The Horror Returns - THR - Ep. #354: March Madness (2023) - Greatest Elevated Horror Film Of All Time

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

This week, we put on our nicest smoking jackets, pour a glass of wine, and determine the greatest elevated horror movie of all time. Joining us this week are Garrett Collins and Matthew Goudreau from Percolated Media, Marcus Wilturner and Bede Jermyn from The Super Network, Don Anelli from too many shows to count, including The Horror Countdown, filmmaker Gabriel Theiss, Jack Falvey IV from BingeMedia, and our very own Brian Stitcher. Pedro Nunez from The Kayfabulous Lucha Bros. is our special host this week. Thanks for listening! The Horror Returns Website: https://thehorrorreturns.com THR YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thehorrorreturnspodcast3277 THR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thehorrorreturns THR Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehorrorreturns/ Join THR Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1056143707851246 THR Twitter: https://twitter.com/horror_returns?s=21&t=XKcrrOBZ7mzjwJY0ZJWrGA THR Instagram: https://instagram.com/thehorrorreturns?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= THR TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-horror-returns SK8ER Nez Podcast Network: https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-p3n57-c4166 ESP Anchor Feed: https://anchor.fm/mac-nez E Society YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCliC6x_a7p3kTV_0LC4S10A Music By: Steve Carleton Of The Geekz  

Hi, I'm Tom Savini. You might know me as Sex Machine from dusk till dawn, and you're listening, and I don't know why, to the horror returns. Greetings, victims, for those of you delight and dread, who fantasize about fear, who glorify, go, welcome. You have found the place where the horror returns. Listeners beware. This podcast contains major plot spoilers and the foulest of language. Join us in celebrating the old and the new, the best, and the worst in horror. Horror returns and no this is not Lance, all of a sudden turn it into a Mexican. This is me, Pedro Nunez, and I do have them here with me, both of my co-host, Lance and Philip.

Brian is here as well. And tonight, we have a very, very special once-a-year event, March Madness here in the Horror Returns. Of course, this has been a tradition going back now about five years, I think. So joining us tonight is our annual panel of celebrity guest. So we want to thank everyone for joining. and Lance, why don't you, why don't you introduce us to our guests here tonight? Yeah, you got it, man.

Pedro, we appreciate you stepping up, dude. I was considering retiring. I'm getting very old. So I may have to retire and you may have to take over. So this is a good asset test. So, all right, so here's who we got, folks. Tonight we've got, first up from percolated media. You should know that ain't very well.

That was our podcast spotlight last week. currently doing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In order, guys, or just randomly? In order. There you go. Okay. So percolated media, we've got a double dose of talent. First, we've got Mr. Four on Ten himself, Garrett Collins.

And you all know and love Garrett Collins. Used to work with Nate Peterson. on a few on a few odd Bob's and Bob Bits and Bob's Am I right Garrett?

Oh yeah I worked with Nate years ago and then we went to binge and I took him with me there and now me

and Matt are starting our own thing and yeah we're in the midst of pirates now and we just recorded the Superman 3 podcast

for the Superman Retrospect and that is going to be something to behold that's a great podcast so

so we're doing good things all right did you have to edit out any mustaches when filming a stupid man podcast? Just uploaded it and haven't started editing it yet, but just recording it.

It's a lot of laughing, a lot of fun, and it's been fun doing our thing over there. And we'll talk at the end what we're getting ready to launch here pretty soon too. There's something else going on as well. I always get a kick out of promoter GC. It always puts a smile on my face. So let's keep it going.

Well, we're glad you're joined by Matthew Goodrow. Matthew, you're not new to this, to this game, are you? No, I'm a sucker for punishment, so that's why I'm back once again. I think this is my third or fourth time, so I appreciate the invite as always. All right, yeah, thanks for coming. Matthew, which ones were you with us for? You were with us for Best Kill or Best, what a Grindhouse film ever made?

Which one were you with us for? So I was on for Grindhouse. I was on for Best Final Girl. and this makes my third appearance. So third time is a charm. All right. Well, you were, it was last year, Grandhouse? I guess that was, huh?

Yes. Yeah, everything kind of went. Yeah, I was on for that as well. We saw Don lose his shit about 30 times because he felt they didn't qualify, which I'm looking forward to again this year, by the way. All right, and then we're also honored to be joined by a couple from the Super Network. We've got B. Germine.

You guys know him very well. but Marcus Will Turner joins us as well. You'll know Marcus as the good writer over at Super Network. Would we get any arguments from you guys on that? Definitely no argument for me. Definitely no argument for me. I would never say that, but I do enjoy the compliment.

All right. Well, Marcus, what are you guys up to over there, man? Anything new coming out? Ooh. Well, we just, at least at, I guess the Supernep, at least in terms of podcasts and stuff, we just recorded our latest episode of the Tooby-Tuesdays podcast, so that should be dropping tomorrow.

And in terms of reviews, I know you got a few things you're working on at the moment, Marcus, but other than that, that's kind of sort of really a few things we've got coming up at the Supernet work at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. always got a lot going on over there um and and and no show would be complete without a godfather right wouldn't

you guys agree every show every gang as large as ours needs a godfather so uh of course we've got we've got don and nelly don't even want to guess what all you're involved in now you you've got like 17 podcasts going at any time what are you what are you what are you pimping these days man uh yeah Well, it's great to be back once again, and hopefully I will shoot myself off a little bit less than last year, but I've still got some reservations left in the tank. But yeah, so I've got a bunch of stuff going on. I mean, we'll discuss that at the very end with the rest of everyone else, but yeah, I've got my irons and a few different fires, so to speak. All right. Well, dude, you do a lot for the community, man.

Every week, well, actually two or three times every week. That's every weekday, Lance. Every freaking weekday? Holy shit. Yeah, you post what everybody's up to out in the horror podcast community. So believe me, it's greatly appreciated, dude. A lot of people notice it. Yeah, no problem, man.

Always happy to help out. Yep, they call you the Don for a reason, you know. It's a literal table of contents every single week, which I appreciate. Right. Well, we had to have some street cred. We can't just have a bunch of, you know, podcasters that, you know, masturbate over movies every week here. So let's have an actual filmmaker,

step up. It's filmmaker Gabriel Tice. What's going on? Gabriel, thanks for joining. Thanks for having me on. Wow, this was a big honor to be invited back on. I had such a good time last time. And now I'm here for a tournament.

So I'm going to be pretty ruthless. I'm going to be pretty cutthroat this time around. So be ready, guys. All right. You don't expect anything less. We're ready. Yeah. But, you know, I am also a podcaster as well.

And my show, not that bad, just did an episode on the infamous Stane-Aquoid movie, Nothing But Trouble, which my co-host is a big fan of. And you can hear my thoughts on that if you're curious about that film. But we're doing a big Patreon special. We're defending the entire Lepercom franchise for anybody that. I want to check that out for Mark Madness. Yes. Yes.

Lepricon back to the hood. Yes. Classic, right? Not just lepricon in the hood, lepricon back to the hood. Those are like... No, Back to the Hood is my all-time favorite in the franchise. I love that movie. Oh, wow.

That's one of the best duologies in horror history. Yeah, apparently Don agrees that a friend with weed is a friend indeed. That's from part one. All right. So, um, let's see. See, who else do we have here? Oh yeah, how can I forget? A guy that's been with us from the very start. It's the inimitable Jack Falvey the fourth. What's going on, movie freak? How he's doing, huh? Glad to be here. Thanks for inviting.

What's up at Benj, man? Right now, rounding out some Last of Us commentaries. I think we got the last couple episodes of those coming up in the next few weeks. And then we sort of revamped movie homework. That's now on its own feed. And we've covered. covered whiplash, big trouble in little China, get Carter, and this week we're doing a lost highway. So we're kind of all over the map, haven't really settled on a theme yet, just kind of doing some different stuff, you know. All right.

Gotcha, a little bit of everything, literally. Last but very not, very not very, certainly not least. You know him, you love him. You hear him every week. He's our resident movie expert because everybody knows Phil and I know absolutely fucking nothing when it comes to these movies. I mean, I do know that Dane Dahan is a great actor, and Pet Cemetery Remake is, you know, beyond reproach.

But other than that, I don't know a whole lot, but Brian, Brian Stitcher, you know I would love him. He's your expert, and he joins the cast tonight. How's he going, Brian? It's going good. He started talking about the expert. I don't know who you were talking about for a second, but try not to disappoint anybody this time.

Apologies to Don, if I, choose the wrong movie again last year. Oh, no worries. I'll probably forgive you. Thank you. All right, Pedro. Get us going, man.

Okay, so here's how it works. So we start out with 33 films. Let the man speak. Unbelievable. I got some mad flashbacks right there. I'm sorry. So, yeah, we're starting with 33. films for quote-unquote

greatest elevated horror film of all time. These were picked by our guest here and randomly distributed into a field of 32 plus a, I guess you would say a playing game, I guess, I don't know, that's Lance's yearly fuck-up right there where there's one out film just hanging out there.

At least he didn't fuck up like normal and he put two films on there twice. I tried, I tried, but you stopped me both times. You help me. Thanks, son. So as a tournament goes on, we will work our way towards until we end up with a final battle and a single champion. And I think it's eight voters we have this year, right? And I will be kind of like the tiebreaker.

They'll each give their best argument in each round as to why the chosen film in each battle deserves to move forward. And at the end, we will have our champion. It's that simple. So Phil, get us started. All right. So we'll start it out with the first little set of brackets here. Actually, our two that are hanging off the edge. With Suspheria from 1977, original.

And Susperia, 2018. Which is the better of the two, by the way? Oh, I don't get a boat, do it? You don't get a boat, man. All right. All right, Don, let the fun begin, right? Yeah, I'm going to say the original for this one. I appreciate the remake.

I think it's got some attributes that are far more worthwhile than a lot of people give it credit for. But on the whole, I still prefer the original to this one. Original is one of my top ten favorite films of all time. It's hard for me to top that one, so I'm going the original. All righty. Let's go with Bede. Well, I guess this is a kind of a hard pick because I think both films are great, but I am partial more to the original Susperia, but I think in terms of which of the two classifies more under the elevated horror banner, I may have to go with the 2018 remake because I think that's kind of more the, like, yeah, it fits more of the term of elevated horror than the original does. Okay.

Okay, look at that. We got to get to start. Gabe, what do you think? Yeah, well, I think the remake is perfectly respectable. It hasn't dethroned or even rivaled the original anyway in sort of that pop culture-like impact sort of way. I mean, Suspheria, the original is still one of the most iconic-looking horror films. It has one of the most iconic soundtracks.

And I just don't think you can say that the remake accomplished as much. So I'm going to go with the original. Okay. Makes sense? Jack. I'm going with the remake here. We're talking to elevated horror. This is not a Gialo bracket.

This is not a 70s horror bracket. This is an elevated horror bracket. So only one of those movies is elevated horror. It's the remake. Marcus? Yeah, I'll have to go with the remake as well to kind of restate what Jack was saying. The original is a classic. It's pretty much well known as most of these films are, but it's, I would always consider that to be more of an artistic horror film, whereas, you know, kind of what you see is what you get.

But if we're talking, you know, deep-rooted, elevated hoarder, horror, horror, then, yeah, I definitely got to go with the remake. It's extremely psychological. It's also a bit artistic as well, but just not full-fledged. It's a deep film, so I got to go with that one. All right. Nice. Garrett. Before I get my answer, is anyone else on this call offended by the term elevated horror?

Yes. I want a definition. I want a definition. Everybody's got to give a very pretentious term elevated horse. Very pretentious. Very pretentious. What? Gary Collins, what is, in your opinion, elevated horror? Tell us. Elevated horror to me is a term made up by people who don't want to admit they like horror films.

That's right. Thank you very much. They used to be called psychological thrillers back in the day. For supernatural thrillers. So I'm going to take elevated out of this equation, and I'm just going to go with my favorite horror films of this set. and Susperia I think the original really outdoes the remake. The remake is good on its own as far as the themes that it sets up and things. It's different in its own way. But I'm going to go with the original

just because it really, really made, it was something different at a time when horror really needed it. So, okay. All right. Original. Are we tied up right now? We got, yeah, three original.

Uh-oh. All right, cool. This could be fun. Matt, what do you think? I'm the opposite of Garrett, which is shocking to a lot of people. I'm going with the remake. I think the remake does what I champion all remake should do, which is take existing source material and put a new stamp on it.

And I am not an Argento fan outside of Deep Bread. I find a lot of his stuff, particularly with his utilization of Dream Logic, to ironically put me to sleep and there's not a lot for me to grasp onto and I would rather listen to the sounds of traffic than another Goblin soundtrack in my life so I'm going with the Susperia... Oh, come on!

You know what I just... This isn't a tournament in name only. We might have a fight. I know. I recently was able to watch Goblin perform live with Suspira in the background which was pretty cool to see, so... Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. Okay. Now, the Suspheria remake does have the Tom York soundtrack, so I did want to throw that in there. It's now, obviously, the Suspheria remake has a lot going forward. No disson on the Suspheria remake. Brian, do we need a tiebreaker? We might, because I'm going to disagree with Matthew, man.

Give me Goblin all day. Yeah, bringing up the soundtrack on the remake is actually point against it instead of a point for it. Right. So that, yep, that puts it at a tie. I think Pedro's already got to Oh shit. Here we go. Okay. Go ahead and start making

some enemies now, Pedro. Well, here's the thing. Suspira looks beautiful, right? It's an experience when you're watching Susprio 77. There's no doubt about it. Certainly Goblin helps a lot. Suspria from 2018 has more story to it, right? It's deeper than

it really has any right to be honestly with the story were working with. So I'm going to go as far as like what we're trying to figure out here. I'm going to go with Suspria 2018, although I love Suspira 77, but Suspria 2018 is what we're talking about here today. And that's the one that's going to take it for me. I didn't think it had a chance, but that was going to be my boat too. That was a close one.

That was a close one. All right. All right. Suspirit 2018 when it's that. First bracket. First disappointment. So But you're just a disappointment.

It's okay. We're going to run that one and roll it right into Suspira 2018 versus St.Mod. Let's go with shit. I like both these movies.

St. Maud's a really strong performance and it has a hell of a final shot. I love the ending of that movie. I don't know. Susperia feels like more of a complete meal to me, though. I think I'm probably going to vote Susperia. But I did really, really like St. Mon.

I thought that was a solid movie. But yeah, I think I've had more to, I've had more time with Susperia remake. So maybe that's, maybe that's all it is. But I'm going with the remake. Okay. Marcus. Yeah, that's a tough one for me, too. on one hand

I do love Susperia for everything it was well everything you guys were talking about but I did like St. Maude a lot too because the imagery and so many of those like torturous kind of almost maddening moments

yeah that was that was pretty intriguing too honestly I'll probably just have to stick with Sysparia because yeah I believe I've seen that one. Yeah, I've seen that one more times, and I've talked about that one more times. And again, even though I do like St. Modd, it's, I think it's much more of a short story kind of film.

I don't know. Suspirit just had more of an impact, so I'll go ahead with that one. Okay, two for Susperia. Matt. I think I'm going to make it three in a row. St. Maud was one of those movies that I thought would have been a great extended episode of Black Mirror or something along those lines more of an anthology piece because I felt like a kind of strain to get to that runtime. Whereas Asperia for a movie that's almost three hours to captivate my attention fully, I have to commend it considerably for that. Brian?

I'm going to have to go with St. Mod based off the lead actresses' performance and the buildup to that final scene. I thought it was incredible. So St. Maid gets my vote. All right. Don and Ellie. Yeah, I'm back in Brian on this. I'm going St. Maud.

Again, it's not against the remake. I do like it, and it's got its own points. But I think if something I forgot to do in the original assessment, which was which one is better elevated or, I think Sigmad is it with its religious allegory, the performance speaks for itself and I mean that that final shot is better than anything that the original

that the remake of Suspira did so yeah I'm going St. Maud on this one Uh-oh, I'm from behind Gabe, what do you think? Comparing the two films a good character study and a good more confined kind of A-24 horror movie is great

but I really love the epic scope of the Suspheria remake it does not feel its runtime and I think that's because it's tackling so many themes and it's loaded with so much symbolism and I don't know I think it's a really juicy movie and I am a fan of Tom York and I'm a fan of his soundtrack. Yes. There you go. So there.

All right. B, what do you think? This is a pretty easy one for me. I'm going with the Suspheria remake, mainly because I wasn't a fan at all of Save Maud. Oh. Because I think, because Susperia was far more interesting and far more complex film, while something like St. Maud felt very, once you find out, like, once you get to that end shot, it pretty much tells you exactly what type of film it is.

And it just makes it less interesting because of that, especially if you want to feel, you just don't want to revisit it. So, yeah, the lead performance is great. But I think Sysperia has a lot more going for it compared to Sain Mord. So that's the one I'm going with. for this one. All right. Garrett, your vote doesn't count, but what is it anyway?

Story of my life. You know what? Somebody said that they don't feel the length of the Suspira remake. I certainly felt the length of that movie. It was too long. St. Mott's short. It was one of the most underrated movies of that year. I really enjoyed St. Mod.

And so I'm definitely going St. mod on this. Oh, man. Of course he called my opinion out what else is new. No, that wasn't you, I don't think. No, that was you? Did you say that? Oh, was that you? Okay. Once again, Matt's lost in the shuffle.

Well, standing next to you, it's pretty easy for that to happen if you've ever seen him in person. Okay, next bracket is going to be Psycho versus Pans Labyrinth. Ooh. Wow. could not be two more different movies.

All right. Let's start with Brian. I'm going to have to go Psycho, because Pan's Labyrinth is not horror, Stark Fantasy. Yeah, here we go. Wow, here we go. Got the buzzer.

Here we come. Speaking of which, Don. Ding, ding, ding, not horror, psycho. Okay. Not horror, psycho. Psycho. All right. All right.

And I should point out, Pan's Labyrinth is better, but not horror. It's... Uh-oh, here we go. Here we go. That makes sense. Going by the book. Yep, going by the book. Pan's Labyrinth, a better movie, but it's not a horror film, so Psycho.

Marcus. Yeah, I got to go with Psycho, too. I mean, as much as Pan's Labyrinth is a huge grand, you know, fantasy, and it does have a few spooky and creepy and scary moments, but it's not fully... or at all. Cycle, on the other hand, well, it's psycho. It's a classic. It pretty much made us all lock our doors. We take showers. So, yeah, I'm going with Psycho.

Yeah, it's got Vince Vaughan and everything. Yeah, we're not doing a Psycho v. Psycho bracket. We almost did. Garrett. Yeah, I'll go with Psycho as well. Pans Labyrinth beautifully made film. Definitely has some terrifying moments. But Psycho is more of the horror element that I enjoy.

And it started such a whole movement that I think we're still feeling today. So I'll go psycho. Okay. Gabe. Yeah, I love Pants Labyrinth. I can see why it's being talked about in this horror sort of debate. It definitely has credentials as a horror. movie or at least a monster movie.

But if you take Psycho out of cinematic history, everything changes for the genre. That's how important that movie is. Well, Pete and Tom kind of walks of Psycho could run, I think. But also, Psycho has one of my

favorite performances in a horror movie ever in Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, and that character speaks for himself. So I do have to go with Psycho. All right. sense. Jack. Yeah, so

I just want to ask a question. So Psycho is elevated horror? I guess what is elevated horror? We didn't really talk about that at the beginning of this. It's not elevated horror, but it's more horror than Banz Labyrinth. That's my justification.

For sure, for sure. And I think I'm with you there, so that's probably where the vote's going, but I'm just kind of curious. Like, like, horror. Psycho's just horror. Like, it is, it is, like, foundational horror. I don't think there's anything elevated about it. I'm looking to get bounced out pretty easily. So, yeah, it's more austere than your typical slasher movie.

Compared to the slasher movies that came after, it's more restraint, it's more cerebral. It, it misleads the audience and tricks it. I don't know. I mean, I think there's a case to be made that it's some progenitor of the elevated horror movement, which is the most amorphous and vague movement to me, but, you know, that's the discussion we're having. Yeah. well, just had to say that. There's not a whole lot of metaphorical stuff in Psycho, although maybe there is.

Yeah. There's a lot going on in Slashor films, too. Yeah. Right, right. Well, in any case, I don't want to hold it up. I'm going Psycho for the same reason stated. I love both movies, but only one of them is a horror movie. Okay.

I have to echo, I think everyone's sentiment, Psycho, by definition, is more of a horror movie than Pan's Laverick is. And it's just funny, 60 plus years later that the idea of Alfred Hitchcock doing a quote-unquote slasher movie, that's like having John Williams score a trauma film. So I know it's psycho. Please sweet. Oh, okay. Well, I think Panthlymer, I can classify as horror, but again, it mixes dark fantasy, horror, you know, war and stuff like that. But I think Psycho pretty much is a full-fledged horror film.

And also, like everyone's already stated before, it pretty much changed the landscape of cinema as we know it. And it's directed by one of the greatest directors of all times. So hence I'm giving that my vote for this one. First Clean Sweet, right? Clean sweet. Psycho wins. Although I think Psycho is an easy win on that,

even if we throw the semantics out. All right, let's do the shot. Shining versus Annihilation. We know what Stephen King would vote for, and it's not The Shining. Well, not Kubert's The Shining. We'll start with Garrett on this one. Is Annihilation a horror film? You know what? That fucking bear thing is terrifying.

Let's not let's not answer for this, because we go through this shit every year because he never has the basic criteria for this fucking tournaments and we have this conversation every year no matter the theme or the subject so with that said go with your heart Garrett and get us to vote here. If I

with my heart go with annihilation but annihilation is not a horror film so I got to go with the Shining I'm fucking stuck voting for that fucking movie so shining it is shining okay Marcus uh yeah I uh

I guess I'll probably have, no, yeah, I'll go with Annihilation. Yes, yes. Yeah. I've watched The Shining so many freaking times. And, you know, it's a good movie. It's a great ghost story. It's a great, you know, all the elements are great. It's just annihilation just works a hell of a lot better for me.

Just my own personal opinion. It's definitely one of those types of sci-fi horror films that really kind of speaks on a lot of different levels as far as like visuals and, you know, elements and stuff like that. And, you know, Garland is a magnificent director, definitely one of my favorites. And, you know, Kubrick's a master too, but yeah, I got to go annihilation. Sorry. Yeah. That's tough. Garland versus Kubrick.

That's a tough one. Make it a fight. Matt. I have to go with The Shining for a similar reason that I picked Psycho in that Kubrick, you know, a master taking the haunted house subgenre. And also by extension, a book that is, I think, good, but is not one of King's best and making it just this stylistic fever dream and so much stuff. Annihilation, I'm not a fan of it whatsoever.

So I guess anything against Annihilation, I would pick the opponent, so I have to go with the Shatting on every level. Yikes. Them are fighting words right there. Do you hear that, Marcus? Not for me, because I don't have a horse in this race, but I'll never pick this. No, no, it's fine. That's fine.

It's fine. I'm here. I fight every day. It's okay. Don. Oh, yeah. I got to go with Annihilization. here.

All right. Yeah. Shining can fuck off. I don't care for that movie. Yeah. Annihilation's not really much of a war film either, but I like it more. And I think it's got enough qualities with the bear that it can count. I think the finale kind of takes it out.

But there's enough there that I can justify it for myself. And yeah, fuck the Shining. so I'm going to annihilation. Let's go, Jack. Yeah, The Shining is one of my favorite movies. It's definitely like a top 50. It gets rewatched one to two times every year. It's just a staple in this house.

But I don't think it's elevated horror, and I think Annihilation is the definition of this amorphous fucking genre. So, Garrett, you said that it's not a horror movie. You're right. A lot of elevated horror isn't. I don't even know exactly what it is, but it's kind of the whole, I know it when I see it thing. Annihilation feels exactly what pretentious douchebags think horror is. And to me, that is exactly, like it's the definition of elevated horror to me.

So I vote Annihilation for this, even though I'm a huge fan of The Shining, way bigger fan of the Shining than I am of Annihilation. Jack, Jack, it's kind of like that uncanny Jack Valley, if you will. guilty I feel like that pretentious douchebag quote should be the title card for every A24 production which I think A24 is

which I think Annihilation actually is I love it you maybe change the answer I wrote down All right Gabe what do you think Yeah okay I mean no disrespect to Alex Garland I actually really loved

men of course that's that's the film we're talking about but it did more for me than annihilation, funny enough. But The Shining, even if we're talking about it through the elevated horror lens, I think there's a lot to say about how enigmatic it is, how it sort of refuses to give answers, and how Kubrick wants to keep you in that fever dream state. But it also is one of the funniest horror movies I've ever seen,

and Jack Nicholson is basically starring in a – he's acting in a comedy where everybody's. else is acting in this very cerebral ghost story. And I think that makes for one of the most entertaining horror movies ever made. So The Shining. I've never thought about it like that. I like it. All right. Bid. Yeah, this is another easy one. I think Annihilation is a great film. It's probably the only Alex Garland film that I actually do care for. But I'm going with the Shining because of a lot of reasons. A, it's directed by Stanley Kubrick. B, it is definitely, if this film came out today, it would definitely be classified under the

elevated horror banner. And also, C, like a lot of horror filmmakers who have done their own version of an elevated horror film, would always bring this up in comparison to an influence. So that's the reason I'm going for this film. And also, it's one of my all-time favorites. So, yeah, the Shining for me. All right, we got four for the Shining and three for Annihilation. Brian, what is your final answer? As much as I love The Shining, I've seen that about a hundred times. I've seen it more than Annihilation.

I will continue to see it more than Annihilation after this. But annihilation falls into category. It's not horror. It's elevated sci-fi horror. And I think it fits. because I'm sure in elevated horror you can make up all these little sub-genres to go in there

and I think it fits a lot better than The Shining, so Annihilation. Annihilation is your answer. Okay. Pedro, I guess you do have a dog in this fight. First of all, I'm enjoying Brian's mental gymnastics to make sense of his vote there. Thank you.

I'm going to, for everything that was said before me, I'm going to say The Shining. The Shining, I do feel like it's elevated horror, even at its time when it comes. came out. I think there's so much underneath the surface there. And, you know, there's been documentaries and books ran about this fucking movie for crying out loud. So there's

a lot of subsets there. And so I'm going to go with the Shining. All right. Okay. All right. Last one on this side of the bracket. We got Let the Right One In versus Get Out. Which let the right one in? That's the original. That's the original.

The original. Let me in is the remake. Let the right one in is the original. Oh, okay. They're only like a Europe, anyway. I think they're just called Let Me in, right? Yeah. Okay. They should have just called the remake, Open the Door.

Open the fucking door. Gabe, let's start with you. That's a tough one. That is a tough one. I love both those movies. However, I consider get out to be the sort of kind of blueprint for elevated horror. So if we're really talking about what is the most definitive, or what is the kind of champion of that genre.

I think it is to the elevated horror genre that Halloween is to slasher movies. So I got to go to get out. Even though it kind of breaks my heart because I let the right one in was one of the first horror movies that I really loved. Yeah, they're both great movies. That's a tough one.

It's a real tough one. Marcus. I must have lost Marcus for a second. All right. Mike's muted. Oh, you there, Marcus? He might have stepped away for a second. No, no, I'm here.

I'm here. All right, all right. Get Out versus Love. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I got to go with Get Out. I mean, as much as I liked let the right one in, Get Out is significantly more, I guess you can say just, well, you know, relatable. And also just

It's It's a fine picture With great performances And it's a It really honestly speaks I don't want to say to a generation But in a way it speaks to a lot of people On a different level than most horror films do

Or at least ones of this caliber So yeah I loved let the right one in for its imagery And stuff like that But get out is just It's a better film to me so yeah, I'm going that one. Jack.

I don't know that I could say anything that the people before me haven't said. I think it's Get Out. I think it's Get Out with a bullet. It is elevated horror. It's got to be on the Mount Rushmore of that, whatever that phrase means. But yeah, I get out. Beat. Yeah, this is a tough one because I think both movies are fantastic.

But I'm definitely, if I have to go, because I'm with my picks, it's either going to be ones that are my favorite or ones that I feel. like have done more to the horror genre. So I'm going to go with Get Out because when that came out, it kind of just changed the landscape of horror in terms of how it explored its themes. And this also, it's also just a great film all around. It's brilliantly well-written, brilliant performances,

and it's got a great dark humor. It's scary and it just handles its story extremely well. And one that could easily have just played rather simply, but I think Jordan Peel just adds so much to it, that kind of just made it even greater than, you know, it's premise, you know, it could have easily been a straightforward kind of film, but I think Jordan Peel just added so much to it

that definitely, quote, unquote, elevates it. And yeah, I think it's just a great film. So, yeah, so I'm going with get out on this one. And then before it came out, it was, that guy from Key and Peel is making it horrible. Yeah, yeah, we were all questioning. Did they even hear the term elevated horror before Get Out came out? No, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say Ari Oster is the one who actually came up,

like said that term, elevated horror in public. Yeah, I think I was going to bring that up in the next round, or in the next matchup, because I think that's really where it really became the standard of these kind of films, whatever the fuck that is. Yeah, that's true. That makes sense. We'll get to that for sure. Matt.

So my definition of elevated horror, which I think changes for everyone on this show, is I wait it a bit on, does the film have a certain cross-genre appeal to people who wouldn't necessarily watch horror movies? And I think in that case, I lean towards Get Out, not just because I prefer it. but I think it captured a lot of people who don't normally go to see horror movies. And the scariest thing was that a horror movie of that ilk was nominated for Best Picture. You know, that's elevation through awards for a genre that has historically been looked down upon and jettisoned with some exceptions. So for all that, I have to go get out. All right. Garrett.

Oh boy. This is an interesting bracket that there's so many moving parts to both these films. But you know what? I'm not a big get-out fan, believe it or not. Let the White Run in, however, really, really hit me. That is a movie, I mean, a vampire is a protector. And it's just the way she protects that kid in that movie, all the way to the final, just,

grisly but awesome scene captivated me and that is the type of horror I really like and get out it's fine

I didn't think it was as great as everyone said it was though so I'm going with left the right one in okay at least gets one vote

uh Brian does it get two if it would have went up against anything else I would have picked it for everything Garrett has said about it

but I loved what get out had to say I loved a performances and still to this day I think it's uh Jordan Pills best movie it's not no blance it's nowhere I'll disagree well you're wrong and if you if you look up if you Google elevated horror right now I'm guaranteed this movie will be one of the first ones to pop up so get out is my boat right okay and Don and Ellie yeah film I like more versus the film that's the poster child for the discussion we're having tonight yeah

I mean, Get Out is great at what it is, and I mean, there's nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been said, but I have to pick it, even though I still love let the right one in. Like Brian said, under most normal situations, I would vote for that one because there's a lot more going underneath the surface than what people think. I mean, you look at the backstory with Oscar, and, you know, you realize how he came into being. you realize what the kid is going to go through because he's on the same damn path. He's going to end up in that exact same situation 30, 40, 50 years from now, and that's exactly what's going to happen to him.

And, yeah, there's a lot more going on underneath the surface than what people think. But get out as the poster child for what we're doing here tonight. So I can't vote against it, especially this early on in the bracket. Fair enough, yeah. All right. You know, one thing I was saying really quick

is I was thinking about it right now as we're talking about let the right one in and how foreign films they kind of have an inherent advantage in this tournament just because they have different motivations, right? I mean, American films have a formula

and that's what's kind of been followed because that makes money. And so American filmmakers tend to think of the bottom line more so than foreign filmmakers who a lot of times get sponsored by their countries, you know, they have different artistic sensibilities.

So us getting used to consuming that American product, when we see a foreign film, it's something different, and so we're going to automatically elevate it, quote, unquote. And so I think, yeah, just something to think about, you know, as we're trying to... It's just getting off my ass.

90% of my favorite films are foreign anyway. Fuck America. As the theme of this entire tournament, thanks to Lance's fuck-ups, is that we're going to try to define this fucking term as we go along. That's one of the things to consider us well. So anyways, let's keep on going.

Lance you're responsible for all of this Oh is it my fault? Yes I didn't pick any of these movies you guys did So All right You want to take over the Yeah

All right Let's move on Okay so we got our first First of four brackets done Let's move on So we've got Potentially a big one here It's hereditary

Versus Green Room And we will start with Marcus On this one Well, I'm going with Hereditary. I liked Green Room. I thought it was a very visceral, like, suspenseful film, great performances all around, you know, especially with the late Greek Anton Yelchen. But Hereditary is, well, it is, to me, to me, it is a masterpiece. I'm going to be saying that a lot if this goes forward, but, you know, it is.

And it's, it's, I feel like it may be one of the standards when it comes to, you know, elevated horror and everything that we're trying to discuss with that. But at its helm, it's just a very good, meticulous, fantastic, scary. and immensely driven and focused film. That just, you know, also happens to be scary. So I feel like this, you know, this is elevated horror, or this is intelligent horror. And I love this movie. So I'm thinking that one.

Yeah. The proverill poster child for elevated horror, I think, is this film, the one that you're talking about, yeah, for sure. All right. Got a voted for Hereditary Brian. What do you think, man? I love Green Room. Rest in peace, Anton Yelchin.

Patrick Stewart, I thought it was as, he's not in the movie a lot, but I thought he was really effective as the main bad guy. And as much as I love that, Hereditary just blows it out the water as far as this category we're talking about. And there's a reason why people felt like spacing on her name right now. Somebody helped me out in Hereditary. Tony Collette, there was a reason why people felt like she should have been nominated for something because her performance was fantastic in that, so I have to go hereditary. All right. Gabriel, what do you think?

Hereditary is not my speed. I respect Ariaster. He's clearly a master of his craft. He knows exactly how to get his vision from his head onto the screen. but Green Room was intelligent and clever and provocative while still embracing the things about this genre, the horror thriller genre that I love. And, you know, Hereditary just, I could really see people who liked this movie turning their nose at a lot of other movies that I like because I feel like this movie, it didn't pander to it deliberately. but I did not appreciate what Hereditary did for the discourse and it's just not a movie I have interest in revisiting

compared to Greenland which is a, it's a big favorite of mine. So, Greenwich. All right. Both really, really good movies, by the way. Yeah. Garrett, what do you think? Well, Hereditary is just one of those movies I saw without knowing a thing about it.

And thank God I did because I think, think the less you know about it going in, the better. That movie is just so impactful. Green Room, it was fine, it was visceral, but it wasn't really my speed. And Hereditary, it

really, really, just all the psychological stuff is going on in that movie. And you guys are right. Tony Colette deserves something for what she brought to that role. I want to go hereditary. All right. Jack? Yeah, I mean,

Jean-Luc Picard as a villain is awesome on paper. I just wish the execution was a little more of my speed. Or a little something more for me to chew on there. I liked Green Room. I loved Hereditary. I mean, hereditary is just the subtext, the subliminal messaging. The way that that movie holds up on a rewatch after you know the plot arc of it and the pieces of it, there's so much more happening that, you know, you kind of put it together out for the fact and then just go, ah, oh, that, oh, you know, all that stuff. Um, Ari Aster in general. I mean, I'm a fan of the guy. I love the idea that, you know, his last, his two films and then I assume Bo is afraid will probably do something similar. But you get like so much of a straight movie. And then Astor, it's almost like he walks in and he just goes, are you paying attention yet? You know, kind of thing. I love that. I love that interactive aspect of this movie. Um, yeah, I, I, uh, hereditary for me. All right. Uh, what do you think, Matthew?

this is one of those I think it's one of the harder ones to call in this bracket but I'm going to go with Green Room because I think Hereditary has one advantage in that it's got a lot more time to work with

than Green Room does but I think Green Room is more effective because it makes the most of its 90 plus minutes I never felt like it was struggling to get to feature length I thought the when it had to get more intense, like when they're barricading the door and his arm gets injured.

That was one of those things that I don't get squeamish nowadays, but I sort of took a step back. And as much as I have scars from season two of Star Trek Picard, and I don't want to support Patrick Stewart at the moment, I will still go with, I will still go with Green Room. Yo, sidebar, season three has been pretty dope. I'm just saying. Yeah. Well, I'm waiting for it to finish so people can tell me if it's worth watching the whole

thing. Right. Just saying. All right. So, hey, Jack, has war finally shown up yet? I only saw the first episode. That he has. Okay.

All right, Don, what's it going to be, man? Yeah, if we consider a get-out like the poster child or, like, 1A of this sub-genre, hereditary is, like, 1B. Green Room for me was just a simple, straightforward thriller that I really did care for it. So hereditary by leaps and bounds. Gotcha. All right. And so Bid, your vote doesn't really count, but what is it anyway? Well, it was going to be hereditary anyway, because, you know, it's basically the poster child of the elevated horror genre.

And also, like a lot of quote unquote elevated horror, it has the horror elements. But even if you took that out, it would still be a great film on its own as a drama. And, of course, you know, Tony Klet should have got all the awards for her performance in this film. So that was the film I was going to vote for. very nice okay moving on so now we've got it follows

versus another another foreign films I'm sure Don's going to go for this one high tension so Don which one do you go for you're wrong I call on Bella high tension it is not elevated horror I'm going it follows

okay I call the buzzer on high tension I think that's more of a slasher it's very inventive you know there's about things that are going on, but I think it doesn't really have that rewatchability to it. I mean, once you figure out the twist, it's just a regular slasher film. And so if, well, if I have to do a tiebreaker, I guess everyone knows what I'm going to vote for. It's got high in the title, so that by definition makes it elevate.

There's a lot of high tension in trying to define what this fucking elevator hoard things means in this room here right now. So, you know, there is that as well. Brian, what is your pick? Somebody brought up Mount Rushmore of elevated horror. I think it follows could arguably go there. And high tension is not elevated horror. It's got his own genre.

What is it, a French extremist? Is that going to be next year's tournament, Lance? It's called vulgar. You guys call it. It's always... Vulgar auteur. Vulgar atoorism, I think. There's a Wikipedia page dedicated.

can't get into this. Muldur, a tour, cinema. And high tension is definitely on that. Hey, we can always do

like Tim Davis does over at dummies of horror and do porn parody horror movies. Uh, Bede.

Yeah, um, I like high tension, but I agree. I wouldn't classify it as elevated horror, but I, although a part of me

reckons in some level it probably thinks it is because of its twist ending because it, but it was, just a little too smart for its own good with that ending, but I'm definitely going with it follows because, again, like Hereditary and Get Out, it definitely came out of that sort of, you know, little period where it became also another poster child for the elevated horror

genre, and it has all the hallmarks of what this subgenre is. So, yes, it follows for me. All right. What do you think, Gabe? Yeah, I think whenever you look up elevated horror, it follows is one of those movies that's always referenced. And while that doesn't give it the point for me automatically, I really respect the way it kind of revolutionized the concept of a stalking movie, even just the way it was filmed. I think the constant POV, like she's always looking over her shoulder,

and the stalker's always the same distance from the camera. That one small thing to me redefined that sort of thing that we'd always been seeing in horror movies. So the way that director kind of came out with his own voice and reinvented a very popular idea in horror movies. I really respect that and high tension with that twist ending. Is there something called D elevated horror? Because I think that's probably something that fits into better. Depends on what kind of elevator you're talking about, man. Oh, man.

Yeah, that ending was kind of similar to that movie, Shroom. Remember that one? All right, Jack. Yeah, I'll go where it follows. I don't have a strong opinion about either one of these movies, but it follows just feels more like the kind of movie we're talking about. High tension, not so much, so. Okay.

Marcus? Oh, man, this is actually kind of hard for me because high tension was, I believe, the very first foreign horror film that I ever watched. it was a very eye-opening and graphic experience. And that movie always have a special place in my heart. But if we're talking about, you know, higher-up horror, then yeah, definitely it follows with all that category a little bit. You know, probably one of the greatest after-school public service announcements ever, you know?

And just a very interesting and just, like, detailed film. I mean, it was one of those movies where I was paying attention to everything at all times. And it was, you know, it was very stressful experience watching that film. You know, the subject matter hits very hard. And it's very conventional, but also told in kind of a refreshing way. And, you know, I enjoyed it. So I still do. So, yeah, it follows.

Okay. Yeah. Thanks great. You see the background. Yeah. Yeah. Garrett, your turn. Easy as head-to-head matchup so far for me.

It follows has a great concept, but it got more ridiculous as it went. And that conclusion to It Follows, that final battle, quote unquote, is just ridiculous. It's stupid. High tension just grew on me. It grew and grew and say what you want about the ending, but it was a twist, and it jolted me when I saw it in theaters initially, and the impact that had on me was a hell of a lot more than it follows.

So I'm going high tension here. All right. And what about you, Matthew? I go with it follows. I have a bias against high tension from its inception because the twist was spoiled for me before I saw it. So I've always never really been able to, judge that movie on its own merit.

Right. So I think it's safe to say it follows, is moving forward. Despite Garrett's solo vote. Good match it. Now we're going to get a little dark here now, folks. We've got Enemy versus Antichrist. Brian, do you want to go first? Yeah, I'm not a fan of Enemy.

I'm not a fan of having to go watch a YouTube video to explain what I just watched. But I'm also not a fan of Antichrist. I'm not a fan of genital mutilation and babies falling out of windows. So I guess I'll give it to

enemy, I guess, reluctant. That should be on the poster. Genital mutilation. All right, Donnelly. What is it, man? Well, since I never found in me, and I'm totally fine with general mutilation. I've seen more of that than I care to admit.

And it's not a turnoff at all. I'm totally cool with watching, you know, like American Guinea Pig Sacrifice or Danny any of those kinds of stuff. I'll take Antichrist since that was the one I saw. Matthew. Well, I kind of wish Jake Gyllenhaal was an antichrist for obvious reasons if you don't need.

This is tough because enemy I put more in the thriller camp because a lot of that is the classic trope of what you don't see but it's also inevitably undone by as Brian said the ending is so fucking preposterous that you have to watch these supplementary materials

just to understand it whereas Antichrist is one of those things where it's Lurzvantre his whole mantra and I don't know if he's ever said this is that people suck and the only thing that is going to matter is when you're dead. He's one of the most misanthropic filmmakers I think we ever have, but I appreciate his

take me as I am sort of approach. And Antichrist, as far as horror goes, there was some stuff in there that, you know, gentle mutilation notwithstanding, I thought was very disturbing. So I think I'm going to go with Antichrist. And I feel like I have some repenting to do because I went against a Jake Gyllenhaal movie. Okay. Antichrist it is. Garrett?

Yeah, surprisingly, I'm going to agree with a lot of what my co-hosts just said. In fact, all of it. I'm going with Antichrist as well. I just, I'm not a fan of enemy. I'm not a big villain-goo fan. I didn't really like that one. But Antichrist, say what you want about it. It leaves an impact on you.

So, yeah, I'll go look at that one. It leaves something on you, that's for sure. Like all Lars Von Trrier movies. Uh, okay, Marcus. Uh, yeah, I gotta go Antichrist too. I mean, it's, uh, enemy is, is, is decent for what it is, but, you know, Antichrist is, you know, very graphic and gruesive and, but very told in a, in a weirdly beautiful way, I guess, by the way, it's shot and just, you know, the, you know, the stuff you see on the screen, it's, it's, it's also very, repulsive and kind of uncomfortable or what kind of kind of it is uncomfortable

but it just works so much better as an effective horror film than enemy does so yeah I got to go with Antichrist another vote for Antichrist Jack, save us man yeah I'm a Von Trier

fans the wrong word I've liked a bunch of his movies but I've really disliked bunch of his movies too and Antichrist is one of the ones that I really really don't like and Enemy happens to be a movie that I was very pleasantly surprised by I actually love Enemy. I think that it's a awesome movie. I think it's very entertaining and I think it's right on the line of whatever this elevated horror genre could be. I know it's psychological thriller more

than anything but I feel like that fits. So yeah I go Enemy. Right. Let's see. Gabe. Yeah, fuck Lars von Trier. Hell yeah. I'm not a fan. I think he is a quarter as talented as he thinks he is. You know, we talk about as nihilism. Shot inspired, man.

That's a, I don't know, that just manifests to me as really ugly, mean-spirited, edge-lordy, visuals. I think he just wants to inflict harm on the audience. And, you know, his version of trolling is by claiming to sympathize with Adolf Hitler at the Conflum Festival. So I'm just, I'm just not a fan of that guy. And enemy wins by default. Oh, man, it's getting competitive. All right. Another for enemy. Wow. Bede. It's kind of It kind of comes down to you, man. Well, I don't consider enemy a horror film at all. It's definitely more psychological.

I do like the movie, but I remember more things from Antichrist than I do enemy. I mean, when enemy all has going forward in terms of me remembering it is a giant spider, while, you know, Antichrist has genital mutilation and among other things. I can definitely see which one's going to hit me and stick with me more. going with Antichrist. Oh, no, Pedro, guess what? Oh, shit. Sorry.

No, that's... Oh, no, no, we got Antichrist. Okay, wonderful. Okay, I was wrong. My math was, as usual. My math was off. Antichrist, booze. All right.

I would have been surprised at that. You got spared, Pedro. You got spared. Next, and this is the last one on this fourth of the contest, we've got two very different, Under the Skin versus Aged and Perhaps Classic. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Where do we begin?

B, do you want to start us off? We might hit the buzzer on the cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but I don't know. I don't consider that at Elevator Horror. There's a lot. There's been essays written about that film that I don't, you know, I don't know if it qualifies to be Elevator Horror, but let's go on.

Let's hear the people out. Well, you can write an essay on it. Yeah. This movie. Yeah, well, I agree with you, Pedro. I don't consider Dr. Caligari an elevated horror hope, even though it is a film that did change the landscape of horror, because it is more of a German expressionism film than anything else.

But if I had to compare this and under the skin in terms of which one I liked more, I will definitely say under the skin because no pun intended this film got under my skin more than Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I mean, that beach scene has been haunting me ever since I saw this film in the cinema. So, and again, you could make the argument whether under the skin is full horror or not, but I think, again, like a lot of quote unquote elevated horror,

it definitely is a horror film, but it has other elements added to it to make it more than just the horror film. So I'm definitely going with Under the Skin on this one. Nice, nice. Okay. Gabe. Yeah, I feel bad for Under the Skin that's going against one of the most important movies ever made. It was a really unnerving film Under the Skin with a really, I think, impressive performance from Scarlett Johansson.

I don't know if she's gone on to play villainous characters again, but I think she really got to me using her, you know, her, let's say, seductress abilities and then turning that around into being a really inhumanist characters again. human presence on screen. There's a lot that under the skin has going for it, but I mean, like I said, if you take Psycho out, you change film history, and if you take the cabin of Dr. Caligari out, I just don't think we'd

even be sitting down talking about horror movies. It's like taking out the Beatles, or maybe even going farther back, taking out Beethoven. Now, I can't say which one I enjoy more because I study Caligari more than I watch it, but I think it's

more valuable, so I have to go with that. Okay. One for the cabinet. Jack. Yeah, I think I just got to go with Under the Skin. It's just not, Caligari's, it's just not even a, it's just not this genre. I think Under the Skin is and Caligari isn't, so Under the Skin. Marcus, what do you think?

Yeah, Under the Skin, too. It's a very surreal film. I loved it. It was, had all the elements there. and all the, you know, forebodement. And hopefully that's the right word. But to it, it was a, I still remember it. Caligari, I don't, really.

I mean, I've seen it before, but it just, it didn't stick at all. It's, I mean, I understand the relevance of it and when it comes to the history of this, the whole genre, but it, yeah, I'm going under the skin. Under the skin, it is. Garrett Yeah, Caligari Jack said this isn't really part of this genre

and I completely agree with them. Under the skin, you tell any mother and Beat brought it up the beach scene, you can tell any mother that that beach scene is in a horror scene and they will punch you in the face. Under the skin,

not to mention, I think it's, and this has nothing to do with the real horror part of this, but I think it has one of the most daring performances I've ever seen out of an A-list actress as Scarlet Johansson.

I will go under the skin as well. I choose under the skin because it fits the definition more so. But I must say for my own personal opinion, as a gay man, I didn't find under the skin all that scary. I'm not going to lie. You're not Scottish either, so, you know, there's that. No, I just have scotch in my bar behind me. You're not driving around the Scottish Highlands.

A nude skin is a nightmare that a straight Scottish man would have, absolutely. What's your vote, man? Yeah, we're hitting the buzzer in college. It's skin by default here. And not that it matters, but Caligari is silent anyway, so that fucks off. Okay. I put under the skin in the same category as Annihilation. I think it fits better in this category, and I think it's one of Scarlett Johansson's one of her better performances,

and she didn't have a, I don't believe she had a whole lot of dialogue in there. Just lots and lots of black goo, right? I don't know if that says anything about a woman's best performance being when they're silence. Lance, you fucked up again. All right. All right. We're ready? Under the skin wins that one pretty easily. Pedro?

Yeah. Pedro, you want to do side two for us? Okay, so side two starts off with Mandy and the Nighthouse. And we'll start with Don. We'll start with you. Oh, God. This is probably the toughest one for me. I'm not a fan of either one.

And for me, or is it just me or did it look like somebody's not recording the call anymore? Yeah, I may have hit a button. All right, it's recording. Good thing. One of us is recording a backup. I know. All right, yeah, I just wanted to check that before I said anything. Yeah, this is tough.

I mean, for me, I've always said that there's a better version of Mandy out there if you re-edit the damn thing and you take out all the hallucinogenics. Nighthouse is fine. I understand where it's going, but I wish it would have gotten to the point sooner. This is a tough one. I'm going to flip a coin, I'm going to say Nighthouse. I have a tough time with this one. I think they're both really close. And Nighthouse for me just barely squeaks by.

All right. Bid, what do you think? Oh, this is, I think the Nighthouse is a great film, but I do absolutely love Mandy with all my heart and soul. And the thing about Mandy is, is like it is a B movie at heart, like a B action horror revenge film, but I think what

but it has that art house sheen to it that definitely kind of elevates it from just being a B movie and I think Panos Cosmas just does so much to it that again just sort of elevates the film and it's just it's emotional

it's insane and it has a brilliant Nicholas Cage performance at the center of it and I think to me that's the winner of this bracket I mean at least this round is bandy so I'm going with that. What a surprise, B voted for Nick Cage. I know, right?

Never was. All right, Gabe. What about you? What do you say? Yeah, I think Mandy is too backloaded with Nick Cage. I really like my Nick Cage at the core of it, you know. I mean, Mandy is

an absolutely gorgeous movie and actually I've used it as a reference point for some of the projects that I'm working on. You know, me and my cinematographer sit down and watch Mandy. So, I mean, it's a gargantuan accomplishment in a lot of ways. But personal, subjective feelings, I was very moved by the nighthouse. I was really captivated by Rebecca Hall's performance.

And to me, horror movies are perfect vehicles to explore grief. I think that's why everybody loves hereditary so much, you know, grief, trauma. And that one spoke to me, man. And it really haunted me. I will have to go for the nighthouse. All right. Jack, let's say you. Short and sweet.

Two words, cheddar goblin, Mandy. All right. Marcus, what do you say? Oh, yeah, definitely Mandy. It's definitely one of my favorite movies. It's a indomitable journey into, like righteous fire and brimstone, not to mention it's a fantastic revenge film, soundtracks majestic, imagery is out of this world. I freaking love that movie so much. So yeah,

I'm going with Mandy. All right, Garrett. Well, Jack made a great case for Mandy, but I love the slow burn aspect of the nighthouse. I just always love that way of building attention to something. And Rebecca Hall is just tremendous in that movie. So, I'm going to the nighthouse. All right, Matt. I'll go with the nighthouse as well. I'm always surprised when I see a haunted house film in any capacity that can speak to me, not in the 1990-haunting sort of way where I want to run out of the theater or put my head through a television.

But the night house kind of reminded me, I call it the horror version of Manchester by the sea, or the more horrific version because it's a movie that's not afraid to say that grief and especially losing someone that you love is not one of those things you just get over at the snap of a finger and that was something that at the time when I saw it I was dealing with personally so I really connected with that in a way so I'm going to go with the nighthouse and I'm just a huge champion of Rebecca Hall as well I don't think she gets enough credit for being as great as she is all right and Brian I hear everything everybody's saying about the nighthouse

that her performance turned it around for me with her because after seeing her in Godzilla versus Kong trying to convince me she's a professor or scientist wasn't working for me but I was anybody's performance in Congress

as Godzilla working for you Kong's. Kong's was sure I thought Kong did pretty well but I can't go against Mandy the visuals are phenomenal Nick Cage is phenomenal in it I disagree with Don if you take out all the hallucinations

hallucinogens in it I don't know if I want to watch the movie All right So Don did you What did you pick again? Mandy or Nighthouse? Okay Yeah, should be tied up Oh no

Bucker All right So you know I'm a therapist in my real life, so I deal with a lot of people grieving. And so, again, this film did hit me. And I think it's interesting that films like The Nighthouse, even films like Smile, which we had last year, we're seeing a trend of using this, you know, this metaphor of grieving or not being able to get past a certain point in your life where you have to move on. You know, there's a lot of denial there.

And really, the Nighthouse was one of the ones that really caught my attention early on. So it really, again, it really struck a court with me as well. I love Mandy. I mean, I think Mandy was really Nicholas Cage stepping out of that, you know, video on demand purgatory that he was in for years and stepping out of the parody that he had become. Not that he didn't do any more films afterwards

that were more, you know, him being a parody of himself, but certainly he was getting out of that hole to now, you know, now he's in demand again. Now right now he's got a movie coming out in theaters again. So his credibility was certainly, starting to be fixed during Mandy, but I got to go with the nighthouse because the nighthouse stood with me and it was something that, you know, I couldn't forget for in a long time. So I call it an upset, call it what you want, but the nighthouse moves on.

That was on your top five that year, Pedro. I loved it. Yep, I remember that. Now, with that said, I will say that the whole grieving, you know, metaphor is getting a little long in the tooth. I think we're seeing a lot of these quote-unquote elevator horror filmmakers really lean on that too much lately because I think since the Nighthouse we've seen at least four or five films that are of the same ilk where you know people are in denial and there's a lot of stuff going on and it's all about just you know trying to get over it and move on but for this particular tournament

I'm sticking with the Nighthouse all right yeah yeah and at least three of those old starred Rebecca Hall too so yeah is to elevated horror what what Gore is to slashing movies you know it's like something that people are starting to throw on the screen. Yeah, for sure. All right, so now we're going to move on to, and right away we're going to hit the buzzer on this one near dark. What the fuck is this movie doing anyway?

Who the fuck added that one? Listen, listen, this is a great film. Don't get me wrong. I mean, it's a classic, right? But it's definitely not, you know, if we were in high school, it would definitely be in the wrong crowd right now. You know, we'll just kick it out,

go back to the nerds or something. Don't bury the lead, man. Let's just go. So, anyways, we'll start with Gabe. We'll start with you, Near Dark or The Witch? Oh, well, see, now I feel trapped because we're talking about the greatest elevated to horror movie. I mean, I would absolutely rather near dark. On any day of the week, I would rather watch Near Dark. That's a fantastic movie. Has some career highlights from actors I love like Bill Paxton. and Lance Henriksen, it reinvented the vampire genre.

And, you know, it did in a clever way. So if you want to stretch and say, well, that elevates it. It's elevated in the sense that when you see where vampire movies were at that time, it was smarter, meaner, had more of a bite than any of those. That being said, I mean, yeah. But the witch is, you know, it goes on that Mount Rushmore, Robert Eggers, goes on that Mount Rushmore with Arioster and Jordan Peel. So I feel like my arm has been twisted to go with The Witch,

but this is the only circumstance that I would do that with, because that also is not my speed. All right. Let's go with Beat. What do you say? Yeah, it's definitely The Witch. Dear Dark, great movie, but definitely not elevated horror for me, as brilliantly made as it is.

But like what we've already said before, like if we did a Mount Rushmore of Eleanor, horror films, the witch definitely is up there with, you know, get out hereditary and it follows for me. So it's definitely the witch. All right, Don? Jeez, a film that I'm going to call The Buzzer on versus 1C on the Mount Rushmore of the genre. Do I really have to say anything? All right, let's put a W for, for Don here.

And that's me keeping track of these things. Okay. W, yeah, for which, or is it which? I don't know. Or is it? Double V. The bitch. Should I put two D?

Okay. Let's go down to Jack. Well, my name is Jack and I suggested near dark for this bracket. And here's why. Here's why. As has been stated so many fucking times in this conversation, elevated horror doesn't mean anything. It does, like, it has no definition.

I don't, like, I don't know what it means. I really don't know what it means. I really don't because it, I feel like it's, it's just whatever you think it is at the time, or if it's made by 824. It's one of those. It's always one of those. Is this a protest vote on your part? Is that a protest? It's not so much a protest vote. It's more just, I feel like I put this on the, on the bracket list because I just wanted to show the hypocrisy of the idea of elevated horror. Because I think that near dark, if you,

You moved that movie today, and if A-24 caught a trailer for it, it would look exactly like it comes at night or anything else that they've released. But I can't, now that I'm thinking about it, even tell you why that is. It just feels that way, if that makes sense. So... Go ahead, Jack. Yeah. So that being said, I can't vote against the witch. The witch is the witch.

It is my vote. However, I just wanted to say it was put on the list with some thought put behind it, but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know what that thought is. Compelling argument for Neer Dark. I mean, this is not, this is not, I agree with everything you said, Jack, at the end of the day, this

genre is bullshit in my opinion. But with that said, I think when Near Dark, the reason why it's troublesome in this bracket or in this tournament, is because we could automatically, like automatically put it in other genres. Like it could be like a horror film. It could be like an action film. It could even be a Western in a lot of ways. I think that's what makes it elevated, though.

I think that's literally part of the definition of elevated horror. I think Matt said it before is that it doesn't, it's not just horror. It falls into multiple genres and could be defined by other genres as well. I think that's part of maybe what I was thinking of there. Can you say the same thing about Predator? That's an action. sci-fi, is that elevated order? I think under the broad definition

of what we're talking about, I think maybe it could be, yeah, even though I never would think of it that way, I think somebody could make that argument. I think elevated horror has to have a subtext to its, to whatever the threat is. It has to be some sort of metaphor, like, that has to be like an emotional subtext there. And Near Dark and Predator,

both more entertaining than the witch in my opinion, aren't exactly aiming for that. it's high octane action or you know vampire cowboys which is amazing and that's genius but

I think if there is a pattern that we've found throughout this discussion I think subtext is key agreed yeah there's got to be something making it elevated is because there's something underneath the surface for you to look at that you're having to

dig out and under earth it can't just be the stuff that you know oh, well, this mixes together three or four different genres, that makes it smarter. If you just blanketly look at it and say, yeah, but there's nothing else underneath it, that kind of just defeats the purpose and it doesn't really make it elevated. You have to look at it and say, wow, that was smarter than I thought it was. There was this great metaphor involving this ghost that you're using as a stand-in for her inability to move on from her husband, and there's a grief pattern here that she's not processing.

I think that's what makes it an elevated horror film. It's not just something that looks like three or four different things mesh together. It's something that you've got to bury underneath the surface, and it's got to come to the forefront. All right. Well, this is not a hill I'm going to die on, because quite honestly, I don't give a fuck. All right, Jared. What do we got?

Well, if this was best vampire film of all time, I think Near Dark would make at least the final four of this entire tournament. That being said, The Witch is one of my favorite movies that come out in the last decade. So I'm going The Witch. All right, Matt. I'll be that guy. I'm staking my claim on Near Dark. Pond intended.

Here's why. Nice. I'm going to double down on what Jack said, because not only did we have to nominate these movies, we also had to give a list. So enough people supported Near Dark for it to be in this tournament to a degree. is that vampires up until that point were predominantly one of two things. There were mindless monsters or they were entirely seductive. It took near dark to really make vampires into characters,

give them different personalities, different distinctions, different desires. And it's elevated because, look, a lot of women weren't directing horror films in the 80s. Hell, a lot of women aren't directing horror films nowadays, at least ones that get, you know, a wide recognition. So I think The Witch is a great movie, but I'm going to say, I'll watch Near Dark ten times before I rewatch The Witch. There you have. So I'm going to, I'll go with Near Dark.

I'll be the one descender. So now Garrett knows how it feels. We're not done yet here. You could have some company here. A bead, did I get to you? Because I'm drinking right now. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.

Okay. Brian. well first i gotta say it wouldn't be the horror returns bracket if we didn't have at least one movie where everybody was like by the fuck is that movie on the list but after hearing what jack had to say and then what matt had to say i'm gonna jump over on your side of the fence matt Persuasion tactics in the house. It's too late to make a comeback. Okay. No, we got Marcus.

Oh, I'm going to go with The Witch. I mean, I love Near Dark as well. It's definitely another defining vampire movie that just hits all the right notes and does something fresh and interesting with the genre. but the witch just it really does kind of hold that bracket you know of what we're all talking about here especially when it comes to you know it's lighting it's music production value cinematography

you know it performances all that good stuff so yeah I'm just going to go with the witch begrudgingly okay begrudgingly okay all right so the witch takes this this bracket here we're going to move on to the baba dick and uh the daughter The Wicked. This is going to be a hard one. Hopefully I don't have to vote on this one, because this is a hard one for me. But we'll start things off with Don.

Oof. Damn. Babaduke is a contender for 1D on the Mount Rushmore for me. I think it was like the very first one, at least in like a modern sense, where it was like retroactively kind of outfitted as to be like the outlier of the, genre and like one of the first ones that really kind of started making people aware that there

was something else to the genre instead of just like your less standard slasher or ghost film or zombie film or whatever else was coming out at that time period i hate baba dick is always the one that was always like everybody's called the bapadick the starting point here where did that start jack gee i wonder but god damn uh dark and the wicket is To me, if we were to rank what I would think of as what these films are, this to me is like my favorite in the entire style. Out of every film on the list, this is the one that I rank the highest. Yeah, this is the hardest one.

Do I give it to the legacy one, or do I give it to the one that I look at as the shining example in my favorite one in this entire outcrop? I got to say darken the wicked begrudgingly. I understand the Babaduke. I appreciate it. It has its merits. I love what it does. The film, it kind of teeters here and there for me.

But Dark and the Wicked to me, it's my favorite in this entire style. It was the one on the bracket that I looked at then was like, yes, I'm glad we're including it. I understand the way everyone falls on this one, but I'm going to start off with Dark and the Wiccan on this one. Okay. All right. another one of the grieving metaphors there. But I think it's the one that does it the best, and I'll leave it at that.

Okay, wonderful. Let's go to B. What do you say? Well, this is an easy one for me, because I personally think the dark and the wicked is a piece of shit. Oh, some fighting words right there. It is. For me, the dark and the wicked feels like a parody of an A-24 film. It's a movie that tries so hard to be scary and unsettling

that it just comes across this comment. bad and I just and also I hated this movie so much that the film's official Twitter account called me out one day. It's an absolute drek of a film. So I go with the barbadook because it does everything better than the dark and the wicked does. It's brilliant. It's like it has an iconic creature that is still hugely popular. Look, it's annoying as fuck. No, well that's the thing though. Like, I can understand people thinking that the kid is annoyed, but I think that's purposely how it is, because it's a movie that, like a lot of films on this tournament,

deals with grief, but also the struggles with motherhood. But I think this film kind of does it extremely well. It has a brilliant performance from the two leads in it, and again, has a memorable creature, and it's just incredibly unnerving as a film. And, of course, as an Aussie, I have to go with it because it's an Australian film. But I think of the two, the Barbadook, great film, Dark and the Wicked,

just a horrible, miserable piece of shit of a film. Wow. A little personal there. I have a lot of venom against that film. I apologize. All right. Gabe, what do you say? Well, I'm biased because I'm Facebook friends with one of the actresses from the Dark and the Wicked.

So the Babadook to me was hereditary before hereditary. It's kind of ground zero, I think. And it was the last time that a movie genuinely unnerved me in a way that I felt very vulnerable to the film. It was absolutely effective and thrilling and emotional. And for that reason, I've kind of stayed away from the movie ever since. It was a one-off, which I like rewatchability to my movies, but you have to respect the power of that film. Yes, the kid is annoying, and that is obviously deliberate. it and it's been kind of driving me crazy that people use that as a con against the movie.

When it really, it speaks to these themes about how ugly the grieving process can be, how ugly trauma can be. And the Babadook might be my favorite movie monster of the 2010. So that is, you know, a simple choice for me, the Babadook. All right. Jack? Yeah, Bob Dick. It's got to be the Boba Dick all day, 100%.

above dick. Short and sweet, wonderful. Marcus, what do you say? Babadook is kind of like the ground zero. It is. I got to agree with that. But I also

like support that movie because it really just speaks volumes to something that a lot of people, or at least a lot of creators, well, I'm going to say a lot, I'll say half. Half the creators don't particularly focus on. as far as a theme,

even though it's kind of depicted in a lot of their movies. There's no, there's substance to it, but not as much substance as it should be when it comes to that particular topic. And I'm, of course, talking about, you know, grieving and trauma and mental illness. And yeah, and then, like I said,

like I didn't say that yet, but I'm saying right now, the kids are annoying. And everything in that film, that's a fact, is designed to just, put forth this scary and terrifying just entity wrapped around something that we these human beings cannot avoid

and it's um it really just speaks volumes for just how immense that is especially within the person feeling in those around them you know so I I gotta go with the Babadook on that one all right well said Garrett where do you stand Garrett doesn't stand Is Garrett the last vote of this one?

No, we still got Matt and Brian. Oh, no. We lost, we lost Garrett. We lost Garrett. You made him mad. Okay. He's going to. He's back.

I'm back. I'm back. Sorry about that. I was starting to get into robot mode. It was starting to just keep going on. Oh, yeah. We don't like that. We've been there before.

Yeah. All right. So this is a pretty easy one for me. I, um, the Bobba do. is one of those movies to me that was a slow burn movie that I like, but the conclusion of it was a huge letdown for me.

A lot of the... That's got the giggles. It's over now. I don't know what to tell you guys. Once it gets going with that, it's over. I just letting everybody know. A lot of the praise that people lay on Ty West

this year is the same praise I've been laying on Brian Pertino for the last decade and a half. half. I think he is one of our best horror directors to come along in quite a while. I just rewatch The Dark and the Wiccid since it first came out. I watched it, we watched it a couple weeks ago. Man, the scares in that movie just really hold up for me. I love that movie to pieces. I'm, and I think I was the one who actually put it in this tournament, so I'm going Darken the Wicked. Easy. I did too. No, I did too.

All right. Matt, what do you stand? So the fact that Garrett nominated the Dark and the Wicked It probably explains why I hated it so much. I'm in Beavis camp where I spent the observation going, is this someone either trying way too hard to be A-24 or did A-24 just pass this off to a second unit? Whereas the Bobadook is one of maybe five movies I've seen in a theater, specifically a horror film where I slept with some form of light on in my vicinity.

I was living by myself at the time. so it was considerably more frightening. And as a father now of two young boys, I can say 100% that kids are annoying. So I don't know from the mother's side definitively. But yeah, I have to go with the Babaduke. I think that would be in this whole tournament, probably top three. All right.

Brian, what do you say? It doesn't matter, but let's hear you out anyway. Okay. I definitely have to go with the Babaduke. It's definitely one of the cornerstones. and elevated horror. I think Jennifer Kent, when you

bring up, someone brought up women directing horror movies, I think her name gets deservedly brought up, so I have to go with the Babadook. Nice. All right, so the Babadook is going to take this bracket here.

Let me write it down here. All right. Next, we're going to head over to one of my favorite movies over the last 10 years, The Lighthouse, going against a girl walks home alone. So we're going to go

in reverse order now here. Brian, we'll start with you. Fuck the lighthouse. A girl walks home alone in night. I'm not going to say too much about it because we're going to review it here in a couple weeks, but there's so much to that movie that I love. That's Batman versus the Green

Goblin. Come on, dude. Fuck that movie. That's fucked up. I think we know Brian's big. Okay. So now let's go to Matt. God, I hear so much of fuck X that I'm expecting the Iron Sheek to appear on this podcast. I am 100% going to go with the lighthouse.

I feel about the lighthouse the way a lot of people felt about the witch where I was like its biggest champion for at least the six months where nobody could watch it in my vicinity. And I was always telling people to go watch it, go to the theater, go see it. don't watch any trailers. And I think it's elevated also by being a black and white alone. I think that kind of people can argue is that adding some pretentiousness to it. But I think it makes it actually that much more unsettling because everything is so drab to begin with. When you look at the production design and you look at just how gross everything looks, like everything feels so lived in that I would probably put the lighthouse, I think that's my favorite in this entire tournament.

Or it's number two. I think there's one other one that I could argue is my favorite. But I can't champion this one hard enough. So the lighthouse, okay, wonderful. Garrett, what do you say? Well, I want to go with the lighthouse too. And I'm pretty sure I would have gone with it otherwise, but I haven't seen, I haven't seen a girl walks home alone.

So, but everything that Matt says, though, I completely co-sign. It's just, I love that movie. I just love the way it builds. I just love, I love the atmosphere of it. It's so well done. So the lighthouse. Okay.

Marcus? Well, the lighthouse is, well, it's one of those films that you come across every once in a while, well, where you can't help but to just want to continuously interact with it in some kind of way. Whether it be like watch it or talk about it or write about it or be about any, any, any, any. anything about it, you are on board. And the lighthouse is definitely one of those films for me. Just bleakly beautiful, just a descent into just righteous, black and white purgatory. The performances are great. The imagery is great.

Everything about it is just artistic and presentation, but also hugely intellectual as a film, B, it deserves all this praise, it's accolades, and wildly enough, it's still fairly underrated. Like a lot of people still haven't really heard of this movie. And every time you,

because I definitely recommend it. I recommend it to everybody. I tell everybody to, you know, watch the lighthouse, watch the lighthouse. So it's, because it's one of those films that needs to be, and should be talked about,

like all the time. So it's just one of those movies. And I love it. So, yeah, I'm going to Lighthouse. All right. Jack, what do you say? I'm also The Lighthouse. Yeah, just a great theatrical experience, unique, kind of subversive.

Yeah, not much beyond that. I like that movie a lot more than A Girl Walks Home. I've rewatched The Lighthouse. couple of times. I haven't done that with the other movie. And yeah, you know what? Let's also credit this movie for, you know, maybe being part of the reason that Robert Pattinson is Batman right now. So I'll take that all day. I think that's a huge reason for sure, you know, getting out of that that kind of like that teen, heartthroff mode that he was in going into a more serious actor. Right. Sure. Gabe, what do you say?

Yeah, I dig the lighthouse. I dig it for a lot of the reasons that people have laid out two really fantastic performances, especially Willem Defoe, a really great claustrophobic setting, really, both serene and haunting cinematography. But something about a girl walks home alone at night really clicked with me. And it's a movie that I didn't expect much from, as opposed to the lighthouse, which was a very hyped thing if you were in that A24 sort of a circle. but a girl walks home alone a night it has this great

subversive idea at the heart of it and the way it's just fleshed out with so much rich detail both in characters and in this world of this kind of parallel universe version of Iran where I guess the Ayatollah doesn't rule over it almost felt like

a graphic novel or a comic book I think it might have actually started out that way and it is a vampire movie that it definitely does have claimed to be at a like a real elevated horror film

and I think it's a really undersung film in the genre so I'm going to go with that the girl walks home alone tonight All right, here we go Bede what do you say? Yeah, I definitely really enjoy a girl walks home alone at night

but I'm definitely giving the edge to the lighthouse like everyone's already said already it's an incredibly atmospheric film it's visually stylish the performances from both Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe are fantastic And it's definitely a movie like even if you've only ever seen it once. It just lingers with you long after you've seen it.

So I'm definitely giving my vote for this one. All right. And Don, not that it matters, but I still want to hear your opinion on this particular bracket. Yeah, I'm going to be that gay. I don't consider the lighthouse horrors. I'm going girl walks on alone at night. Come on, man. I'm going to push the buzzer on you on this one because everything about the lighthouse is creepy as

fuck is it's atmospheric but i don't consider it horror i don't consider it's like a type of psychological horror to me i i don't consider that horror movie so i'm going girl walks home all right fair enough but the lighthouse won anyway so yeah it's all right okay i couldn't last a day in that fucking lighthouse i'll be honest with you i just couldn't so it's scary enough for me um Next, this is an interesting matchup here because, again, we're talking about the parameters of, you know, this kind of topic that we're talking about, elevated horror. We got the exorcist against the silence of the lamps. So that's going to be interesting. So we'll start with Don.

We'll go in reverse order again. Don, what do you say? The exorcist versus the silence of the lambs. This is tough. I can make a case that Exorcist is probably the post. poster child for this or not poster child but like the starting point for like elevated door um there there's a case to be made for that uh silence of the lambs is kind of on the outskirts it was one that i i appreciate where it comes from and and i do really like it but

it was always another one that was like i had to watch it to figure out where it falls on the genre but at the end of the day i'm still going exorcist all right ones for the actresses All right, Bid, what do you say? I'm just going to say this right now before I give my vote. Lance, you son of a bitch. These were two of my picks and you decided to put them together. Well, it happens. It's random.

It is true. That is true. But this is a hard one because both of these movies are definitely kind of the precursor of the elevated horror genre because you got the silence of the lambs, which is still to this very day, the only horror film to have won Best Picture at the Oscars. It's a classic of classics. And it's also like a lot of films, it's a movie when it came out,

even though everyone involved with the making of it, including its director, Jonathan Demi had said multiple times that it is a horror film. Everyone in the lead-up, you know, when it came out and also its Oscar success, kept referring to it as a friller. So basically that's kind of like the early indication of it,

like the elevated horror movement. But then again, you have The Exorcist, which was the first horror film, to be nominated for Best Picture. But also, it is the precursor to what we know has elevated horror today, because at least a good hour of that movie is basically it's a drama

with subtle, supernatural things, and then eventually it becomes full-blown horror. And then every other horror film that's in this tournament since its release would have been inspired by that film. Or even, you know, Ariasso, Robert Eggers, and all these other filmmakers would have been, have said multiple times,

that their film was inspired by The Exorcist or they made comparisons to it. So if I had to choose for myself, as much as the Science of Lanters, one of my all-time favorites, if I'm going by which has had the more impact between the two, it's going to be the Exorcist, begrudgingly. Okay, the Exorcist. Trying to pick your favorite kids, not if you had kids or, I don't know if you have kids or not, but whatever. is this not the kid in the Babadook. So next we go to Gabe.

Let's say you. Yeah, these are two powerhouse movies. And this seems like a very classic question, not just within elevated horror, but horror in general, like, you know, comparing two of the greatest entries of that genre. Silence of the Lamps is, it's always been a film that I've felt very distanced from, personally.

I admire that movie a lot. I admire the direction, the performances, although I think Anthony Hopkins feels more like a James Bond villain to me than any sort of a cannibal or serial killer. But I get that's part of the appeal. No, The Exorcist, that movie hits a raw nerve for me. And I think a lot of why I said about the Babodook, you can put it on The Exorcist. And in addition, you got some iconic characters to me. Father Karras is one of the most underrated protagonists in horror history.

and you got Ellen Burstein, Max Fon Seido. I just, like, when I picture the word classic, I think of The Exorcist. So I got to give it to that, The Exorcist. All right, The Exorcist is another one. Okay, Jack? Yeah, Impossible fucking Decision, Lance. Go fuck yourself, first off.

He's taking a lot of those today, which is weird. Unbelievable, unbelievable. Unbelievable. It's going to be titled Everybody Hates Lance. Yeah. I don't know Silence of the Lambs to me feels more subversive Like it feels more specifically

Trying to be what it is But like hide the elements of what it's doing I mean there's a scene where a guy Fucking like blows a load and throws it on a woman You know but it's this movie one best picture You know There's a there's like a gothic dungeon in the movie A guy wears another guy's face at one point

There's a somebody who who seems to be have like gender confusion. Like there's a lot of like very high concept ideas and like metaphors in a movie that has a real, a lot of like rawness and ugliness. And I feel like that's that elevated thing. Yeah. They're both classics.

Like to me these are both 10 on 10s. They're movies that I've rewatched endlessly. But I think Silence of the Lambs feels more like what elevated horror is right now. Even though I do agree that Exorcists, is probably, you know, ground zero for what this started as, or like what A-24 is aiming for whenever they make a movie like this. Sure. So, Silence of the LAMS for me.

All right. Silence of the Lamps. Okay. Marcus. I mean, they're both just complete, you know, master for works when it comes to this genre in a lot of ways. And they've both done a significant amount of just, just, you know, raising the bar of what, you know,

horror movies can be and what they are today. And without either one of them, I don't think we would be where we are today when it comes to content. Or if we were, it would be a bit more distinctive than it is now. So, I mean, I have more of an experience with The Exorcist than Sinocel of the Lambs. You know I love Sinicel of the Lambs.

I still remember when the director's cut for it, The Exorcist came out in theaters. Yeah. And that was probably one of the best theater experiences ever had, not because it's a great movie, but because it still shocked a majority of people in the theater who half of them probably already seen it. And even just, you know, revisiting it still sends a chill down your spine. And it still is very unsettling and, you know, just, just completely, like, gut-wrenching in a lot of ways. So it's, even after all these years, it still holds a power over us as, you know, movie lovers and critics and, you know, the trends and, you know, elevated horror and everything like that.

And it's a, it's a pinnacle of storytelling. So I got to go with the exorcist. All right. Next we go to Garrett. Yeah, when I looked at these brackets earlier today at work, I was like, oh my God, I knew this was going to be the hardest decision yet, this entire set of brackets here. Look, The Exorcist has a power to it that is just if you go, there were stories when that movie had come out that, you know, people were running out, screaming and throwing up and whatnot and leaving the theater. And that is a power you cannot, you cannot define. line and it like people said it was made it was not made for best picture but jack laid out exactly

what i was going to say about the silence of the lambs and that silence of the lambs came out post post slasher subgenre of horror people were not talking about horror people did not like horror but people had to admit that this was a horror film and i think that is the sheer definition of what we're talking about today when you talk about elevated horror you had big movie stars you had a big director and the thing one best picture. And silence of lambs, both of these are in my top ten favorites of all time. But silence and the lambs has to do it out for me just

because of what we're talking about today. The sub-drawn we're talking about today. It's the definition of it. So silence and lamps for me. All right. Matt? So the impossible question for me was choosing which is the better movie? Because I think that question is a wash. So I had to come up

with my own internal tiebreaker. And I had two factors, ironically. Number one, a lot of us agree that Silence of the Lambs, the vast majority would call it a horror film, but you do have a certain populace that lean more towards the thriller. I think with The Exorcist,

that is undisputed a horror movie first and foremost. Sure. And secondly, when I look at Sondt of the Lambs, that template, it may be the best of that genre, you know, the serial killer chasing a killer, using a killer to find a killer. You know, we've had stuff like Mind Hunter come out since Sons of the Lamb,

not man hunter, for those of you who are listening. I think we have yet to have a Exorcist movie, a possession movie, that has come close to capturing the provocative nature of the exorcist 50 years later. Oh, just wait for David Gordon Green to get a hold of it. Well, for the record, we're going to talk about that. Yeah, we are covering it. That's, you know, the 50-year anniversaries this year, so Garrett and I are doing that as a retrospective.

So way to show your fucking head, Garrett, with your 10-10 score. But for those reasons, you know, I will give this to The Exorcist. But it's a very close call. And Brian. The Exorcist, it's one of those movies that sets a bar, not just for elevated horror, religious horror, just movies in general. It's one of the greatest movies ever. But I think for this subject of elevated horror, this ever-changing definition, I feel like every round. I think Silence of the Lams is going to get my vote.

Okay. Regardless, the actresses moves on. So, speaking of controversial, the next matchup, we might get the buzzer ready because we got, it's going to go right back to that whole foreign horror thing I brought up earlier, which is, you know, it's just different artistic sensibilities for those particular filmmakers. Does that make it elevator horror?

We'll see right now. We got martyrs, the original, not the Katie Holiness. Holmes ones that came out like, well, like two years ago. I think, I think Katie Holmes was in it. I remember. For Naomi Watts. Oh, Naomi Watts. Wait, wait. Wait, she's in all the remakes.

For the martyrs remake. Oh, no. I don't know who's in that one. And it's going up against another movie that just recently got remade, Goodnight Mommy, the original. There's, there she is, Brian. Yeah, I got confused. So, we'll start with Jack on this one.

Um, I lean martyrs on this. I think that martyrs is, was a really tough movie for me to watch. I actually watched it a couple years ago. I was doing a 365 movie a year challenge. And that came up and was one of those that I watched it. And I, you know, I kind of, I had an idea for what I was in for. I heard it was a very extreme movie, but I had no anticipation of like the message of that movie, which I thought was. was fascinating and like really deep and nihilistic kind of in like the Lars von truer vein of things but weirdly this movie felt like it had more to say and and was darkly optimistic and I just I didn't expect that from this movie and yeah like it's it's fucked up and it's got a brutal ending and a brutal story but there's something about it too that I don't know but I'm going martyrs. I think it fits with the conversation

we've been trying to like kind of wade our way through this whole night. I think it belongs in this genre. And I think it's a pretty strong candidate for that, even if it would also qualify for a different section of horror. For the vulgar, what was it, Gabe? Volga, Autor.

What the book was a... Yeah, vulgar art tour. Yes, yes. Anyways, Gabe, since we have you, well, what do you say? Yeah, I was wrestling with the question of is martyrs elevated because

it is, I mean it's deep but I think more people think of it as torture porn and I've never heard those two subgenres being overlapped at all but that might be the power of martyrs. I mean for as disturbing as it is it's a potent movie. It's a powerful fucking movie.

It's deeply unsettling and traumatizing. but like Jack said it's not a Lars von Trier's thing it like goes beyond that and actually tries to look beyond the darkness which is the only reason why

I would even entertain watching it so I think it's got it's way too much of a beast for me to not give it the point in this matchup so I have to give it some martyrs. All right and thank you for taking off your Astros hat by the way because I'm a dog

now over here. I'll get it out. I'll get it out. Oh. Okay. Go find mine. Veed, what do you say? Well, I think if anyone who has followed me over the years would know that I am not a fan of martyrs, I think the movie's a bit of a mess, and I don't think it's as deep as or intelligent as it thinks it is. And it's definitely more of a French extremity film than elevated horror, but it's a movie

that thinks it's elevated horror, hence, you know, why I think it's not as clever as a fix it is. Good Night Mommy. The ending is very predictable because I completely saw that one coming, but I found that one far more engaging because of the performances. It's very well made and it's very unsettling. And to me, I think it's just the better overall movies. So, yeah, I've got a good night, Mommy on this one.

All right. Garrett, Good Night Mommy or Martyrs? Yeah, Martyrs is, again, as Jack laid out, It's a real experience watching that movie, and it's another one of those. The less you know, the better. Good Night Mommy was the exact opposite of the Babadook for me, where I had a nice payoff and had two non-annoying kids. So I'm going, Good Night Mommy, by a hair, but it is Good Night Mommy for me.

All right. I nominated this one, so I've got to go with it. All right. Marcus. I accidentally recommended this movie to a few of my friends, and we all kind of watched it together. I had never seen it before. Yeah, martyrs. Yeah, sorry. I should have just said that first.

But yeah. And it was one of those experiences where everyone pretty much hated me afterwards and didn't want me to ever pick anything ever again and didn't want me to do anything with them ever again. And not even because the movie is as bold and striking and very unpleasant as it is, but because I was the only one who was happy about it because for me, I was watching a film that

very uncompromising, very untethered, and just completely just like punch you in your face kind of horror that just is what I was looking for at the time, but everybody else detested. So, you know, martyrs, despite its unpleasant subject matter, we'll always have another special place in my heart so I'm going with martyrs all right

three to two Matt where do you stand I'll get my fuck X out of the way now fuck martyrs I hate that pretty a ounce of five being

so I will go with Goodnight Mommy by default all right we're tied up again Don break this tie yeah I'm going martyrs um

good night mommy is fun. I agree. Even though the twist is kind of obvious, it's still really pretty fun to get there. But Martyrs to me is one of the cornerstones of the early hallmarks of the genre. One of those that you can retroactively put it in there. And overall, I think it's a better made movie, despite what Bede thinks. So I'm going, Marters. All right. And Brian? I'm going to have to go with the one that's stuck with me the most. and that was martyrs.

Just everything that happened in that movie and then that ending, I think when we rebuted, we all kind of had different interpretations of what the ending meant and what was going on in the movie, so I have to go martyrs. All right.

Good. So martyrs moves on. We're done to two more matchups here. So the next matchup is the Nightingale versus a complete, this, what is it? One cut of the dead. So Matt, we'll start with you for this round.

For different reasons. Matt, the Nightingale or One Cut of the Dead? I thought One Cut of the Dead was a couple tweaks away from being great. There's a few issues I have with the way that film was plotted. So I'm going to go with the Nightingale. That was a very pleasant surprise. And I'm glad someone advocated for it to be on this list. I don't know who that was, but I think he's sitting in this room with me.

The Nightingale was a pleasant surprise. Matt Goodrow, I just want to make sure I heard that correctly. All right, Jack, what do you say? One cut of the dead, just because I like movies that I actually get to have a good time with. So I'm going to go with that one. Okay, Marcus? Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the Nightingale on this one. It's another supremely, like, dark and grisly meditation on what humanity is capable of.

And it's so real in its horror that it definitely hits you on a lot of different levels, a lot of distinct levels. And I remember it, all parts of it to this day. It's definitely that type of film you ever watch more than one. but it's the kind of film that will kind of definitely stick with you. And if we're, you know, talking about, you know, higher or relevant horror, you know, it's definitely got to be the ones that stick with you in some kind of way. Right. And that's definitely one of them.

All right. Garrett. Man, the nightingale's a rough watch. It is a rough watch. That being said, it sticks with you. And One Cut of the Dead. It's the. probably one of the more

as Jack said, one of the more fun movies on this list, but the Nightingale I remember I saw that opening weekend and it I was talking about it for weeks after. I really, really enjoyed that film and I'm scared of America

remakes it because the themes are explored in that movie are just like untouchable. I love the Nightingale, so that's that one for me. The Nightingale. Okay. Gabe, where do you stand on this? Yeah, another Jennifer Kent movie, The Nightingale. I was a big admirer of that movie, and I am glad to see it represented here.

It's one of the few movies on this list to truly embrace on-screen violence, but also not glorify it. It's kind of like martyrs in that way for me, how extreme it gets. But I think it's even more profound than martyrs. I think it really explores a lot of fascinating ideas, but also great dynamics and relationships. I think the relationship between our two, like, sort of. sort of dual protagonist, the woman and the man who sort of escorts her to a revenge, that's the thing that actually stuck with me, even more than a lot of the traumatic things that are put on screen.

And when I think of elevated horror, I don't just think of, like, the horrific things that happen, I think of the humanity that you can find after you parse through all the violence, and I think the Nightingale has to win on those merits. All right. So another one for the Nightingale B. Where do you stand? Yeah, I think as much as I do love one cut of the dead because it's hilarious and brilliant and clever, it's definitely the Nightingale for me because as an Aussie, this film definitely hit me a lot more because of what it does with its story about, you know, how based on genocide, colonialism and knowing my history in Australia, it definitely, like I say, it just hit me a lot more and especially with the fact that because the film is set in Tasmania and if knowing my history, history because basically a lot of indigenous Australian tribes were basically wiped out in Tasmania

because of British soldiers. So this film definitely showcases the real horror. Like I guess some could make the argument. It's not a full-blown horror film, but I think the fact that it deals with actual real horrific events definitely classifies it as a horror film for me in a different way. So, but it's a horror film through and through. and it's just brilliantly well made by Jennifer Kent, so that's the one I'm voting for.

All right, wonderful. And Brian? I have to also go with the Nightingale. The situations that happen in a movie are not ones that I care to rewatch in certain movies, but I think it was definitely a good follow-up for Jennifer Kent, and I'm not a big fan of One Cut of the Dead. I probably do need to re-watch it, but I just known off the first time watching it,

I just was not a fan of it, so the Nightingale. Okay, so the Nightingale moves on, and we are... It doesn't matter. I'm out of Nightingale anymore. Okay, sorry, Don. I'm drinking and I'm buzzing, so I'm sorry. It's on me. So we're going to move on to our final match here in the first round.

The films are a dark song and mother, with an exclamation point there. So we'll start with you, Don. What do you think of this matchup? There's two films on this list that I want to fire under the sun. I cannot... It's Lance's fault. No, it's both of these films as fault for enraging me so much. I fucking hate both of these movies.

Oh, God. I hate these films with a theory that would level an entire solar system if I was to ever unleash my full thoughts on them. Oh, shit. Uh... What's that... ...write essays on them. I've tried.

I just don't have the finger strength. Um... Broke in too many phones. Mother infuriated me less. I'm going with that one. All right, one for mother. B. Are you as upset at the time?

these films as Don is? Actually, no, I'm not. I like the fact that a dark song is on here, but I actually think it's a bit underrated that film personally. But if I had to choose between both of them, I'm definitely going with Mother because it got such a visceral reaction out of me when I first watched it.

And, you know, Darren Aronovsky, he's a very divisive filmmaker, but I like the fact that he is because, you know, he just, I always get something out of his films every time I watch him. It's definitely Mava for me in this round. Okay, two for Mother here. Gabe?

Oh, Darren Aronowski. Yeah, that movie did provoke an emotion out of me, and the emotion was being annoyed. Just throughout the entire runtime, just really not enjoying my experience. A Dark Song, which was my pick. I do think it's underrated, and it dealt with that grieving process.

in a much more interesting way than I think a lot of bigger elevated movies do. I think there's a lot of toxicity and a lot of manipulation that's explored, but I also think that there is a sincerity that this movie wears on its sleeve about just how much it believes sort of in its own mission statement of what if we could communicate with the dead, what if we could bring people back. I don't know. It was a really fascinating watch for me, and I just want to, you know, champion an underdog.

So, yeah, a dark song. All right. Jack? Yeah, I'm a big Aronovsky fan. Mother is a wild movie. I really liked the ride, and I did like it more than a dark song. So it's mother for me. One of the more fun theatrical experiences I can remember.

I think it was, not that the theater was full, but I think it was pretty much 50-50 split from people who were there. You know, there were a bunch of, like, elderly folks who somehow sat through the whole movie and just like loudly complained all like walking all the way down the ramp just I don't know I don't know about the I don't know what's wrong with people you know that kind of thing and then uh you know me and in a couple other people just like yeah it's pretty uh it's pretty fucking nuts pretty fucking nuts so I don't know mother for me I uh I like it all right Marcus movie wouldn't we just watch it yeah as they go to

find some tapioca somewhere at 8.30 at night. You know, it's that kind of thing. Martin is really even there. Yeah, even though I don't think it's, you know, Aronovsky's, you know, strongest film. I'll have to go with Mother as well. Dark Song is good, but Mother was just such a, I don't even, even now, I don't really know what the fuck.

it was. But it was still something that I was invested in and it kept my eye on the screen like at everything at all times. And even though I don't have as much fun analyzing that movie as, you know, some of the other

picks we have here, it still is, again, something that really stuck with me. So yeah, I'm going to go with Mother. I'm sure there's plenty of, you know, three-hour YouTube video essays on that movie. so people don't understand what's going on.

They're all over the place. All right, Garrett. I'm not a big fan of Aronovsky. I'm not a big fan of a dark song, so this was a weird choice for me. I will say, though, the conversations that Mother started very rarely has a movie hit like that

where you had people who either really dug it or really hated it. A Dark song's fine, but it didn't really leave that much of an impression on me when I watched it. And so I'm going to, go much to my own chagrant. I want to go ahead and go mother.

Just because, man, the visceral reaction that people have to that movie is something that I will always freely endorse. All right, Matthew? See, you know, I'm buzzing because I said Matthew now. I've been mad the whole time, but now I'm saying Matthew. So,

either or it works. Yeah, they both work, which is more than I can say for either of these movies. I don't like either one. And Darren Narnovsky, I'm just so much hate, man. Yeah, I'm just seething with anger tonight. I don't know why.

But the Darren Narnovsky is that kid in class who's like, I know we should be upset about something, but I don't know exactly what. So I'm just going to be very loud to illustrate my point. That's great. I feel like he has something against me personally because he's only made one movie I've liked and everything else.

I have just... What was that, Noah? No, no, the wrestler is the only movie of his I really like. Randy the Ratt. The Rassler, and I thought the fountain was a glorified Skittles commercial at top of some other things. And I can't believe the whale is getting all these good reviews because I think it's a steaming pile of garbage.

But I will go with a dark song because Mother, I was one of those people who, I think I called Garrett after it was done. Not that we reviewed it, but I just needed someone to rant to because I saw it by myself. Nobody else was in the theater because I went to like a 10 o'clock showing and I didn't drag my I didn't drag Christian to go see it

because I explained what it was about he's like that sounds so fucking dumb. I'm like, oh yeah, you should have seen the movie. I'm going with the dark song. Me and Aeronovsky don't get along. It was we had a good one night together. It was fun while it lasted. And then after that he kept writing me

and I just throw them in the fire when I get his postcards. all right brian i'm going to have to go with darks a dark song um just that one stuck with me a lot more than mother uh i thought certain things just kind of stuck out to me the subject matter the the atmosphere the the score kind of just gave me an eerie vibe and mother it was something to talk about but after we did our review on it like what five six years ago i haven't talked or seen that movie since then. So I have to go with a dark song.

Do we have a tie? I think so. Does this one come down to Pedro? I had Mother winning by one. Okay. Are we sure? Let's be sure. This is important.

Is it? We only... Yeah. Might as well move on to the next round, right? Okay, Mother. We got Mother winning. All right, Mother gets it. Yeah. We're going to go back to the first side of the bracket for round two and put Syspria against Psycho.

B, do you want to start us out? I'm just going to be short and sweet with this one. I think the Syspira remake is great, but I mean, it's Psycho. That's going to be my pick. Yeah. All right. Gabe. Sorry about that. That was eating. Oh, no worries. Yeah. Short and sweet. I'll just say, I, e, e, e, e, e,

and he did that. Nice. All right, two for Psycho. I thought he was going from Susperia. No. That's a good point. Jack, what do you think? I just don't think Psycho is

elevated horror, so Susperia. All right. Now it's a battle. Marcus. Yeah, still Psycho all the way. I mean, Susperia is good, but Psycho is better. Okay. Garrett.

Yeah, got to go with Psycho with this. Again, Susperia explains different themes. I respect it for what it is, but Psycho is just the better all-around horror film for me. Okay. Matt. I'm going with Susperia 2018. Okay. Of course you are.

here. Don, what do you think? Yeah, I got to go Psycho. I think that's just the better film All-Rones. Okay. And Brian. Psycho for the win. Psycho for the weekend.

All right. The next one is going to be The Shining versus Get Out. An interesting one. Uh, Brian, we'll start with you this time. Uh, let's stick with who I went with in the first round. Let's get out. Oh, okay. Uh, Don.

Fuck the shining going to just get out. Oh, right. Should have expected that. Uh, Matt. Damn, this is a hard one. I think, Hmm. I'm going to go with the shining.

Very close. Okay. I figured it'd be a close one. Garrett. Why do you people keep making me vote for the goddamn shining? I'm going shining. Marcus. Yeah.

Shining is a classic, but I got to go with Get Out. It's all day for me. Okay. Jack. Yeah, Get Out. Get Out is elevated horror. I don't think this is Shining is. No?

I love the Shining. Don't think it's elevated horror. Okay. They walked up steps during the climax. That makes it elevated. Get this man out of here. Get him out of here. There's an elevator.

Elevator with the glove. Gushing out of me. I'm talking about elevator horror. That's the only one with an elevator. Gabe. I think Jack Nicholson's performance elevates it to comedic heights. I think when people talk about elevated horror, they are still.

still picturing get out over the shining for sure. So get out your answer? Yeah. Okay. And Bede. This is an interesting one for me because between the two, it's a tough one because I'm going by which has kind of had the more impact in terms of elevated horror. So the Shining winner came out had more of a mixed reception.

It didn't get more lovers until time went on. but Get Out pretty much just immediately got that right away and pretty much as you know like everyone's already said I would say it's kind of more elevated horror because of that so yeah I'm going but get out on this one Get Out takes it Alright okay This one could be good

Hereditary versus It Follows Um Garrett Yeah I'll go with Heretitary on this and because I'm not a fan of it follows as I said earlier so Brian Brian

I had to go with the guy that coined the term for elevated horror ayesters areitary maybe not such a battle as I thought Don Hereditary Matthew

It follows It follows There's one Marcus Uh yeah I love it follows but hereditary all the way for me too. Gabe?

I might have to end up voting for hereditary in a later round, but not this round. It follows. Okay. Can we make it come from behind victory here? Marcus. Oh, I already said mine. I said hereditary. Oh, my bad.

I saw that. I've got it. Jack is what I meant. Yeah, hereditary. I just enjoyed a lot more than it follows, and I've seen it more than that. And Bede. It follows is a really great film, but Hereditary is a masterpiece, so it's Hereditary for me. I agree.

Okay. All right. Hereditary takes it. And Antichrist versus Under the Skin. Marcus. You know, both of those movies may be equally uncomfortable, but again, I know that was the goal. I just,

uh, I suppose I got to, I got to give it to, uh, Antichrist. Oh, but, but very,

very slim, you know, buy hair on that one. By hair on some genelated, mutilated balls. Absolutely. Uh, Garrett.

I will go with under the skin with this one. Okay. Uh, Gabe. Well, you know my fuck Lars vonjure policy. so I got to go with Under the Skin. That's great.

Brian. Under the skin, get Antichrist out of there. That's winning so far. Don. Under the skin. Okay. Matthew. Antichrist.

Beat? Under the skin, for sure. And Jack. Under the skin. Creepier, I think. Takes it by a wide margin. Okay. And we'll move on to the second side here.

We've got the Nighthouse versus the Witch. Jack, what do you think? The Witch. Easy. Easy. Okay. Gabe? I'm not going to vote for the film I like more.

I'm going to vote for the one that helped define the movement as far as it can be defined. So, yeah, I'll say the witch. Okay. Matt. The witch. Garrett? Anya Taylor Joy for the win. The witch.

Yeah, says the guy who doesn't like me, mutants. She is beautifully strange looking, isn't she? Don. Witch. The witch. Landslide, almost. Marcus. The witch.

Yes, so. Beat? Yep, the witch. All right. Wow. Was that a sweet? Unanimous. To which wins that one.

Okay. Now we've got the Bobbidick versus the Lighthouse. Ooh, this could be a tough one. Is it though? Jack, let's go with you first. Well, I mean, one of these movies has a Batman in it and the other doesn't, so the lighthouse. Wow. I didn't expect that rationale, but I'll take it.

Easy decision. Bede. This is a tough one. I love both these movies, but if I had to give the bit of an edge, I'll definitely go at the lighthouse. From the Aussie himself. Matthew. I'm going to give this split decision, because I just saw Creed 3 last night, to the last night. to the lighthouse. Go with the lighthouse.

Go with the lighthouse. Okay. Garrett. Yeah, atmosphere over the annoying kid. I'll go to the lighthouse. Fly to my house. You can experience that movie firsthand times two. It gets better and then worse. Don.

Baba Duke. There's one. Brian? My feelings haven't changed about the lighthouse, so give me the annoying kid. Okay. Coming from behind, maybe. Huh. Marcus.

Yeah, I love them both, but I've done so much more with the lighthouse and the Babadook, so yeah, I'm sticking with the lighthouse. That house. And Gabe. I'm sticking with the Babadook. I should have asked you first. Oh, well. still lost

the lighthouse takes it so gay so Bobby Eggers is going to monopolize himself in the next round he's got two movies yeah that's right

they're going to meet each other I'm sure I'm sure that midsummer didn't make it on this midsumar yes oh sorry no no no no finish midsummer I was being sarcastic

no but this This time, we're going Exorcist versus Martyrs. I would think it would be easy, but we'll see. Gabe. Yeah, it's easy. The Exorcist. B? Well, I'm voting for the film. That's all my shirt right now.

The Exorcist. All right. Best horror movie all time. Garrett. The power of Christ compels the Exorcist to move on. Marcus. Yeah, martyrs is still, you know, pretty intense, but you can never go wrong with the classics. So, yeah, Exorcist.

All right. And Garrett. I already went. You did already go. Jack, I mean, I wrote my name down wrong here. Sorry. Yeah, Exorcist. There's no argument here.

Okay. Matt. I mean, I'm wearing a prop. from the movie, so I have to say the Exorcist. There it is. Don. I love murders, but it's Exorcist. And Brian.

Hands down, the Exorcist. All right. Another clean sweep. Martyrs is out of there. Or excusing the gross ones. So, literally. All right.

Let's do the Nightingale versus mother bead Australia all the way it's the nightingale for me Nightingale

Gabe The Nightingale through and through If I need to be Trauma dumped I'd rather have it be by Jennifer Kent and not Darren Aronofsky

I guess Jack Um Mother mother more more wild movie going with that Marcus yeah I mean I know what the nightingale is

I still don't know what mother is and I'd rather examine nightingale so nightingale it is all right Garrett I think the fact that no one knows what mother is it mother is what makes it so compelling to me

I'll go with mother I don't think during Erinovsky knows what mother is. I think if you knew what it was going into it, it might help. Does you know what obesity is? Matthew. The Nightingale. Gale.

Don. Nightingale. All right. And Brian. The nightingale. All right. Nightingale takes that one by a lot. Wow.

Getting down to nitty-gritty. We're getting down to it. Pedro, you want to take over? You want me to do this round? No, I got, I got it. We're in the semis now, so we blitzed through the quarters, which is good. So here's what we're going to do now, because we kind of went, kind of blitzed through the quarterfinals. Are we going to have a twist? No, no, no.

I want everybody to have a chance. And if you've already said what you said, you'll go ahead and say I'll pass. but those that haven't, I want you to, for this next round, I want everybody to kind of define what they think elevated horror is. You know, just so we'll get a little more meat in this round. Okay. So we're going to start with Psycho versus Get Out, and we'll start with Don.

So Don, before you tell us your pick, define for us what you think elevated horror is. Okay. I'm going to say drama-heavy horror. with underlying subtext beneath. It's not just surface-level gloss. There's hidden subtext beneath that isn't necessarily overtly obvious the first go-around.

So what were the two films again? Cyco and Get Out. Get Out. All right. One for Get Out. All right. Bid, same question for you, and give us your pick. Yeah, I think, well, for me, like it's already,

already been said, elevated horror. when, you know, horror has a lot more to it, whether it is more dramatic elements, more thematic themes, or it deals with subject matter that a lot of people can relate to. Where, like, if you took the horror element out, it would still work as a film on its own,

as a drama. So, between Psycho and Get Out, I mean, Psycho is a masterpiece. It changed the, one of the films that changed the entire landscape of horror. But compared to Get Out, I don't think it is. elevated horror

so I'm giving the edge to get out all right to forget out Gabe what are your thoughts yeah so I

think if we can pin it down elevated horror is a horror film that is tour driven with cerebral messaging

about subtextual themes the threat is a metaphor for either personal or societal ill and it is approached with a singular very artistic vision and after explaining that I would say that get out adheres to that much more strongly than the original psycho does as well made as that movie was so I have to go with Get Out wonderful thank you

that's a very textbookish explanation which I appreciate thank you I can vote down notes Jack I actually like all the answers that I've heard so far if I were to add anything I think that elevated horror is a way for studios to sell horror movies to people

who normally would not see horror movies I think it's an attempt on their part to somewhat gloss over the fact that you're going to see a slasher movie or a haunted house movie or a demonic possession movie, by adding an element that, you know, deals with those societal problems

or breaks down into, say, like a family drama first and a possession movie second. So I think by all, well, according to all the conversation we've had tonight and kind of the realization I'm coming to is that elevated horror is obnoxiously pretentious and it kind of likes it that way. And with that being said, Get Out is elevated horror. I still maintain Psycho is just not. Psycho's a classic.

It's not elevated horror. Get Out is elevated horror. All right. Marcus? I suppose when it comes to horror as a genre, it's always been about kind of capturing a certain aspect of fear

and terror and you know uncomfortability and shock and awe and it's you know meant to really rattle your senses by any means necessary

and a lot of films do that a lot of films do that spades a lot of films do that and have much you know deeper themes to it when it comes to elevated horror I feel like it's it's a way to to connect horror to us as human beings.

You know, kind of like analyzing all different aspects of the hearts and minds and bodies and souls of people. And it's presented in a way that's equally as scary as it is thought-provoking and as shocking as it is, you know, meditative. So for me, I kind of feel like that's, in essence, what elevated horror is. It's horror that speaks to people a bit more with its horror. You know, I mean, and on that, I'll say get out still holds that as great as psycho is.

All right, get out sweeping it up here. Garrett. I said by piece on Elevetted Horror at beginning of this podcast, and I will go with Psycho. All right, one for Cycle. Matt? So I'll answer elevated horror from the perspective of what I think a filmmaker would describe it as, and that is trying to create horror that digs deeper into your senses beyond just the things that are negative connotations that a lot of people look down as with horror, like thin characters, predictable story beats, typical tropes.

But I think that's kind of bullshit because that just means you tried to make a good movie, not something that should be an entirely separate section of the genre. It's sort of like people trying to make a peanut butter or jelly sandwich, but pass it off as the same craft that it takes to make Beef Wellington. Having said all that, I am much like Garrett, not a fan of the term, but I will go with Psycho. I just, I have to. I think we owe too much to it.

Okay. And Brian? I don't know. I guess to me, what I would like it to be is to take an idea or situation or concept that wouldn't normally fit in your everyday average horror movie and just kind of elevate it to make it sit in there. I mean, that's what I don't know. It's all pretentious. so. Yeah.

All right. So what do you got? Get out. Okay, get out. Get out. Take it. Get out. All right.

All right. So our next, I guess this is the quarterfinals here. All right. Is hereditary or under the skin? So we'll start with you, Brian. I mean, there's no discussion. I mean, it's hereditary. All right.

Matt? I think there will be. discussion, I'll say under the skin, even though for either of these movies at the previous rounds. All right. So under the skin, okay. Do you have a justification for that? I mean, that's a pretty bold statement

right there. Well, heretary is the darling of this. I don't. I have a few drinks in. My logic's going out the window at this point. All right. Under the state. I'll say this about hereditary.

I think this is my one thing why I don't say I'm enamored with that 100% is I think it overplays its hand in the last 15 minutes. That's my only criticism of that movie. Oh, come on. Overplayed the hand? That's a new one. Garrett? I'll go under the skin as well. Oh, uh-oh. I was not expecting that. All right, Marcus? Uh, yeah, uh, hereditary. My hands down. All right, we got us a fight here. All right.

Jack? Hereditary hands up. All right. Love it when the alcohol is kicking in. All right, Gabe, what do you say? Hands up, hands down, hands straightforward. What do you think? Looks like I'm throwing hands.

Yeah, I think I made my feelings clear. I agree that it overplayed its hand. I thought the entire movie was overwrought. And it takes itself quite seriously. And I was much more enamored with the visuals and with the style and the performances of under the skin, which I'll just say, hereditary feels like the Oscar bait of horror cinema to me. Oh. I think Tony Klett has delivered much more layered performances in movies like The Sixth Sense. Honestly, whenever I hear people talk about hereditary, I feel like they're talking about.

talking about the sixth sense, but it's been a while since that movie came out. So, no, yeah, under the skin. All right. That's a Thai ballgame here. Uh, Bede, what do you think? I mean, I love both movies, but only one of these two movies actually made by top 10 films of the decade list, and that's Hereditary. Ah. All right.

We're still in the ballgame here, though. Don? Let's go for the knockout, Hereditary. All right, there it is. So Hereditary moves on. We gave it a good fight under the skin people. Yeah, it was a very good fight. More than I thought it would be.

Nail biter. Okay, so then we have the witch versus the lighthouse. When Mandy got knocked out. I'm sorry. So the witch versus the lighthouse. Don, you go first. Lighthouse is still not a horror movie to me, witch. All right.

All right, Bid. This is hard. They're both great movies. Ah, I love them both. I'm going to go with the lighthouse, just a smidge. All right. Gabe? Yeah, I really feel like Robert Eggers, I want to say Prove the Like

because The Witch is a very well-made movie, but I really love the evolution. He's hooked in the White House, and I think he really harnessed everything that worked about the Witch, and I think he was even better with pacing, with character and themes, and I definitely found the lighthouse to be a really captivating experience in the theater. So I'm going to go with that.

Okay. We may have to pull Black Phillip in to be the type right around this one. And Jack, the Panson was Batman, and he was not in the witch. Does that give us your answer? I don't know. I think it's the witch here. I really like the lighthouse, but the witch is, it's just more of a horror movie than the lighthouse is. All right.

All right, I've got a tight ballgame again. Marcus? Yeah, I, again, I liked the witch. I absolutely love the lighthouse. It's fantastic. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I, I, I, I can talk about it all day, but I know we're on a tight schedule, but I love that movie so much every part of it. So, yeah, I'm still sticking with the light.

I know you can write about it all day, too, which, you know, I appreciate that. Let's see. Another one for the lighthouse. This is a tough one. Yes. Garrett? Black Phillip blacks up the black and white movie, the witch. Man, I'm laughing so hard can't even write here.

All right. Witch and I don't know. He can be in trouble. I haven't you said anything. Your thoughts. So I love both these movies equally, so my tiebreaker is going to be as petty as possible. Which iconic thing do I reference more in my daily life?

Black Phillip or Why Do You Spill Your Beans? I'm going with the latter, and I'm going to go with the lighthouse. All right. And Brian? The lighthouse is not even Robert Eggers. second best film so I'm going to go with the witch. All right. And Lance, you're going to be the tiebreaker right here. Oh, I can't tiebreakers. You've been laughing all fucking nights and

now's your time to step up and put your big boy pants on and give us a tiebreaker. The witch or the light? Do you this? Yes. Oh, shit. Oh, man. Okay. Don't fuck it up. I'm going to say that the the bitch is kind of what got me into my current kick of enjoying these elevated horror movies, so I got to go with the Vavich. All right, so the witch moves on. All right.

Lighthouse was cool, but that mermaid scene kind of took me out of it. It's a little gross. So now we have the Nightingale versus the Exorcist. So we'll start with Jack. Exorcist. I don't even have to think. about it, Exorcist. I think that's going to be the consensus here,

but we'll see. You never know. Gabe? Yeah, again, I feel bad. The Nightingale is an excellent movie, but it's going up against a classic, a time-tested classic. If William Friedkin got a penny for every

film that that movie inspired, he would be the richest man alive. And that's for a damn good reason because the exorcist is lightning and behind so the exorcist you'll probably piss it all the way too if you've heard stories of that guy but anyway okay he's a character he's a character

I hear he's my favorite it's all time favorite just don't watch the devil and father am or the or the upcoming Pope's exorcist that's got to be horrible oh I don't know I'm looking forward to it you're looking forward to it okay it's probably going to fuck

I love shitty exorcist I love shitty exorcist for folks so I'll give it a watch Don, what are your thoughts on this matchup? To me, Nightingale is probably a better representation of it for like a modern sensibility, but it's the exorcists. I mean... All right. Yeah, what else needs to be said.

Okay. Garrett? Yeah, the head turns into the next round. It is the exorcist. Matt? I think the Nightingale's flying south for the winter. I'm going with the exercise. success.

Percolated media with the puns all of a sudden. Jesus Christ. Punalated media. Abid. I'm going to live up to my nickname of being the terrible Aussie. I'm not picking the Aussie pick. I'm going with the Exorcist. There you go.

Marcus? Yeah. In a certain sense, the Nightingale probably would have never been made if it weren't for all the barriers that the exorcist broke when it was made and it did come out so yeah i'm going with the classic okay and brian the exorcist well look at that clean sweep this late in the game wow all right all right so now we got the semis and uh philip you do that one because i want to i just want to enjoy this and just continue drinking here uh this one ought to be interesting

Get Out versus Hereditary. Which one is the best elevated horror? Definitely two darlings, for sure, right? This is going to be tough. Let's go with Beed. This is a tough one. Don't make me vote. I can't do it.

And which one is the better movie? Is that the same question at this point? I don't think so. They're both in that elevated horror. vein, you know. It's tough. I guess because we, they're both elevated horror films, but this is hard. You know what? I'm going to go with the movie that de coined the term elevated horror, hereditary.

Ereditary. Gabe. And what are the two films? Hereditary and... Get out. Get out. Oh, yeah. Get out. Okay. Get out. Jack. Hereditary.

And it's just because I like it a little more. Yeah, this was tough. Marcus. Oh, no, I don't know which one. I can't. I can't. Oh, God. Can't pass? Yeah, no, I don't want to pass. Come on, man.

My question is that. I want to keep it going. I just, oh, this is tough for me. Because both of these films, you know, again, love talking about a little bright and about them, you know, can't stop, you know, giving them. their praise. I just, uh, I guess I would have to go with the, God,

what? Ah. Uh, uh, uh, yeah, uh, okay.

Um, I will go with hereditary because I have seen that one more than Get Out. And it's, um, it's still the one that I recommend.

I recommend Get Out too, but I recommend Heritory to. every single person that I know when it comes to, you know, getting into horror movies in a deeper sense, you know, than the schlock and the twists and the, you know, so yeah, I'll go ahead, Terry.

Okay. Garrett. I don't think there's been a subgenre that's had more, quote, unquote, representations and heads of Mount Rushmore than the elevated horror genre. And these are definitely

two of the biggest. that being said I like hereditary hell of a lot more than Get Out so I'll go with hereditary I think next year we should do the films of Udo Keer what do you think Fleth for Frankenstein Put it on right now The head on Mount Rushmore

Is that poor little girls Oh Matt what do you think With all the ants on climbing up Mount Rushmore So I think my Ancestriott's bloodline is coming up small because I'm going to lean towards Get Out, largely because one thing that I think I have in its corner is just how much of a cultural

staple that movie was. Hereditary, I still feel like is a little bit too niche. Whereas Get Out really opens the door for people to see that movie that normally would not go to see a horror movie whatsoever. Definitely a broader audience. Yeah. Okay. Don

Yeah, I look at Hereditary as being the better movie But I think this is the stage in the game Where we have to look at what defines elevated horror And I think Get Out was probably the The poster child for what it is It came first It was the one that really kind of drew more eyes to the genre And I don't know who just said that

But I think bringing more people to the theaters to see it. I think it out did a better job at that than Hereditary. It kills me because I utterly fucking love Hereditary. But I think that this stage in the game, we got to start looking at which one do we think represents the topic better versus which film we like more.

And I think in that case, I think I've got to shift my vote to get out. All right, Brian. I agree with Don. And plus, Get Out had the best friend ever you can ever add in it with Rod. So TSA from the movie. That's true. He's pretty awesome.

Rod is the truth. Oh, man, this is a tough one. It's tied up. Pedro? Oh, fuck, man. Come on. Dude, that's a tough vote. God damn it.

Fuck. I've had a pretty clear vision the whole way, and this one screws it up. Yeah, I can't even begin. Brian, you fucked this shit up? No, it wasn't as Brian's fault now. Well, if you didn't make Lance pick the last time breaker,

you could have had him do it. I know, I could have. God, damn. Oh, shit. No, no, I got this. I got this. I'm going to go with Get Out for all the reasons that were stated, and that's just my gut feeling right now.

It's just, I remember it better. It's got more impact. So I'm going with Get Out. Get Out. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. It should probably actually be the finals, not the quarters. Probably.

Well, I don't know. Because on the other side, we have the witch and the exorcist. That's true. I don't know who you vote for there, but let's figure it out. We'll go same order. B, what do you think? Love both movies, but it's exorcists all the way. Okay.

Gabe. The Exorcist, and that's nothing personal against the witch. It could be one of the best movies of the decade and still probably not be the exorcist. Okay. Jack. Exorcist with a bullet.

That was quick. Now the next one's going to be fun. Marcus. Well, an excellent day to vote for the exorcist in the next round. Uh-oh. Garrett. God, this is fucking tough.

God, I will go with the witch. There is. All right. Just, okay. Nothing against the exorcist. I've said my piece on it. And like I said, we are covering that later this year. But the recent impact the witch has had on me is pretty big.

So I'll go to the witch. Now, is the witch the better movie or just the better elevated horror at this point? I think it's a better representation. Okay. Yep. I would agree. Matt I'm gonna go with the

exorcist Okay Don I think I gotta follow up on what I just said Better representation I gotta think the witch Yeah

Okay And Brian I have to go with the movie That came out during the Elevated Horror era And that's the witch All right Hang on.

Make sense. Make sense. One, two, three. No, come on. No, not again. Exorcist one. Exorcist one. Okay.

All right. Only by one, though. I figured it would sweet. By a hair, huh? Yeah. By a sea hair. Philip, you're through the finals? Yeah.

All right, thank you. Okay. Final movies here. We've got the Exorcist versus Get Out. Holy shit. Now here's where you really have to decide. Is it the better. movie, the better elevated horror.

You know, I wish which way to go there. It's my favorite horror movie for all time versus my favorite elevated horror movie all time. I know. That's tough. Beed. Ah, okay. All right. Do I want to go with the film that pretty much was the earliest? Don't fuck it up.

All right. All right. I had to think about this. So one is one of the best current elevated horror films ever made. But one pretty much was the precursor of elevated horror film. Sure, sure. If this one came out today, it would definitely be classified under the elevated horror about it because it has the blueprint of this subgenre. This is a tough one, but I'm going with the Exorcist on this one. All right.

Gabe. Yeah, there's no wrong answer. I'm pretty happy with this final matchup, and I was thinking about it. and The Exorcist, you know, I've said my piece on it. It really is one of my favorites, and I think that goes for a lot of us here. But horror as a genre has never mattered more in my lifetime than when Get Out came out in theaters. It was just this shockwave that was so in the zeitgeist, had so many important things to say, and, you know, brought this new level.

I don't think you need a new film to bring prestige. to the horror genre like it's like it's inferior at the same time the shift in the way that people thought about it and what they realized that horror movies were capable of um i have to give credit get out so much credit so i'm actually going to go with that as the definitive um elevated horror film man that that's that scene where she was stirring the teacup and he was he was disappearing down into the the chair yeah the hit someone that that was literally one of the scariest scenes in the movie I've seen like in the last 20 years.

Like I had goosebumps all over me watching that. But The Exorcist is the scariest movie I've ever seen, period. It's scary A-F. It's a tough one. Jack. Yeah, so I voted for The Exorcist a lot in this tournament. But I don't think it's elevated horror. I think it's a precursor to it,

but it's, it just don't think, I don't think that there's pretension with the Exorcist, and I guess that's the thing I'm leaning on the most here. It's like, is the movie pretentious? Get out is kind of pretentious.

And it's good. That's fine. It works for it. I'm not saying that's always bad, but it kind of like, it kind of enjoys the smell of its own farts a little bit. Like a little bit. You know what I mean?

With some good laugh. Yeah, like I don't, I don't get that with, with, with the Exorcist. So I think I'm voting for Get Out. Yeah. Okay.

That was the strangest explanation I've ever heard. I like it. If the Lighthouse was in this conversation, that would have made more sense, but we'll take it with Get Out as well. Yeah, I mean, I feel like that describes a lot of the movies that you guys were praising, like, Hered and Terry. And, I mean, that was a pretentious movie to me.

So it's kind of surprising. Marcus. Oh, man. Yeah. It's, I mean, you could argue if we're, like, still, you know, stuck on elevated horror as a term. You know, the exorcist would probably be classic elevated horror and get out with the modern elevated horror. I don't know. It's, you can't argue with everything.

that The Exorcist has done as a legitimate horror movie that, you know, pretty much gripped an entire world. But Get Out just had this way about it as a film and as something that spoke to our times in a way that really just, it brought so many things up to the forefront of our society and made it in a way that, in a way that really just, it brought so many things up to the forefront of our society and made it in a way. way that is downright terrifying, even more so than it already was. Like, and you're right, you know, Lance, when I first saw that movie, I avoid anybody who was sipping tea. Like, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. If you had tea in your hand, I was running away from it.

And it was very like, I wasn't even thinking that, you know, I wasn't even like when I would speak. You know, I wasn't even thinking it when I was seeing it, but it just, it struck something else in me, you know, that I thought I didn't feel. And it's, I think that's a, that's a mark of a great horror film, you know, something that strikes you in a way that you were not expecting, even though you were expecting to be scared. So, yeah, I got to go get out on this one. Okay. Garrett. So you know everything I said in that previous round?

Throw it out the fucking window, The Exorcist. We got two for The Exorcist, three for Get Out. Matt, what do you think? So my argument comes down to looking at both of these movies. With Get Out, I think it does something that I think horror has always done since its inception that a lot of people tend to dismiss. It has a statement. And that goes all the way back to stuff like Todd Browning's freaks back in the 30s.

That is a crucial part of horror. And ironically, get out is what the priests were yelling at Pizzou in that bedroom. So I think it's very ironic that these two movies are together in the finale. But because of that, and like I said, you know, while the Exorcist certainly got people in the theater that were not horror enthusiasts, Get Out, I think did that to a more substantial magnitude. So while I think The Exorcist is a better movie and a better horror movie, I think Get Out and part of this is just me being, you know,

none of us were really around when the Exorcist was out and seeing that in the theater. so that plays a factor for me but get out is still when I think of elevated horror that's kind of if I had to solidify it that's kind of what I'd go to okay

so get out we're coming close Don what do you think what he just said Exorcist may be the better movie but I think this is the point where we have to start looking at which one does the genre better

and I think that's Get Out What? Get out is our winner so Brian your vote doesn't count but what's your vote anyway I have to agree get out I mean you can the Exorcist is one of the best horror films depending on your taste in horror films it could be the best but for what we're talking about it has to be get out

all right we have a winner so get out is you have the actual the best um elevated horror movie ever according to the horror returns podcast so that's cool best elevated horror movie ever yeah get out it is Jordan peel man and of course we're all wrong

but you know we'll do it again next year so definitely appreciate you guys showing up I knew this would be a bit of a marathon so thanks for hanging in everybody all right anybody want to pimp your shit before we leave Dave? Yeah, I'm over at

Not That Bad a Movie podcast on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Every other Thursday, we release a new episode where we talk about a film that is supposedly bad and we tell you why it's not that bad. We just recorded an episode about Hollow Man starring Kevin Bacon. Oh, gosh.

Yeah. Have you done Lapin the Hood? Well, that's the thing. we're about to talk about the entire leprechaun franchise. We're doing that as a big Patreon special. So if you guys want to hear that, just hop on over to that Patreon and sign up at any tier. And then you can hear us talk about why a leprechaun back to the hood

is an undiscovered or unrecognized masterpiece. So if you want to do that. With a piccolo. He's up to no good. Matt? You can find Garrett and I over at percolatemedia.net. We're celebrating her one-year anniversary and the new platform very soon.

As we mentioned at the star of the show, we're concluding Pirates of the Caribbean this Friday, and then we're directly going into Superman, which we are breaking up into two components. We're doing Superman 1 through 4, and then we're taking a break to revisit Superman in the fall. And as far as some horror stuff coming, we mentioned The Exorcist.

that's coming this fall. We're really excited to do that. We're also going to be starting a Patreon, but if you want to check us out, percolatedmedia.net, myself, Garon Adam, Bunch, our third compatriot. We post a new show every Friday on our main feed. And once the Patreon gets up and going, we hope to have some more content for everybody. All right. And for those who love the horror, too,

like we also were doing an ongoing Stephen King retrospective, but we're reviewing all those films in publication order, not necessarily releasing release film order. And that is a 100 plus film undertaking that we are doing. And I'm also reading the books and commenting on the books and the movies as we go. And that's been really, really fun to do. And it's been fun torturing these two by doing that. Yeah, because, you know, Garrett is notorious for being a completionist.

And we have done everything up to this juncture from trucks in addition to maximum Overdrive. We did a return to Salem's lot in addition to both three-hour mini-series of Salem's lot. So when we say we are doing everything, we are doing everything under the sun until we all either perish or Adam hits a point where he says, I cannot do this anymore. So yeah, that's ongoing. That's ongoing. And it's been really fun. Again, we're celebrating one year and Jackson will be joining us in the summer for something that we started over at binge and are continuing and for those who have followed us all that time you know exactly what we're talking about so jack what about you that's news to me right now but I think

I know what you're talking about so all right um yeah so binge media I got a few irons in the fire uh you know movie homework's back we're releasing that every other Friday topics are all over the map but uh we've got a we've got an email now Binge Movie Homework at Gmail. You can send us suggestions and, you know, Step Chad and I'll take a look at it. Other thing I want to mention is the return of Lollapalooza this summer. It's going to be August 4th, 5th, and 6th in New Jersey.

Specific times and locations should be coming out relatively soon. But, yeah, at least block that off on your calendars and, you know, get your ass to Jersey. Otherwise, Patreon gets you the full binge, all the bonus episodes, and all that non-deaddle. sense and commentaries and anything else we feel like talking about, we'll put it up over there. So come on over and join us if you feel like it. Well, if people would have followed me, they can follow me at my Twitter at Twitter.com slash bejew mine.

And of course, you can find all the podcasts that I do with Super Massey over at the Super Network on all podcast streaming services everywhere. We got five shows. So they're all easy to find and give it listen to. And also you can listen to my solo show, uh, Beat versus. the Living Dead on all podcast streaming services everywhere as well. And you can follow the official Twitter account for that at Twitter.com slash bead t-s-s-v-s-s-tled.

Nice. I'm sorry I didn't make it to the last one. Marcus, you got anything to add to it? No, not really. You can pretty much catch me on, you know, the Super Network on the website with Beed. We actually just got done doing a episode of Beat versus Living Dead a couple days ago, so you know, keep your eye out for that. And you can find

me on, you know, Twitter or Instagram at Ego Critic Demise. And yeah, or you can also catch some of my reviews right here on the Hore Returns. So, you know, thank you guys so much for reading my stuff

and, you know, taking the time. I really appreciate that. Oh, do you give us a whole extra segment to the show? Yeah, thank you. Some of the best of your reviews. Especially around. Halloween, man. We love you around Halloween the 31 days. Don, what are you up to? Sorry, I wasn't expecting me to.

Somebody's token. I wasn't expecting you to call me that quickly. I was picking some water and I went down a pipe. Sure. Sure it did. All right. Sorry about that. I was expecting you to call on me and I was just drinking it. Went down the wrong pipe.

The worst. Yeah. Movies the other day. I was like, fuck, everybody's going to think I have COVID. Listen, Don, don't feel too bad. The last time that happened on air, we got this. All right. So you can find me on my main show, the Horror Countdown Podcast.

me and a guest, we pick a topic and we do top tens on anything from genres to scenes to directors to decades, you name it. You can find that everywhere on podcast catchers. You can find it on horror count on pod on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. It should be pretty easy. My secondary show, No More Room in Hell, presents fresh cuts, which is a weekly look at the latest genre released. streaming VOD theatrical physical media it's usually current so it's the latest thing

and the other show No More Room in Hell presents creature comforts which is monster movies, giant creatures kaiju stuff like that both of those are found on dark discussions you can find them on the Dark Discussions website or through the No More Room in Hell

podcast feed both of those are considered side shows to the main No More Room and Hell show. And yeah, that's pretty much it for me. Pedro, where can we find you, man? I got nothing, man.

I'm taking a break from this internet shit. It's always a pleasure to be on here with you guys. It was cool to emcee this. Huh? All right. Well, he'll be around, I'm sure. But you can

expect us, the horror return, back next week. We're going to do Scream 6 and Cherry Falls, joined by the one and only Steve Carlton from the geeks. Check us out at thehorrorer returns.com and email us at thehorrorer returns at gmail.com and share some feedback and ideas. We'll talk about it on the show.

But until the horror returns again, Lance? Good.