And I did it for a fluke. I did that for a fluke. It was all luck.

It really was. I feel like. Oh, that those guys were working hard in their craft. I mean, they actually imagine this movie because I think they had gone to another tip screening of a James Wan film, whether I don't know whether it was what was happening at the time in Sidious or the conjuring was probably in Sidious.

And they thought, wow, this movie's fantastic. And they wanted to get a little more commercial with their work because they've been working in the trenches of independent cinema, horror cinema for so long. They all band together after meeting one another, each other at Phil Tesples and said, what can we make? What can we put together to do as well as James Wan is doing right now? And that's the script for your next. That's great.

Yeah, I feel like going back to what you were saying earlier, but I feel like everything that's been really exciting and every opportunity that's really worked out well for me has kind of just popped up and I had to make the decision, okay, I'll just do this thing. Like I'll do it on a lark. And those are always the things that seem to work out best even if it's like a little bit outside my wheelhouse or a little bit scary.

Yeah, I think you just have to be, you know, I think you have to be ready for it. It's what I was going to say, but you know, you have to keep at it is another thing that I would say to other people that are in the business that are trying to do whatever you're doing. You guys, you know, work in comedy and people work in horror and whatever. You're career, a lot of people switch careers these days and do different things, but if you're in the movie business, it's a very long uphill and downhill career

television business too, right? And you have to just hang in there for those times that nothing's happening. And keep, you know, keep trying to generate things and keep making stuff on your own and keep trying. And then, you know, things will pop up and you can't give up hope. It's a long, you know, your career is a long game. I mean, I've been doing this for 35 years more than that, really.

And I thought I was done when my when I was 38 39 I thought oh that's it for me. I had reanimator head from beyond I did a lot of soap opera work Okay, I added good enough career. That's fine. I'm married now. I'm just gonna go off into the sunset and then I had another opportunity and it made me realize You know that that it's a long game and you have to hang in there. And even ReAdimator was kind of a hit when it came out, but it wasn't a blockbuster. It wasn't. It developed its cult status over time.

So there's a lot of things that people do now that they think, oh, I didn't really hit a big splash with that. But those things have to develop over time. And now we have so much more product out there. It does really take time for things to germinate and give rise to something that people think is brilliant. Look at the thing when it came out. Nobody thought that big was that many great shakes of a film and now people love that movie.

I think Roger Ebert even trashed it in his initial life. Like a half star or something. He was crazy. Well I'm glad that I think that pep talk was something that Dan really needed right now. Like, I'm just, I can't. Yeah. So on the subject of the film business and hanging in there,

let's talk a little bit about a movie called Freaky released in 2020. Tell me how it relates to hanging in there. I can think of a way, but I want you to tell me. Well, oh man, I can't edit. Well, sometimes when your body gets switched with the serial killers, you just gotta keep trying. You can't give it the first time. So, just to clarify for listeners, this is freaky. This was released in 2020.

I think it's in theaters, depending on where you live. And otherwise, it's on VOD. So I think it's on VOD worldwide, probably. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I do want to say that like, this is like slightly newer than we usually do. So as always, there's going to be a lot of spoilers. So just if you want to see freaky, go ahead and do that first. I mean, I personally not to not to jump to the end. I would recommend to pause this podcast, go watch that movie, then come back. But you know, that's me. So let's talk a little bit about freaky. Now this is a bloom house pictures production. We movie opens. We have a bunch of teens hanging out outside of a mansion. They're talking about a local killer the bliss field butcher This is like almost like a legendary figure that's also kind of undefined

They think he might be just a myth that the parents tell the kids so they don't party too much in on home coming weekend Already it kind of sets the tone for like a almost like a scream or Happy death day like horror horror movie with comedy elements, right? Now, I should, this is a note for parents out there. You can use the story of a killer to scare your kids into doing things, but it loses power over time. So when I first started telling my older son, Sammy,

that if he didn't clean his room, then the messy madman was gonna come and murder him. He was afraid. But now that I use it for everything, I'm like, Sammy, can you please close the door when he stepped outside or the messy the messy madman was gonna come and and murder him he was right but now that i use it for everything i'm like sami can you please close the door when he stepped outside or the messy murder is going to come he's like yeah yeah i know like sami can you like you got to put your shoes on in case you have to run from the messy murder is like yeah yeah so it really you got to use it sparingly parents that's that's what i'll tell you uh... also just because Stewart mentioned Happy Death Day just to clarify

this is the director of that movie and Happy Death Day to you. Oh Happy Death Day to you too Dan thank you. You're welcome. Yeah so and it's kind of like a freaky Friday meets like Friday the 13th too you know there's a lot of it's kind of a it feels like a slasher to me in a way as well. Yeah, it's a funny thing about this guy. He's like, he's not, and now he's making a cottage industry of just like, putting a couple of genres together,

like happy death day, it's like a slasher plus a time loop. And now this is a slasher plus freaky Friday's body switch type. If I'm ever gonna get to see that vampire submarine movie that I've always wanted to see, this is the guy to do it. I thought, right. Oh my god.

Yeah. Well, he's charming, isn't he? He's in all of his films. There's a certain charm. And I think comedy is actually hard to do with horror movies and do it well. I've been the product of a few of them and sometimes they turn out good and sometimes they really don't. They fall flat. But I think he gets

it. I think he knows how to, how to marry those two genres together. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough to say like, and it feels like, well, we'll get into it, but we were introduced to this killer. He kills, he dispatches these teens in fairly grisly ways. We're introduced, the killer steals a ceremonial mask off the wall. This is the Blissfield butcher character played by Vince Vaughn and not played. I was a hundred percent expecting Vince Vaughn to be the like quip heavy murderer character,

like a Freddy Krueger meets Jason. But he's not, and I was very- He's just a Jason. Yeah. All right. I want to mention this is now the second, it years removed, it is the second flop house movie now where someone has been killed

by having a wine bottle shoved in their mouth until it doesn't do the throat. And seeing that, it was like sorority something, it was the sorority row, yes, sorority row. And I was like, oh, it felt like sorority something it was the row yes sorority row and I was like oh this like it felt like seeing an old friend again seeing this particular kill but Daniel I will say that I mean you know spoiler alert for final judgments I enjoyed the the movie like you know quite a bit but there are a few things that I took some issue with, and

I think that like, it's nice to see this like very traditional Jason style killer on the one hand, but when you combine it with this freaky Friday thing, like part of the fun of that is seeing the personality switch. And so Vince Vaughn gets a lot of personality to play, but the lead, our female lead, gets a lot less. Catherine Newton. Yeah. Yeah, but I think that's a good juxtaposition for her character.

As being this young kind of, you know, she's built a sort of a miss, you know, you know, what do I want to say, like an outcast, you know, and so, but she's, you know, what do I want to say like like an outcast, you know, and she's a bubbly teen. And to juxtapose that with the, you know, the Jason type of character that's very stoic, that doesn't say anything, that's really scary, that you know know tears at people and moves really heavy and you know with men is I think she did a great job with that and what else would they have given her if they gave to Benzvon this really you know out there kind of personality that kind of what are they going to get her so I think what they gave her was, was a good, you know, differentiation. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good job with it.

Very good job with what was given. I don't know. Like, I guess... But I understand what you're saying. Oh, well, she didn't have a lot, she didn't have as much to do. It was a Vince von movie in a way. Yeah. And Vince von, when he, I mean, this is jumping ahead, but when they switch personalities, he's like more, he's got a much bigger personality than she had when she was playing the same character.

So it was a, there were times where I was like, Vince, come on, Vince. But, and when they, when they, they can get up a little bit, but, yeah, and when the killer is in, when the killer is in Millie's body, he also is much better at makeup than she is. And so, and that threw me slightly.

I love that touch that. I was like, I was like, I wasn't wearing any makeup before. It was, it was not explained, but he had a much better sense of style than she did. That was good. Is that a jacket and the red jacket?

Oh, yeah. She looked good. The, so yeah, so the killer after dispatching the teens steals a ceremonial dagger named La Dola and then we are introduced to our- It's just in someone's house. Yep, it's just whatever.

Or it's person's house. You collect artifacts, it's the in the classic tradition of the wealthy person's cabinet of curiosities, the four runner to the modern museum, Dan. Let's not buy it. I'm just mentioning it, I kind of love it. I love in these movies where when they just like hand wave it away Where they're just like oh this artifact was just here. It's fine. I bet you that guy he went to he went to an a charity auction for his kids private school Uh-huh. He just got any imports. Yeah, or yeah, or a world market or something and he uh

He got into a bidding war with another dad and he didn't even know what he was bidding on and they're like, you got this ceremonial Aztec dag, aren't you? He's like, great, okay. I guess I have this now. He thought it was a signed Mark McGuire ball that he was bidding on, but so that's my backstory for why that's in his house. Great, perfect. So we're introduced to Millie, who is our hero, who we've already talked about played by Katherine Newton, is she's a little bit of a pushover.

She's a little meek. She's got a mother with a drinking problem. She's got a sister named Charlene, which is my wife's name. Yeah, Charlene was very excited to see another Charlene represented on screen. Now Stuart, you're probably wondering. So Katie Finnerin who plays the mother in freaky. You're probably wondering Elliott, did you see her Tony award winning performance and noises off on Broadway? Yes, I did. In 2002. So you were probably wondering that. I'll just get that out of the

way. Yes, I did. I'm going to make it clear that this is a running theme of the show, which is Elliott, not really name dropping because it's not like he hangs out with these people. Just, you know know mentioning that He saw people in in plays. Yeah So No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, So then there's a good chance I saw the minutes and so I saw that production and audience just go to your bingo card where it says noises off and put on your Eleates theater going bingo card put one on noises off Stewart continue. So yeah, we're so we're introduced to this character melee. She goes to school. Everybody kind of bullies her. We find out that her father is dead and that you would think that would make people bully her less. That is not the case.

Everybody bullies her including the shop teacher played by Alan Rock. That was so good. I hated him. I mean, I was so torn because to me, anytime I see Alan Rock in something, he's the hero of the story, no matter who he's playing what he's doing. And for him to be so mean in this, I was like, oh, it's really hard really hard for me to like you but I still do but you know I think that was the most engaged Audrey was watching I mean she watched she she enjoyed it largely but like the most engaged was yelling for him to die yeah that's how she acts when she sees him

in succession as well right right? Yeah. Yeah. And on Spin City. Oh, weird. I guess that makes sense. Actually, I feel like he's done a pretty good late career like slime ball arc. I don't know. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's, he's, uh, but every, but every character has a little touch of Cameron.

So you can't, you can't totally hit them. Still the, the, the whiny rich kid who's dead doesn't like him, you know, which is succession, I guess, right? Yeah, that's true. So maybe succession is about Cameron's family. Does Ferris Pilar ever show up in succession to where I've watched it? I think he shows up in the second season.

I don't remember it very well. So in our movie, Millie is stuck at school after the big game. We find out that she is the, what is she's the mascot. So she's wearing this comically oversized costume of a beaver. It's great. Yeah, it's great. And also it's like this is the perfect prop for a character who's going to have to run away from a killer in a moment.

I also like, I don't want to harp on anyone any like actors Looks, but it's one of those movies where everyone acts as if she's hideous early on when she's clearly like a very little somebody who would be bull like that I was with my husband last night. He said the same thing But then I reminded him of you know my kids experience in school Yeah, I have a junior high school and then I have a kid who's in college and you know kids are mean at that age that are mean to everybody. A lot of it's how you carry yourself. When I was young I got bullied a lot but now I'm a successful underwear model and you wouldn't guess that you wouldn't guess it from that that I was that I was bullied so much that it happens you

know. Yeah and sometimes Dan people bully people because they're intimidated by them. It's happened to me all the time. When I- Is that why you guys are constantly bullying me? Yeah. That's why I'm an agent to a popular underwear model, L.A. K. L. K. I'm not gonna lie. Keep those jobs coming, Stu. The one opportunity, I feel like they miss

with this mascot costume is not having the killer in Millie's body using the mascot costume. Oh yeah, that would have been the kill someone. Yeah. But I guess they're saving it for freaky too. Yeah. So it's great. So she, the, her mother forgets to, well, her mother drinks too much and passes out and fails to pick her up from the game. She's left at school alone.

All the lights go out except, of course, we see the butcher is standing in the parking lot. He chases her. Eventually, he catches her. He stabs her with the ceremonial La Dola dagger that he's stolen, which makes kind of a weird spooky sound. And at this point, like, there's a visual, there's a little special effect visual

where they're transported to the top of an Aztec temple. So we know that there's something definitely supernatural going on. Yeah. Neither of them seem to notice that they've been transported to a temple, and there's a bunch of weird blue lightning going on. Like, until the switcheroo happens at midnight, the two of them don't seem to notice it. You know, like they're living their normal lives,

like stalking and slashing people and getting stalked and slashed. It's possible that the football field was built on an Aztec temple, and this is one of those kind of David McColley type books, where they show you cross sections of things. Yeah. So I really loved that effect. I was not expecting it, and I thought it was really cool. The fact that they didn't draw too much attention to it and just kind of happened. And it's one of those effects that made me kind of miss, well, like many things, it made me miss seeing a movie

and a movie theater. Like, I feel like it would have looked great on the big screen. So he, you know, he stabs Millie and then he gets a matching cut on his own shoulder. We know something is up and then he is scared off when Millie's sister Charlene, the police officer arrives and starts shooting at him.

We think everything is fine, she goes to the police, she makes a report, they, when the killer was scared off, he left the dagger behind, LaDola. I'm gonna say that as many times as possible. Okay. It's all about branding, guys. And then they go this way. Wait, so is that, that's your brand now or?

No, I mean, when I found out that we were doing this movie, I reached out to the manufacturers of LaDola brand daggers. Oh, okay. Okay, there you go. And they said if I made you- It's a different slice of tomatoes. It's like giving you some money to blend them. you know, times are tough here in this economy. So I figure if I can make a little bit of a LaDola dollars

or LaDolars. It's too. I need I had to say it's too. But now for the record, I'm now looking up what LaDola means. And I'm finding some contradictory things, apparently in Spanish, a Quinoa website, it does mean leapfrog. So I don't know. But it also in a in Slavic mythology, apparently, dola are protective protective spirits that

embody human fate. And in Sanskrit, it seems to mean swinging or oscillating. So I don't know if any of those really, really apply, but if anyone knows the the appropriate meaning of the wordola right in to the flop house care of Dan's apartment, one, two, three America street, and so forth. So, they go, Millie goes to sleep, we get some special effects, and then when she wakes up, that's right, we've had a body switch. And we are the screen announces with a pretty funny kairan that it is Friday the 13th. So it is indeed a freaky Friday.

Yeah, and they did a good job with that reveal of the two characters, because that's when we first see them, switching bodies and how the character of Millie woke up and you know she was now the butcher and looking around her room and seeing all the girly things and you know feeling her body and then you know her mom walks in and just the just the way she carried herself all changed and I thought the actress did a very good job with that and and then Vince Vaughn was in his layer. And he's weird.

The layer was pretty cool. The production design, you know, it was like these open windows and a dirtial bloody mattress on the ground and all these weird things hanging, you know, from the ceiling. It looked like, you looked like the Texas chain saw a massacre living room or something. And, right? Yeah, I just, I was just, like I loved how like it was like a joke in and of itself that they like pushed the serial killer layer all the way.

You know, like she wakes up and like there's dead animals hanging from the ceiling and stuff. Yeah, bones and things and stuff hanging around. Yeah, it was like this, this serial killer has spent more time on interior design than I ever have in my normal apartment. Well, you got to make a space your own and you got to make it so that you're comfortable in it and clearly he has very specific comfort needs and it takes a lot of work. The, I was reading about the factory and you wore holes building and it's a lot of work. The, I was reading about the factory

and you wore holes building. And there's some how they painted the inside of it and covered it with foil. So it was all silver, shining silver everywhere in the interior of the building. And I was like, I would find that distracting, but apparently to someone that was the right workplace. So you can't, you know, it's like came with his layer,

you can't judge. Yeah. Yeah, as long as the end result is great, you know, you can't really fault it. And I mean, the Blissfield butcher, he's had a long career in killing people in Blissfield. You got it, the guy's still going strong. You got to give it to him.

He knows what works. I feel like there's got to be a bunch of old mills in this town for him to survive this long. And it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It's fine. Well, it's like how in Gotham City, there's that whole section of the city that's just abandoned amusement matter. It's fine. Well, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,

it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like like a young actress, it's probably got to be really fun to get to play this like, like, straightforward and evil of a character. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that kind of role doesn't come around a lot. She's this little girl, you know, and she's just a cute, young thing,

and she's playing this, you know, really, as you say, evil, sort of dark character, who, you know, she doesn't speak a lot in the second half of the movie. It's mostly with her facial features and how she's, you know, peering at people and looking at them and being very menacing. And, you know, I wonder how much of that

really came from her or, you know, did the director work with her or, you know, how did that happen with both of them? Because they were, they're, you know, I thought you did a great work with her or, you know, how did that happen with both of them? Because they were, you know, I thought she did a great job with it. It was the leap of ultimates. Yeah, and I also liked how, you know, like Vince Vaughn is a giant man, and I liked how, once the switch happened, the killer in this much smaller body sort of had to, like, kept sort of trying to fight, like like he was still Vince Vaughn, but

then like had to figure out a better way of murdering people. Well, the same as she's trying to, he, him and her body is trying to break down a door and it's like, yeah, yeah, and Vince Vaughn's body, you could probably just smash a door down, but not when you're in the cathartin news body. Like they, they had some funny stuff with that. Yeah, and then Vince Vaughn was like running around with his hands out and very early, you know, he kind of really worked into that a lot. Just being more feminine and in his mannerisms and in his speaking voice

and everything, you know, it was it was charming. Yeah, I know I feel well, I don't know, like at least I was a little nervous that it was going to get over the top or become offensive. And I didn't feel like it at any point. Like it felt pretty, like it disappeared. Like you believed it, at least for me. Well, there's a scene later,

and I won't talk about it too much until we get to it, where they kind of take this, the fact that it's a it's a girl in a in Vince von Spade to its logical conclusion and it there's a scene that like really worked for me when it maybe shouldn't have in the way like it's a scene I didn't think they'd be able to pull off that they did and we'll talk about that later. So so from now on I'm just going to clarify. I'm when I refer to I'm going to refer to the butcher even though the but the butcher is in Millie's body, I will

refer to that character as the butcher. And now Millie is in the butcher's body, that is now Millie, just to be clear. Okay, so they both end up going, you know, they try to get used to their new bodies. They both end up going to school. Millie realizes that she realizes her predicament and that she also realizes that there's a sketch out for the butcher. So people are looking for her. She can't just wander around.

Also she stinks. So she wants to take a shower. Yeah, of course. So they both end up going to school. The butcher is using this as an opportunity. I'm guessing to show off some cool outfits and to stalk some new victims. We're introduced to,

we're introduced to like a queen B character at the high school named Ryler. Now, Elliot, you're kind of an expert on this sort of thing. What medieval profession is a Ryler? So a Ryler, as you've mentioned, a lot of trendy names now, they are medieval occupations. Sledge or... Of course, a Fletcher, a Piper.

A Rihler, I assume, is someone who would kind of Rihle up a bear before a bear bathing men. Like, it's like a rodeo clown, like, they just run out and go, Hey, hey, hey, bear, hey, bear, hey, bear. Either that or... So more of a psychological bothering, though. hey, hey bear, hey bear, hey bear, either that or more of a psychological bothering though. Yeah, exactly. Hey bear, what's over your shoulder? Nothing, you fell for it again.

Either that or maybe someone who made a ride bread, that's another possibility. Ride bread, I guess, yeah, and probably you like medieval Germanic or Prussian states, you know, that's where you would find that. So yeah, those are my two thoughts on what that would be. So the Riler character gets stuffed in a freezing machine that's in the locker room.

I'm guessing it's some kind of an athletic thing. It's a phyotherapy, but I do not think that there's any cryotherapy machine. A, number one, that's a very expensive equipment for a physical to have. And number two, I don't think there's one that goes to like liquid nitrogen levels of cooling. So that's what I think. In a high standard. In the movie, we're in the movie, we're a serial killer and a teenager switch bodies.

This is the part where I was like, hold on a second. There's a few. There's a futuristic cryobooth, not in the girls' locker room. So it's not even accessible to most of the school. When I'm most of the time, I said, well, half the student body. It seemed like a strange thing. And at first, I was like, is it a sauna?

No, it says cryo on it. And she freezes to the point that she shatters. So I don't know. It might be like when a school gets a 3D printer, and it's just to show off to the parents to be like Well, we got we never use it, but we have it Obviously I had to look on Wikipedia to figure out what the hell there was this Flash freezing human device. Do they do they explain it in the novelization of freaky Dan

Alan Dean Foster probably yeah, oh, we've done we both guessed who the writer probably is Alan Dean Foster probably. Oh, we've done we both guessed who the writer probably is. Alan Dean Foster. Okay, so the so Ryler gets killed. Millie, we should be convinced. Yeah, who are Millie's two friends that she talked about? We have Jess, Jess and Nila or Josh and Nila, right? Josh and Nila, yeah. And they're there her two friends and they're the only ones who kind of like give her any support

otherwise. Since most of student body sees her as a carry-esque outcast. Yeah. A target for bullying. So Millie finds, she stalks them, finds them, and then manages to convince them of the situation. In a pretty fun action sequence, it's like, it starts as a chase as Nila and Josh run away from Millie thinking that Millie's the butcher

with good reason. And then they end up getting in a big fight in the school, the luckily unoccupied school cafeteria kitchen. And it's pretty fun. Like they get some good, like it's, you know, like, it was fun to pants and things, yeah. Yeah, Vince Vaughn does a good job of making it seem like,

like Millie is getting used to this new body, this giant, overly strong body. Yeah, and they're all just hitting each other with ladles and stuff. Like, there's something kind of Laurel and Hardy about it. But it's a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, like the Vince Vaughn body,

like she, she doesn't want to hurt her friends, but yeah, they are hitting her with ladles and she has this giant Hulk who I've seen Terrapart of Carr in a, Brawl on whatever it's called. So what made me find her? She convinces them that she is her, she is Millie in the butcher's body

by having a callback to a cheer that they did or it was a handshake that they did in the beginning of the film, they did this weird handshake. So she does the hand, who would know that handshake? Unless I was Millie and then they go holy crap. Oh my goodness, you know, and then she says some other things that nobody would know except for them and then they believe her.

Yeah, they answer all the like all those deep seated questions that teenagers only share with their their besties. Now, I think like in it and this and this worked, I feel like the dynamic between the three of them is was was fun the whole whole time. Stuart Elliott, what would you ask me to make it clear that I was in the body of a murder? I would say I'd say how are you doing today and you go? Well, and I'd be like that Stan. Oh my god. What happened to him? Why is he in this killer's body? But yes, Stuart, what would you ask Dan?

Hmm, I would let me let me see I would Oh, man, I don't I like, how can I make a joke that isn't like, it's like a joke and funny, not me. How do I ask him something that actually doesn't reveal in front of our guest something that he probably doesn't want to be public knowledge in front of anybody? Oh, I would probably ask you to bake me something from your encyclopedia of bread.

And if you couldn't do it on command, I would know your serial killer. I love the idea of a serial killer in Dan's body who's like trying to think he can bluff you by like, like fussing with dough and things in the oven. And I'm like, well, I turn the oven light on, I get down to my haunches and like, it's gonna have a soggy bottom, I don't know.

Real just, it wouldn't do this. It's just like, it's just a great British bakeoff at a certain point. And the killer is like, the killer's like, I hope they don't notice that it kind of fell apart at the end and you feel like it kind of falls apart at the end. So yeah, Hollywood comes out and like sort of glairs

and you think, oh no, he thinks you are the killer, but then he shakes your hand. And realize that. So that's been a deep dive into the Great British Big Show. Yeah. So, so they realize that the the heart of their problem is this magical dagger, La Dola, and they what they look it up on the internet and they they look it up on the internet and then they there's an inscription on it in Spanish.

They take it to the Spanish teacher at the school who is kind of like the Spanish teacher at this high school is basically the non-English speaking native character you've seen a lot of horror movies who like is extremely superstitious and extremely knowledgeable about this mystic artifact. And there's this is another that is another, she literally says, Madrid de Dios when she's looking at it.

And I was like, come on. And you know what was funny about that too? She was the Spanish teacher. She's talking to the kid in Spanish. She's talking to Josh, what play by Misha, what's his last name? Oh, oh, sure. A sheriff, yeah.

And she's speaking to his Spanish. He's like, I don't know what you're saying. What's his last name? Oh, sure. A share of it? Share of it? Yeah. And she's speaking to a Spanish. She's like, I don't know what you're saying. They'll confront it for a moment. She's like, you've been taking my class for four years. It goes, yeah, I can't speak a word. And that's so my kids experience and I feel like I can't happen in this movie.

That because I have to like high schoolers that I went oh my god that's exactly what's happening because my daughter's taking fantasies in the next room for four years she can't speak a word of it because you know they I don't know why but we're just talking with languages here unless you know you're actually speaking in every day as Americans. Yeah, I mean, I was kind of like that with French when I tried to take French in school because I thought like the cool kids were all taking French and then by the time I started, I'm like,

I'm not interested in this. I can't, you know, it's not fun to speak. I had four years, none of it stuck, so. Well, unless you're using it all the time, you know, I've made a couple of movies in Italy and I actually had to work with the Italians, and they didn't speak English. So I learned more over there, you know, working with them for six weeks than I did in the night classes I took at UCLA before I went over to do the movies.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, when it's a life or death situation in that you're like, where's the bathroom or where is this thing that I need, then you learn pretty quickly, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So, they figure out, so the Spanish teacher explains the stakes and the stakes are,

if they don't stab each other again, the change is going to be permanent. If they don't stab each other again by midnight, the change is going to be permanent, right? So right around now, the butcher attacks the shop teacher play by Alan Ruck. This is a pretty funny fight sequence because the butcher keeps overestimating his strength. But eventually he manages to overcome

and the logical conclusion of Alan Ruck ending on a table saw is fulfilled. It's great. Oh my God. I can't believe how gory this movie was at times. It was great. I was really surprised. Yeah, yeah.

But this is a Blumhouse movie, and they don't really do that much gory. Yeah, I mean, happy death day was did not don't really do that much go. Yeah, I mean happy happy death They was did not have the same level of go. No. Yeah, really didn't But it was all great. It was all it was all well done and it was fairly visceral. I didn't I didn't expect to see that much of Inside Alan Ruck and Like it you see a lot of his insightsides. Surely that outside his book inside Alan Rock. Yeah, I mean that he's talking emotionally there.

Yeah, oh man, he takes you into what he calls Ruck's space. His special place that only Alan Rock knows about, but now you get to join him. Inside Alan Rock, it's available from Ruck House, his self-oblishing arm. Yeah, so the, of course, around, the cops have come to the school. They see Millie and Millie's friends, and they start to, we have a chase. They jump into Josh's terrible little car and drive away from the school.

I really related to that car, since my car is falling apart and constantly finding new ways to not work properly. So seeing, that was another moment where you're a person just watching a movie and you're like, this movie is speaking to me. Maybe on a level that the filmmakers didn't expect to. Yeah. So of course, Millie's sister, Charlene, of course, my wife's name is Charlene. Please keep reminding us. She ends up chasing them. They tried to loser in a giant discount store. They stick Millie in a changing room where she

has a kind of like a catfish style heart-to-heart with her mom. This is a scene that goes on for a while. That was was so cute seeing it. It was pretty. It was pretty, too. Yeah. But it was funny and that I was not expecting this kind of long, heartfelt conversation between mother and daughter, between a changing room, and the mother doesn't realize that she's talking to her daughter,

but it's the conversation their daughter needed to hear. Her mother instead thinks she's talking to a man who. Should we come to track to it? Yes, of course. Yes, as I said, I've been watching a lot of catfish lately, so I was having some real triggering moments here where I'm like, oh, I don't know. You really shouldn't be going through with this, but luckily, it doesn't get any weirder. They end up, I feel like they end up, they run off

or they find out that the butcher has taken some potential victims, including Booker, who is Millie's crush. They take. The one nice member of the football team, everyone else in the football team is a real jerk, except for Booker. Yeah, I just wanted to mention too, during the football team everyone else in the football team is a real jerk except for booker i just want to mention too during the football team sequence when they were when they were out there in the

beginning of the movie one of the guys i don't remember which guy was but he had him as jersey the name strode oh lori strode yeah only for the true horror freaks. The real story from the John Ford Westerns. Yeah, got it. Yeah, no, they find via Instagram where this dude is the one that, uh, mille has the crush on. Booker. And there's, uh, yeah, she's threatening these dudes.

The killer is, uh, and goes into this back area where it's like, it's a black light miniature golf course haunted house kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, I like. What is this town that they're in that has the cryotherapy and this cool ass mini golf place? I would love to go to. It's definitely a business I've never heard of, but now I really want to go to. Like the haunted house mini golf. They did, they did definitely like, you know, take some things that they thought, oh, this would be cool. Let's take this in the movie, you know, but, but it kind of worked. Like have my kit. But yeah, and then that other place, the miniature golf place, it was like, what is that? But you know, you just kind of go with it.

Yeah. Yeah, I feel like the crowd therapy bit wasn't even in the script. They were just like, they had one lying around, Bloomhouse Studios, and they're like, we got to use this. So that's it. Yeah. Because things went lying around. We bought it, thinking we would use it in four movies.

We've used it in two, we got it, we got it, it hasn't made for itself yet. And I love this black light mini golf course, because it's kind of like disco bowling or whatever you know when they are black light bowling. But it also kind of reminds me the end of the guest when they're walking through the maze. So, it's a, I would struck me

with a realistic looking black light mini golf course. So it wasn't like, anytime on the TV show Modern Family, they would do like a haunted house. It would be like, well, this is a haunted house from a movie. This is not something a family could put together. But here I was like, yeah, I believe this is like,

this is what a haunted house mini golf course would look like should one exist. That is in concert, that is, sorry, concert. That is in contrast to the replacement homecoming dance that the teens seem to be able to throw together with like a DJ and some of the creations. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's the opposite. Yeah, there's, I think teens, I think teens are more likely to be able to put shit together at the last minute than say, we are Dan.

I mean, kids are pretty industrious, you know, especially when parties are involved. And the other thing I want to say about that mini golf courses, there's a bunch of things written on the walls. There's one, it's like a, Grim Reaper and says like, I'll get you at T time or something like that. And I was like, somebody had the fun of thinking of what they were going to write on the wall of the haunted house mini golf course. of what they were going to write on the wall of the haunted house mini golf course. So of course, they managed to subdue the butcher

and they managed to convince, and they also knock out Booker, and they go back to Josh's house where Josh's mom is supposed to be gone for the weekend. And they convinced Booker, Milly's Crush, that there was a body swap when Milly reads from memory. Recytes, yeah. Recytes from memory, a love poem that she had written for him and left in his locker what a week ago, two weeks ago. And anonymous and put it in there, not actually, once inside.

Yeah. And this is where we this this starts a a ball rolling downhill, which will eventually hit the bottom of the hill, but it becomes a very exciting little plot arc for me. I want to say to the this points up one of the, I know it's, it's weird to worry about plot holes in a freaky Friday's last movie, but I do think that in the movie they, it is pretty easy for Millie to memorize a poem. Yeah, tell me about it. Easy for Millie to convince her friends and her love interest that she is in the body of this murderer. But with Charlene, who is on the police, could help out greatly. They don't even make an attempt to be like, let's call her on the phone, let's have him

say a few things, like the special key words, like with else, you know, it seems like a weird, weird problem. Well, I would say she did. I thought it was a little refreshing to me that she could convince because in real life as someone came to you and said, here's a thing that I know about that that nobody else would know except for you and me. You wouldn't, you wouldn't reject that at a hand too much. But whenever, she would never whenever Shar sees a problem, she just pulls out her gun and yells at it,

and maybe that's a situation they just don't think they can get into. It's not until Charlene is literally disarmed and locked in a jail cell that Milly is like, hey, I'm your sister, okay, I gotta go, goodbye. So I get it. So now, which is the question those two, if you were, switch with somebody else's body,

how would you convince your Charlene that it was you? Ooh, that's very difficult. I would, I'm in a different body. I would probably start reciting, I don't know, like Lord of the Rings facts. And I wouldn't even have to be that accurate about it. Cause as soon as I started talking, I would see her eyes glaze over and I would know I got her.

So we, so bookers on the team, they come up with a plan, they need to get the, they need to get the dagger back from the police station and they need to bring it back and stab the butcher so that they can get that body swap happening. So they go to the police station, of course. At Josh's left with the butcher to guard a tied up butcher. They get to the police station and Nila sneaks in.

She distracts Charlene briefly by saying the butcher's outside, which I feel like you're raising the stakes too high. I feel like at that point when you're trying to misdirect somebody, you could go a little bit like you're putting Charlene's, which is my wife's name, Charlene's alert level at like 100% at that point. The only reason I agree with you is because the butcher actually is outside But it milley in his body Yeah, so I would read that Charlene would run out see the butcher in the car and just fire at him and killer room sister in a tragic almost Greek You know sort of thing

Maybe there was a prophecy about it. I don't know. I'm just spitsballing the Greek tragedy version of this story Which I would call I I guess, uh, freak-a-pus. I guess. Freak-a-pus. Freak-a-mus-a-red-a-pus freaks. But now we get some more complications. Josh's mom comes home and tries to cut the butcher-free, thinking the butcher is milly. And of course, at this point, the butcher manages to get free and chase them around with a knife before fleeing the house and stealing a police car. And the dagger?

Does she get the dagger at this point? I guess the jell that point. There's a lot of action happening. Yeah, when she goes to the police station, she gets the dagger. Yeah. Well, now while we're at the police station, a million-booker are hiding in the back of the car, and they have a really deep conversation. Oh, my gunk. Yeah. booker or hiding in the back of the car and they have a really deep conversation. Oh my god.

Yeah. And this was, uh, this was my wife's favorite scene in the movie. She loved it. I believe it. It was so like I was not expecting a scene with Vince Vaughn could convince me that he is a teenage girl with a huge crush on a boy. And that both, like they are, both actors are great in this scene. Yeah.

And he like moves to the back seat of the car to sit next to Millie. And there's, there's even a kiss. And it's so fucking funny. Yeah. And it's just, it's a scene that they, that like there, it feels like they're doing it real. Like it's, it's a, it's a funny scene, but funny scene, but they're not playing it really silly. Yeah, they play it honestly. Yeah, and then it's very sweetly.

Yeah, and I never got the sense that the joke was like, this is two guys kissing, but the joke was that they are, for that he sees her in there for that moment and kind of forgets that that she's in this body and really it's more that He's a hulking brute who smells terrible that That's not some out of it and it was this scene and the one where he's talking to them where she's talking to her mom in the killer's body It was like oh these are scenes that they could have turned into really like kind of like verbal slap sticky type scenes Instead they played them much more emotionally.

I think they were handled very well. And I think, you know, they deserve a bigger compliment because, or just a big compliment, because, you know, it's about the theme that it doesn't matter what you look like. It's really about the inside and who you are as a person. And that's really what matters. And that's, and it was handled so

gently and delicately and nicely and a lot of the movie is kind of funny and over the top at these moments were handled with a lot of care by everyone and it really worked. I did I wanted to say I mean like I do not want to suggest that that like people of all different sorts can't have empathy for all different sorts of people. But the lack of... I can't suggest it. Go ahead, keep it going. No, I'm not suggesting it.

But the sweetness and the sense of it does not matter what you look like. It matters who you're inside. The director of this Christopher Lanton is an out gay man. I think that like a lot of the empathy there comes from that experience. I also discovered his dad is Michael landed. Of course. I did not. That's great. Yeah. So he's been around the business for a while. That's great. Yeah, so we've been around the business for a while. Yeah. Yeah.

So, the butcher shows up, grabs the dagger, drives off in a police car, Josh connects up with his friends. We're hearing that police car now. Yeah. I can't tell if that's on my side or Dan's side. I'm assuming it's a police car. It's probably me then. It's part of Stuart's theater of the mind experience

that I've sent a lot. Yeah, well, yeah, I have, I strap, I strap a little speaker to my cat and the cat runs around me perfect to give this sense of a Doppler effect. Okay, so the butcher is going to the the makeshift homecoming dance that has been moved to his horrible, his horrible old mill that we saw previously and we

complemented its decorations. Yeah, I guess we missed the montage where all the teens clean up those carcasses hanging from the ceiling. Just take the montage from the montage from Sister Act where they clean up the old church. Oh, it's the right two, I guess they do it in. Like, does he just use that one, you know? Maybe both Sister Act, they do that.

So we do both Sister Act have cleanup montage. Oh, I asked. The question I would ask you if you came to the murderers body. I'll ask God when she's a big sister act expert. Okay. So our heroes head over to the old mill. We have a showdown. The butcher manages in the middle of the party.

Manages to murder three date rapists. And then a fourth date rapist that attempts to push himself on Josh. So, you know, we get some more bodies. They manage to capture the butcher. It looks like they have run out of time that their watches, that it's already midnight, but then there's a call back to a previous moment when we realized that the watch that Milly is carrying is bookers and booker always sets his watch five minutes fast, or is it late? I can't remember which.

Five minutes fast. Yeah, to set it five minutes late would not be a huge hell. That actually makes sense. So it's not midnight yet. And they have time. Yeah, they have time. We, uh, they, Milly staves the butcher and they swap bodies and then the cops shoot the butcher a bunch. And this was the point where I'm like, wait a minute, they actually switch. Is there another twist? Uh, nope. Luckily, they don't have to wait till midnight. I was worried it was gonna be a wait till midnight situation. Yeah, I gotta say, I was very happy,

honestly, that there was no like final rug pull in that way because the older I get, the more when I watch a horror movie, I wanted to like, end tidally. Like I want like, I just want everyone to be happy guys. You know what I mean? I wonder, I mean, I wonder if they, there is a point with the script where they're like, no, Milly is still stuck in the butcher's body, but then has to come back, but whatever. So, I think that's the kind of thing you can do in a movie with a darker tone than this one.

Yeah. This movie is not going for the like, like, not going for the like, like, not going for that kind of final scare, and I appreciated that too, because it was like, I don't wanna imagine this killer living in her body while Milly is murdered, basically. Yes.

And it was, but the 1986 straight to video version of this would probably have that thing. Yeah. So everything seems okay, and then we have one final scare. The butcher survived his shooting. He comes back after Millie and then Millie, her mom and Charlene, which is my wife's name, managed to defeat the butcher and ram a steak through his heart. I think that was going to be a dream sequence though because when they killed when they shot the butcher he had like four or five bullet holes in him. Yeah. And it impacted his shirt. He had that black shirt on. Uh-huh. And there were bullet holes in the shirt and then when he came back

there was no bullet holes in his shirt and I said to myself, this is a dream sequence. Uh-huh. And and and they actually thank God it wasn't a dream sequence because I kind of sick of those dream sequences. Yeah. And it was real. Like he came back and that was a continuity or where are those bullet holes? But I do like you would bought in enough in the movie where you're like, it's got to be a dream sequence.

They wouldn't mess this up. Right. Well, I also think they wanted to give the whole, you know, the heroes of the movie the chance to actually dispatch the killer. Yeah. That was the point of it. Yeah. It's great. And to show like Millie has stepped up because she, you know, you know, she's tough. Well, I'm sorry. Her family has come together now. Like they're there by, by as many times in our movies, families that have problems and dysfunction can overcome them by murdering somebody together. That is the overarching.

That is the overarching. The overarching sick joke of the movie is like, it is taking that thing from like a body swap movie where like, this has improved our lives where like, it really has improved Millie's life. But she swat with this killer for a while. Yeah. Yeah, I think this movie is really lean, you know, with its story points, it gets right to it.

There's, there's not a lot of extra things there. It's, it, this is the story. Let's get to it. Let's have some good set pieces. Let's have some cool characters. This is our story and it has a message and, you know, people get what they, what they need out of it. And, you know people get what they what they need out of it and you know the

heroes overcome. And they and they I feel like they understand the like the character beats they need everybody to hit and they for them like I feel like they hit them all like it's it's a it's a fun time at the movies. It's charming that that's my That's my one word, you know, in calculation of the whole movie that I was trying to think. It feels rather than trying to get across on the gimmick of it, that they put the work into the tone and into those emotional beats of the characters, and that was really nice. Yeah, and I think the music helped with that, too.

The music was very light, you know, and even in the darker moments, it wasn't dark music. I mean, the whole tone, tone is a really difficult thing, and especially since it's comedy and horror, to put that together, I think the tone is, difficult to get, and I think the music really helped with that. So yeah, this is the point where normally,

we would be like, oh, is this a good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie, or movie you kind of liked? I think we all liked it to a greater lesser degree. I mean like it is very zippy. It is like a candy bar of a movie. It's like you're like that. It is you're just gonna have fun. I think I do like the happy death day movies a little more because I think they're slightly more invented and I really like Jessica Roth as the yeah she's fantastic as an actress yeah yeah but this is a lot of fun yeah I think watching I I recommend it yeah me too yeah I think it's great yeah I late I late I had you feel you're not a you don't usually watch a lot of the horror movies you don't usually talk a lot it's well it was exciting to me to see a movie that is new since I don't often get the chance

to do. I mean, I'm very saddened about what's happening with the movie theater industry, but as the father of two small children, I very rarely get to go to the theaters anyway. So it was exciting to me to see a movie that is like, oh, this is a new movie. I haven't already seen all the takes on this. You know, and the backlash to those takes, and then the backlash to the first backlash, and then the critical consensus kind of settles in

and then a year later, I get to see it. So it's like, I'm seeing a movie that I don't know too much about already. This is great. And the movie was a lot of fun. Yeah. There was a moment early on, and I may have mentioned this on the show, but there was a moment early on in quarantine when they first started offering up like new release movies for like a $20 rental on demand.

And I like jumped at watching the invisible man because I was like, I just need to watch a new movie right now. Well, that was the thing too. So when it came on our screens, we're all like, oh, $20. My husband said that too. We got to pay $20 for this. Yeah, we have to pay $20 because it know, it's a new it's a new

Film, you know, it hasn't gone through the theaters already. It's not $390, $290, $290. It's 20 bucks It's the it's the new like model of business at this point. Well, it's As like as like you know of someone who writes for television. I like I Both get why people like have sticker shock and sort of get like a little annoyed at it because I'm like, well, if I went to the Alamo, like, I'm gonna end up paying like 40 bucks with your dinner. Yeah. Yeah. And you have to pay for a flight to Texas. That's a big pass. Yeah. Well, you're paying for that one screen too,

like as many people are in the household can watch it at the same time. Like it is not, you know. Oh, I had the same day. I was like, 1999 to watch a movie at home, in a room that's much more comfortable to me than a movie theater. And I don't have to wear shoes and for free,

I can eat whatever I want. This is outrageous. And I'm like, wait a second. This is a nice experience, some ways. It was fun when it went up and I saw, you know, when it went up on Friday and we had the, you know, I saw the price. I'm like, I wonder how long it's going to be before I get a text from Elliot complaining about the price.

And then I did. Oh, man. Oh, man. Well, hello. I'm Renee Colbert. Hi. I'm a little bit nervous. I'm going to be a little nervous.

I'm going to be a little nervous. I'm going to be a little nervous. I'm going to be a little nervous. I'm going to be a little nervous. Oh man. Well hello, I'm Renee Colbert. Hi, I'm Alexis Preston and we are the host of Can I Fight Your Dog. And we got breaking news, we got an expo say, at all the beans have been spilled, via an Apple Podcast review that said this show isn't well researched. We got no duh. Of course it's not. Not since the day we started as it has been well researched. Guessing an anthropomorphizing dog is what we do. The can I pet your dog promise is that we will never do more than 10 seconds of research before telling you excitedly about any dog we see.

I'm gonna come at you with top 10 enthusiasm, minimal facts. We're here for a good time, not an educated time. So if you love dogs and you don't love research, well, you know what, come on in. Can I pet your dog podcast every Tuesday on Maximum Fun Network? Hi, I'm James, host of Minority Corner, which is a... Podcast that's all about intersectionality.

It's hosted by James with a guest host every week. Discussing all sorts of wonderful issues, nerdy and political... Pop culture. Black queer feminism, race sexuality. host every week. Discussing all sorts of wonderful issues, nerdy and political. Pop culture, black queer feminism, race, sexuality, news, you're gonna learn your history, their self-empowerment, and it's told by what feels like your best friend. Why should someone listen to minority corner? Why not?

Oh my god, free stuff. There's not free stuff. The listeners of minority corner will enjoy some necessary LOLs, but mainly a look at what's happening in our world through a colorful lens. People will get the perspective of marginalized communities. I feel heard, I feel seen. Like you said, you need to understand how to be more proactive in your community and this is a great way to get started.

Join us every Friday on Max Fun or wherever you get your podcasts. Minority Corner because together we together with majority. So Barbara, this is so much fun. Thanks for coming. Now, I know the, uh, the long time floppess listeners would kill me if I didn't ask, but I need to know how did you get involved in soap operas? Oh my gosh. I don't know. It's like we were saying in the beginning, these things just happen. And you know, you audition for something and they go, want to do this. And you go, OK, you're going to pay me.

I'll do it. It was early on in my LA career that I auditioned for. I think it was some days of our lives. Yeah. And was this, was this when they were doing like supernatural stuff in days of our lives? Because I remember when I was a kid, there was an arc where there was like a demon

possessing somebody. Am I, am I, am I way up with this? Yeah, that was around the same color. I'm not sure. I was part of the Salem Slasher era. And that was before the demon or post demon. But it was with John Delancey, he's been in some of the Star Trek series, and I was to play opposite him, and I auditioned for that, and I was on the show for about 10 months.

And then I did a couple of other, or was young in the restless right after that. I, it was a couple years later, I think I think I did my movies with Stuart Gordon and then, and then I auditioned for the Young and the Roses. And that was only supposed to be for 13 weeks. That's what you were contracted for every 13 weeks. They re-evaluated your character and they wanted to see if they wanted to keep you. So they would hire you for, they would give you contract for a year, but every 13 weeks they had an option on you. And they just kept renewing my option on the young and the restless. And I actually

played a crazy character on that show. She was a borderline personality, but psychosis, it was super fun. And every option period they kept re-upping my option until six years later, I went, I'm on this show. or I went, I'm on this show. So it was great because it was good money and it kept me employed as a performer. You're basically unemployed most of the time unless you get a series. And so I had regular work for six years so that I was able to put money in the bank and buy a house. And you know, that was nice to have that cushion for a while. Have you seen any of the footage of the soap operas that were filming love scenes

at the start of quarantine where they were like kissing mannequins? Have you have any what? I heard about that. I really like mannequins. Did you see it? I mean I've seen clips. Yeah, it's pretty great. Really. I have to look that up now that we're chatting about it. But I read about it, but then I didn't see it. I'm gonna look for it. Now, did you ever go to any, because those are two kind of interesting fandoms and worlds of like soap operas and the horror community. Did you ever go to any like soap opera conventions

or anything? Yeah, I went on a cruise once for a soap opera. That was pretty fun and I got to bring my mom with me. Oh, that's great. Are the fandom similar? Is there like, I'm assuming they're all lovely? They're pretty rabbit fans. I'll have to say in both, but I think, and they're both very loyal. I think the fan base for horror movies is a little bigger and wider now. When I first started out doing soap operas, 50 million people a week used to watch them.

Now it's like 5 million a week. So there's just so much product out there, gaming has become a really big industry now, games make more money than anything, and television is really big now, and there's so much product out there. I mean, everybody gets a smaller piece of the pie, and that's true in independent filmmaking, the margins have shrunk, you just don't make as much money as you use to with anything. And what are you working on nowadays? Well, thank you for asking.

nowadays. Well, thank you for asking. Um, I did, I have, you know, it's funny. I've been pretty busy in quarantine, which is really weird. Um, as we get about gaming, I, I, I'm doing a, a pretty big game for really big company. And I've never done a game before and these guys know me from my horror movie roots and it's kind of a horror game. So they just called me and said, would you like to do this? And I said, okay. And so I've gone in, I don't know, seven or eight times and recorded for four hours each session. And I have something like 800 lines. And I have this really cool character.

And she's a mom. Yeah, she fights bad people. And that's great. Yes, I thought that's been really fun. And that'll be announced like next year sometime. But the really big thing I did is I was working on developing this movie called Jacob's Wife for about four or five years.

And I'm a producer and actor in it. And that'll be coming out next year as well. That's not an older married couple. Oh, that's great. Exciting things happen to me. Yeah. Now.

It's not like a it's not like a it's not like a scenes from a marriage type movie or is it? Well, it's like a marriage story with horror elements. Oh, that's great. Yeah. a marriage story with horror elements. Now that you're producing and acting, do you like being able to do both at the same time? I don't know, I feel like that lets you kind of pick your projects a little more. Yeah, and not every project that I want to produce in the future has me as an actor in it. I have a meeting tomorrow with these guys

that we've been talking. I'm working with the company that produced Shake of Swipe at AMP films. And a film came to me that somebody said, you should read this, it's really good. And there's no part for me in it. And I said, oh my god, we have to do this. I love these groups.

So we're meeting with them tomorrow. But I will say that, again, talking about your next when I did that film and I saw all those people doing all the different jobs, you know, you're an actor, you're a cinematographer, you're a writer, you're a producer, I said, well, why can't I do that? Is it, you know, is it too late for me? I hope it's not too late because, look, they're having fun, you know, they're doing it all. And everybody's making their own content. why don't I try to do that so that's what I've been doing and yeah I'm making some stuff for myself but I'm just interested in a good story. Yeah that's great. I'm excited to see that movie. Yeah and I'm

also thank you and I'm also really excited because I'm going to be in the new season of Creepshow. So I'm excited. We had a little part of it. And I went, I flew to Atlanta a few months ago and I did an episode of that. And I could walk with those movies and I've seen them all. I just was like, wow, I was in honor to be part of that show. And I have a great character. Yeah.

Yeah, we're big fans of anthology horror stuff here. Who? You know, creep show, Tales from the Crypt, et cetera. Yeah, that's all right. A buddy of mine did one of the segments of what ABCs of Death Part II, I think. What's that? Steve Kastanski. Oh, I know, I'm him. Yes. Yeah, he put me in his movie this

year. And that was like the coolest thing in the world. A movie called Psycho Gore Man. That's him. That's his movie. I haven't seen that yet. But everybody loves that movie. Yeah, super fun. And I managed to get another plug in for him on the podcast. You're still not at all. You're still not at Al're still not an Elliott shark going hippo levels, but you're doing. Oh, shark on hippo. My new picture book that's in in stores now with illustrations by Andrea Tsarumi. Yeah, shark one hippo. Sure.

Everyone can buy that for the child in their life. Definitely. Oh, man, it gets up there going on. Yeah, Dan, you need something to plug right now. You can't. It's just the only thing that you can plug right now. So how's Archie doing these days? Oh, great. You know, he's got a little bow ties. He's fantastic That's how you can know he's a wealthy cat because he wears a bow tie around I

Mean I can't even tie a bow tie So I'm assuming he's much better off than me. You must be very dapper. He's wearing his he's much better off than me. You must be very dapper, he's wearing his bowtie. I can do it. That would be hard here. So. Yeah, just around the house. Well, it's like Archie Dan's cat knows

that it's not just about how he looks about he feels. And he just feels fancier with that. Oh, yeah. I understand that. I appreciate that. Yeah. OK, well, this is super fun. Guys, yeah, I really enjoy your show.

I'm honored to be on it and thanks for having me. Yeah, this was a real pleasure. Thank you for letting me pick a new movie. I don't know. Sorry, I'll meet. Thank you for picking a good one for us. Okay. I don't want to embarrass Stewart,

but he was at a very high excitement level for the past few weeks when we talked about this. And we all were too. So Stewart's such a laconic, kind of cool guy that I just needed to mention, especially, how excited he is inside, but you can't tell. Yeah. Oh, thank you guys.

I'm really touched by that. I mean, thank you so much. Oh, man, that was such a blast. I'd love to thank Barbara Crampton for taking some time and getting to chat with us. We're all huge fans and she was a delight. So much fun. You lived entirely up to her reputation as a delightful, wonderful person. So thank you for listening. I'd like to once again plug my bars if you're living in Brooklyn. We're doing takeout service and limited seating at hinterlands and minis. Hopefully, things will change in the next couple months. And if you haven't yet and you're interested, we are still selling merch at

Hinterlands Bar Merch at Gmail. Just email me and I will send you all the info. And then I will pack it up and ship it myself. I'm a little backed up right now because everybody's been so generous, but it's super great and it's helping us keep the lights on. I'd also like to recommend my wife's brand-new podcast first episode went up last week. I know the owner, which is bar people talking bar stuff. The first episode is the two of us talking about our bar in our bar with actual bar sounds around us. And it's a show that I'm very proud of. And if you are looking to kind of learn a little bit about the bar industry and also just spend some time with some bar people,

I'd check it out wherever you listen to podcasts. Probably in your ears, right? In your ears is where you should find it. Yeah, although I mean, if you put it tight enough to the bones of your jaw, you can get those vibrations into your skull, although I still go through your ears, I assume, at some point. It resonates though, that's what you're saying. Stuart mentioned, he's backed up and I'm worried it's because he's been trying to listen to podcasts in an area not his ears Yeah, but I need the vibrations

You know, we We did this little bit at the end because we were like oh, we need you know, we should have a better ending and more Professional ending because we're not very good at ending things now. We're nearly it right now. We are totally as we are. Is that your way of saying that we should end the show? Yeah, I was just trying to plug my little businesses and keep the lights on. I mean, I just podcasted it.

I think I've been very supportive in those. I mean, students just out there trying to achieve the American dream, Dan. But if you want to keep stomping on, I'm not going to lose to Soviet., we're real monster. That's the thing. I'm just hustling. Yeah. Yeah well Thanks to everyone for listening to the show. Thank you for the maximum fun for being our network Thank you to Jordan Cowling for Editing and producing the show Especially this episode probably. Yeah.

If you like this nonsense, please rate us well on iTunes. It really does help. Or tell people podcasts are one of the things in this world that still mostly operates on Word of the mouth. So let's keep it that way. Let's keep the story a roll. I mean, let's keep the Word of the mouth going. But we don't want's keep it that way. Let's let's keep the story roll it. I mean, let's keep the word of mouth going, but we don't want to keep it that way that we want a big advertising budget,

right? Like let's see a billboard with our faces on it. That's like bad movies. They've got your prescription. We're dressed as doctors too. I mean, if we can get it, sure, I'm or like, or like, there's a couple of like Bandido, like Wild West criminals that are bad movies sitting at a table playing cards. And that we're standing in the doorway dressed up as Wild West Lawmen, OK? And we're like, wait, Dan, come on. What's the tagline?

Come on, Dan. You're right. The tagline. Bad movies are the disease and we're the cure. No Come on, Dan. You're right. You're right. Yeah, Dan, you're right. Yeah, Dan, you're right. You're right. Uh, bad movies are the disease and we're the cure. No one's ever done that one, right?

Never, ever. It's never done. Also, it's confusing because we're in the wild west and disease. We're really, we should be wearing the doctor's stuff again. That would be better for the other billboard, but we're just as doctors. Well, we shouldn't have employed mixed up advertisers incorporated. Yeah, yeah. It's that one episode of Mad Men where Don Draper got drunk and messed up his presentation.

Yeah, yeah. Well, anyway, we hope you've enjoyed this slightly different episode of the flop house. But until next time, I've been Dan McCoy. I've been Stuart Wellington. And I'm Emily Kaelin saying, thank you again, Barbara Crampton, you're great. Bye-ee! Excellent. What do we just said that to Frank Argus? We have this huge collection of people saying four, we're like some day really fun to use

for this thing. Someday. We'll be an artist solution. Our big four project. Artist-owned audience supported.