The Horror Returns - THR - Ep. #467: CAGE RAGE - Sympathy For The Devil (2023) & The Surfer (2025)

Episode Date: May 10, 2025

Cage Rage returns with our special guest Bede Jermyn from Super Network and Tubi Tuesdays. Cool of the week includes Sinners, The Righteous Gemstones, Thunderbolts, Warfare, and The Night Clerk. Trailers are Dangerous Animals, Together, The Long Walk, and The Conjuring: Last Rites. The podcast spotlight shines on The Conjecturing: A Horror-ish Podcast. And we get feedback from Marcey Papandrea, Bede Jermyn, Pat Caruso, Beatrix Harper, Halloween is Forever podcast, Drew Stepek, Faith Batali, Dani Thompson, Adam Bunch, and Dean Borbely. Thanks for listening! The Horror Returns Website: https://thehorrorreturns.com THR Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehorrorreturns/ Join THR Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1056143707851246 THR X: https://twitter.com/horror_returns?s=21&t=XKcrrOBZ7mzjwJY0ZJWrGA THR Instagram: https://instagram.com/thehorrorreturns?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= THR Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thehorrorreturns?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== THR YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thehorrorreturnspodcast3277 THR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thehorrorreturns THR TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-horror-returns SK8ER Nez Podcast Network: https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-p3n57-c4166 E Society Spotify For Podcasters: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/esoc Music By: Steve Carleton Of The Geekz

Regings victims, for those of you who delight and dread, who fantasize about fear, who glorify gore, 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. Welcome back, when it all,

for returns, I'm Lance. With me as always, we've got Philip and Brian, of course, but it's Cage Rage Week. We got a new Nicholas Cage film out. So obviously that, means we're joined by Bede. What's going on, guys? Sorry,

Bean's not here today. It's only Nicholas Cage. Oh, my God. Where's the Boston accent? Oh, wait a minute. Sorry. I'm from Boston. Where's the hot dogs or red socks? That about nailed it. But anyways, yes, I'm here.

Yeah. Always, always good to have you, man. the man of a thousand podcasts what all do you have going on oh geez um what am i not doing guys uh pretty much like i'm doing all the shows over on the separate network with super marsy so we have like five shows over there then of course i have my solo show beat versus the living dead and that show has three spinoffs at the moment and uh i i i can confirm or i cannot confirm or deny there may be at least another two in the the works as well.

So, I'm just a podcasting machine, guys. I don't even know how I even have a day job to fit all this stuff in as well. Yeah, I guess we thought that was your day job, man. Oh, I wish. I don't get paid enough money for this podcasting work, even though I would love that I did. But, you know, it's fun to just do as it is.

And, you know, and plus I can't complain with my house. actual day job because I get paid a lot for that too. There it is. Go give beads some money, guys. Check out the Super Network. That and also the Bid versus the Living Dead Patreon if people wanted to support me there too. So there you go. Of course. Of course. Yeah, it's To be Tuesdays, man. It's really become a phenomenon.

I mean, what started out small, it's like now it's like basically a radio play every time you guys come on. You've got so many characters. your end of year awards are just, are just a delight. So what, how is it the Tooby Tuesdays has become such a, such a, an icon? Well, I think essentially, because when we started that show, it was like during the pandemic, and that's when Tooby kind of first popped up everywhere. But now it's kind of funny in the past five years since doing the show,

how popular Tooby has become everywhere. And the fact that, and I'm not saying this toot my own horn because we do a show on Tooby, but I have to say that Toobie is probably one of the best streaming services out there because they have everything on it. And now I'm sort of starting to notice, like, even movies that were like exclusives on other streaming services are now starting to pop up on Toobie. Like I was going through it the other day. And VHS 94 is on Toobie now. and that's a Shudder original film. So it's weird.

So it's weird that movies are starting to pop up there. The fact that it's free too, it also makes it even better. But I guess with the show itself, it's kind of funny how it's kind of just evolved from being a few friends, watching a movie together and poking fun at it. And now we've developed an entire mythology and law

with characters and storylines and everything as well. I mean, even last year, as you mentioned before, Laird, we did a Christmas special and we made that into an actual radio play. So it's been a weird time for the show, but it's actually, I would say, is what makes the show unique is that, yeah, it's still doing commentaries on films that are on Tooby, but we just have like skits and sketches and stuff like that. So it's fun for us, although we've had the occasional negative reviews.

are people not seeming to enjoy that type of aspect. But I think if you really kind of... Yeah, I think if you get on the show's wavelength and embrace it, then yeah, I think it's a lot of fun for anyone. I mean, I find that hilarious, especially when I listen back to a show and hear all the insanity that happens on the Tootie Tuesdays podcast. Yeah, I think so.

The internet is a cesspool for negativity, man. Exactly, exactly. And although we have called out that person on a... who left us the negative review. Uh-oh. On the show, we're not bitter on the show. I heard that. I think Sony should have taken,

should have taken some cues from your Craven character. I think, I think you, you guys pull Craven off much better than Sony did. I mean, we definitely do. And don't ask me why, for some bizarre reason,

he has now turned his nightclub into a church. As will happen. Yeah. Yes, exactly. born again. Exactly, exactly. And there's weird characters. We've had sex robots.

We have a gorilla on the show called Harambe Jones. Who's about her. Then we have a cannibal bartender. Like, there are weird on board characters on the show. And also, Marcy has a... Exactly.

And also now Marcy has, like, a clone, a baby clone of herself. He just keeps trying to bite my ankles on every episode. Now saying all the same. stuff out loud. I can listen. I can imagine all your listeners are like, what the fuck type of podcast is this?

You just have to go listen to it to find out people. Yeah, easy to find out. All right B, you know how the show works, man? We start off with a little thing called Cool of the Week. And we haven't heard from you in a while, so you may have a few. You're more than welcome to go crazy

like Brian always does, if you've seen and I think Brian has this one. Oh, I have seen. find out. Yeah, well, well, I've seen quite a lot, but in terms of like the top stuff that I've been watching this past week, I've done a rewatch of

the entire karate kid film series, so I've been watching that, especially now that the new one is coming out, so I wanted to revisit the whole franchise, so I watch all five films, and also gave me an excuse to go... There's five of them? Yeah, there's five movies in the franchise.

I thought there even more for some reason. Okay. Well, that's, yeah, the one that's coming out at the end of the month is the sixth installment. And I'm very much looking forward to that. But another reason why I wanted to kind of go back and watch the films was to finally get around to watching Cobra Kai, because I still haven't watched the entire series yet. So I'm going to attempt to watch the whole show in the lead up to the movies. So I'm going to be attempting that next week.

But in terms of... But in terms of... Other movies that I've watched, I saw the film drop the frilla where, and I, I really dug it. Like, it's a good old fashioned sort of high concept frillah that kind of reminds me of the ones you used to get in like the 90s, like Red Eye or Phone Booth. And I really enjoyed. Yeah. Or cellular. Yeah, exactly.

Cellular. And so I enjoyed that sort of the nostalgic kind of flavor of that. and I thought it was pretty well done. Then I also saw Thunderbolts, which I thought was great. Yeah? Thunderbolts is really, really good. It's like I know a lot of people kind of consider the MCU and the last few used to be a bit of a mixed bag, but I would definitely say Thunderbolts is definitely up there as one of the strongest movies

from this phase of the franchise, because even though it does still deliver on all the things we enjoy from the MCU, it actually does some pretty interesting things with its stories and ideas. So there's definitely a lot of interesting stuff going on in this film. But I have to say without a doubt, my actual cool of the week is definitely Sitters. Really love the Sitters a lot. It is, I would say it's definitely Ryan Cougal's best film and I've enjoyed all of his movies so far, but you could definitely tell he's firing on all cylinders with this one.

And it's just a great film. And probably definitely up there is one of the best vampire films in recent memory as well. So yeah, those are all my watches this past week. But yeah, if I had to pick my absolute cool the week, it's definitely Cinnis. It's probably my favorite movie of the year so far. Very nice. Very nice. I'm going to go non-horred this week, guys.

I'm way late to the party. Brian, I think you've seen this, the righteous gemstones. I've seen episode one of season one. And that's it. I've seen part of that one, yeah. Beatt, have you seen it? I have not seen righteous gemstones, but I did meeting two, though. Okay, okay.

It's a lot of fun. A lot of guests aren't show up. And, you know, who doesn't like to make fun of mega churches, right? So, but it's so much more than that. A lot of continued stories, a lot of side characters. A lot of, a lot of characters that have strange reasons for doing what they're doing. But we, we binge through the, the first episode's an hour, but after that they're about 30 minutes. So binge through the first season, no problem.

I think we got three more to go. So, yeah, righteous gemstones. It's the guys that brought you the Halloween trilogy, but they're much better sticking with comedy. So we'll go with righteous, righteous Jim Stubbs this week. Yeah, Kenny Powers, is that his name? Yeah, Kenny Powers. I like him.

Oh, man, I cannot think of a single cool week that I have this week. The only thing that I can think of that I've watched, and I shouldn't even say it, but my wife has been stuck on dance moms, and I'm getting way too. God. That is the only thing that I think of that I've actually watched this week. I haven't had a lot of time.

Oh, my God. I may think of something later on in the episode. Wow. I can mention that. I don't know why I said. You haven't watched any paint dry or anything, Phillip? Jesus. Working in kids sports stuff, dude, every day.

I mean, I could make fun of you for that, like, Phil. But at the same time, when it's on, I actually am kind of obsessed with married at first sight here in Australia, so I know the meaning. It is the car crash you just can't look away from. Well, it's like these little girls and they get like really competitive over it and they're like,

you didn't make the cut? Get the fuck out. And I'm like, that makes sense. Except they're like eight, so. Oh my God. Okay, I think Brian's going to have to save this. Let me get the horror movies out that I watched first. Okay. First one I watched was Screen Boat, starring a friend of the show, David Howard Thornton.

Screenbo? Yeah? It's based off of Steamboat Willie, the Mickey Mouse cartoon. Oh, gotcha. All right. It's exactly what you think it is without being getting into it. Okay. That makes sense.

heavy they lean heavy into the comedy a lot of the kills are practical when I say they lean heavy into the comedy there's like cartoon sound effects and things like that sounds great sounds great

parifire killing people is Mickey yes and second horror movie I watched this week new one was a new one on screen box called Project MK Hex if you guys ever heard of it. Sounds right if you're only cool.

Yeah, if you ever heard of MQ. Yeah, then you pretty much know the basic premise of the movie it's found footage. I can't really recommend this one too much. It was a little too talky-talky. Cool idea. Too much talking before anything really happens.

You kind of, at least for me, I kind of really was checked out by the time stuff is starting to happen. Oh. Well, there was that one that we watched. I think we reviewed it. And, uh, and, like,

they had people that were, they would, like, stick them on drugs and they, yeah, would jump into, like, a different dimension or whatever. I can't remember the name of the movie. Was that the one Ted Levine was in? I'm not sure.

I might be thinking. I might be thinking of the different one. Dean, you might. That was basically, basically M.K. Ultra, man. They would just hook people up to, like DMD and shit and just let them stay high as

balls for like two days let them live in a different dimension man that's that's the one where you meet God I think that might be the Benji chapter but I'm not exactly sure so I don't quite be on that so I think that was it right yeah

yeah what else did I check out checked out the accountant too with Ben I's like Oh, okay. Really fun sequel. I kind of, but I kind of didn't like the, it was a little bit more comedic.

Okay. Ben Affleck's condition, you know, he's autistic, so he's not really personable and stuff like that, but they kind of, I understand they're trying to get his character to grow, but it was just a little too comedic and then John Berthal's character was a little too comedic for me, even though John Burthal's character is awesome in it.

But it's a decent sequel. Not the most comedic person. Not normally. He wasn't this one. He did have me loud. Okay. But Lance, I have two cools of the week. Nice.

Nice. All right. First one. All right. First one. No, wait. I've got another one here. reminded me, but I'll let go ahead, Brian.

First one is Thunderbolts. I thought it was completely a blast. Nice. Probably one of the best MCU movies in a long time. So better than the Black Widow one? Yes. Yeah, that was garbage.

For, to me, for characters that were pulled from different movies, you didn't really need to know a whole lot about them because they spoke about their backstory. And you got to know each character. most of the characters shine in it, especially Florence Pugh

as Yelena. This was her like standout performance in the MTCU as far as I'm concerned. He's pretty standout and everything. Yeah, she's got the acting chops. Pretty solid stories. I think it didn't rely on Easter eggs or putting a bunch of other characters in there.

And pretty cool end credit scene that's where the story should move forward not throwing a whole bunch of stuff during the main movie you should get the stuff moved forward in the end credit scene yeah okay and then my other cool of the week is Alex Garland's warfare oh I've heard great things

it's it's out there Okay. Yeah. It's based off, I forgot, I forgot. No, it's, it's available to rent now. Ah, okay. I forgot the soldier's name, but it's based off of his memories.

And it just takes place of them doing like a sniper ops mission. And they get attacked. And that's basically the whole movie is that one sequence. And it's got. Oh, wow. Almost like a real time thing. Yeah. It's only like an hour and a half, and it builds up the tension because you're just, you're starting out with them and they're kind of waiting, you know, checking snipers, you know, checking who they're watching through the scopes.

And the tension builds up and then all, you know, everything starts to go down. And I thought everybody was great in it. Who was in it? Joseph Quinn from Strangelo Things, Will Poulter. Michael Gandalfini was in it. Ah, okay. Tony Sopranos son. Yeah, the one that's in the Daredevil.

Yeah, he was in it. A lot of recognizable faces in it. And it might be one of my favorite movies of the year. Wow. So, Brian, did you get the impression? Did you get the impression that maybe this was a real story that he, you know, kind of followed when he was putting the script together for Civil War. Was there any feeling like that?

It's, I feel like it's kind of separate from that. And from what I understand the script was written by the main soldier in the movie. Oh, cool. All right. It's based off his memories of a mission that they were in. And just the way it was shot, I felt like I was there. I felt tense. Just like before everything went down,

you just had this feeling like something bad was going to happen. And it just put you right there in that position. And 100% recommend that. Warfare. It's got to be on our list, Philip. All right. Well, that actually reminded me of two of them, actually, that I watched this week.

So I'm going to redeem this up here. There we get. More dance moms. That didn't happen. Doodleoo. All right. The death of a unicorn, I did watch that. Okay.

Not as good as I wanted it to be. Yeah. It was solid. It was all right. Okay. Yeah. And I watched a movie called The Night Clerk. It's got Ty Sheridan, who is an autistic kid,

which Brian reminded me of with, the accountant. And he's like a night clerk at a hotel and he witnesses a murder because he has all these cameras posted up around the, uh, around the hotel that he uses just to watch people so that he could, like he's got asperger's, but like legit asperger's.

And, uh, and he's, he like watches them to learn how to interact with people, like to learn how to talk basically, you know? and have normal conversations. Yeah, it's a great idea. Because he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it was a, it's, a, it was a, with a, with a, with a cool little twist at the end. And, uh, I, I, I, it was a little more straightforward than I expected.

I kind of wanted something more, but I like the ending. I like where it went. Nice. All right. So waiting on a high note, no dance bomb, so. No, we'll, we'll, we'll, yeah, we'll get rid of that one. Okay. That's never going to go away.

All right, Bede. That means it is now time for horror headlines brought to you by Brian. Take it away. All right. the Godzilla Kong sequel gets the title in a release date it's going to be titled Godzilla Kong Supernova

and it gets a release date of July where to go July 2027 Okay Sunshine Supernova Well I think Based on the Supernova Subtitle because I did see that this morning

I'm going to assume that it has to be something Space-related because in the original Godzilla. Well, I mean, there was a... Well, I mean, in the Godzilla films, there was a movie called Godzilla versus Space Godzilla.

So, I mean, he did fight aliens. I mean, so... And they did allude to Godzilla King of Monsters that King of Dora was from, not from this world. Well, there you go. Interesting.

Dan Stevens extracting aliens' teeth. Exactly. As long as he's in and I'm happy. He's coming back and Sam Neal from Jurassic Park is in it. Okay. Yeah. I like Sam Neal. Caitlin Deaver from The Last of Us and she was also in that movie.

I don't know if we reviewed it. I think we all talked about it. No one can hear you. The alien invasion movie where the main character doesn't say anything. yeah great great movie do you like that one be yeah well that was a pretty good one especially being that it basically was a silent movie

throughout most of them very interesting strange ending right definitely at least there's something different oh yeah definitely all right Cineverse is back to rescue another film

Of course, we know Cineverse is the distribution company that puts out the terror fire movies. They saved the toxic adventure and putting that out in theaters. And they've now rescued Return to Silent Hill. They've acquired it for the United States theatrical release. Oh, okay. Which return to Silent Hill, I believe, has been filmed, finished filming over a year ago. Now they just need to get it out there. Not a great sign, but we'll see.

Well, the Toxic Avenger got good reviews through the film festival, and that didn't get a release date. Yeah, I mean, there's... Mead needs to call his Uncle Lloyd to jump in and save the day. Well, I mean, when Uncle Lloyd came on our show, not to tune my own home, we did talk about the Toxic Avenger Ream. make, but that was like two years before. Two years ago.

Yes. Two years before it could finally come out. So it's great that Cineverse, like using all that terrify of money, going in and rescuing all these movies, or at least like ones that no other studio wants to touch, or if they're too weird or just too violent, and just releases them. And the fact that they're doing that with Return the Silent Hill,

which from what I understand is going to be a fateful adaptation of the second game in the series. And Christoph Gaines, who directed the first Silent Hill film, is back for this one. So I'm definitely excited to kind of go back into that world. And this will definitely be a pretty high profile project for him, being that it is a video game movie. Yeah. I mean, if they can really capture what the game had, then sold. The first movie didn't quite.

Yeah, not so much. No chicken jockey, huh? it is all right but like I just I remember playing the games and man it gave you a feeling because it was creepy as hell yes and I the movie was was good but it wasn't that all right Lance we got some news right up your alley do you guys remember we talked about m night Shy Malon was going to direct a original story from the notebook writer nicholas Sparks. Yes. I do remember that. The title of the movie is called Remain. It will star Jake Gyllenhall, and it gets the October

2026 release date. It's being called a supernatural. Like Josh Hart, Halloween time. Okay. Well, you know, we'll check him out. We'll reserve judgment, right? Yeah. And I gave, I gave that Josh Hart in a movie way too great of a score, I think. Yeah, he did. Trap deserves the highest scores as possible. Oh, come on. I still say in the right movie,

Josh Hardinette as a serial killer. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But that wasn't the right movie. Well, I think, well, that's a big, like, the idea of Edited Charbalad and Nichols-Sparks teaming up for a movie. I know.

So strange. But then, I don't know. So strange. always remember like Nicholas Sparks does have a habit of using Twist City's movies. Ah, okay. It's either that

or somebody always dies at the end. That's the kind of the hallmarks I always get from a Nicholas Sparks story. Yes. And we'll finish things off with more news for Lance. Your favorite

director, Eli Roth, movie is going to be titled the ice cream man and it's going to be according to him his most insane and terrifying theatrical movie today but doesn't he always say that you hope what I David Lee Robb's got it yeah Wolfgang Van Halen yeah

interesting enough he says this has nothing to do with the Clint Howard ice cream man movie that came out before but if you read the synopsis, it sounds like the Clint Howard Ice Cream Man movie. It's a stealth, I'm putting it out there, it's a stealth remake of that movie. I think you're probably going to be right, yeah. Not so stealthy.

They named it the same thing. Either it's an ever remake or the makers behind the original Ice Cream Man are going to sue somebody. Yeah. And that is the news. All right. Bede, you're near Melbourne, aren't you, or are you in Melbourne?

I'm in Melbourne, Australia, while you're in Melbourne, Florida. Yeah, well, we have miles. We have miles and miles of these here, but do they have any trailer parks in Melbourne, Australia? Oh, totally. We have trailer parks out here, although we call them caravan fox instead. Caravan parks, all right. Yeah, like Caravan. All right. Hey, you like d'ags.

we're going to take a trip down to the caravan part Brian is going to bring us the big the small and sometimes the very very weird what is the first one tonight right first one is dangerous animals from iFC films and also it will eventually come to shutter uh it is directed by Sean Byrne stars hasy harrison and Jai Courtney as a shark-obsessed serial killer.

Okay. The shark-obsessed. Start would be, what did you think of dangerous animals? Well, I mean, I did just watch the trailer just before jumping on to record. And I can say I'm down for this. I like the, I mean, shark movies are, there's always like a billion shark movies every year. But I always like it when one tries to do something a little different. So throwing it in a serial killer element with Jai Courtney's character definitely has me very intrigued.

And it looks like Jai Courtney is going all in on the insanity compartment on this character. And the fact that Sean Bowdoin who did The Love Ones and The Devil's Candy is another reason I'm very much looking forward to watching this film. Because this is like his first film since The Devil's Candy. So he always makes movies like, like a big stretcher in between like every five or so five or more years he makes a movie. So I'm very excited to see this one. And based on like even early word that I've heard about this movie, it's actually really good. So I'm down for this. Also, it's an Aussie film.

So, you know, I'll be there for sure. Indeed, it's been 10 years since his last film. Yes. Wow. as often as a tool album comes out. He's the horror equivalent of Terrence Malick. He'll just come out every decade with a new movie. George R. Martin.

I mean, I think Sean Byrne will release his next, his fourth movie before, like, George R. Martin released the winds of winter. Probably. Probably. Lance, what do you think? I'm all in. First thing I did was I,

I had to forward this over to our friend Tim Davis, because I know he's all about this. This will be right up his alley. Sharks, Australia, serial killers, come on. That's the hat trick for Tim. That's just another Tuesday in Australia. Exactly. This looks amazing.

This looks really fucking amazing. I'm super in and very original idea. Can't wait. Well? Yeah, I think this is, this is kind of what Chai Courtney is built for. I don't know that he has really performed the

way that he should have in the last few movies that he's been in. But this seems like it fits him. I have great expectations for this one. All right. Dangerous Animals hits theaters June 6.

And our next trailer... Our next trailer is actually we watched a teaser for I think last month, and it is for the Cosmic Body Horror Comedy Together Coxed by Michael Horre directed by Michael Shanks

and stars Dave Franco and his wife, Alison Brie. Okay. Bede. Which thing? Yeah, I'm definitely down for this one. I've heard nothing but great things about it. And it's also another Aussie horror film as well. I mean, obviously taking place in America, but

It's made entirely in Australia. So I think it was actually shot here in Melbourne as well, from what I remember, reading up on it. So I'm down for this. It definitely has almost like a color out of space type of feel with it as well in terms of some of the lighting and also the sort of body horror aspect. So, and the trailer, I mean, it tells you what it's going to be about, but at the same time, it holds back on certain things. so I'm very curious to see where the plot of this movie goes. So I'm definitely doubt for this. Lance.

Unlike companion, this trailer didn't hit us over the head with what's going to happen. So there could be some twist here, and I'm looking forward to that. There's some bizarre stuff, like bodies coming together? I don't know. It's hard to tell what's going on here, and I like it. I definitely like it. So I'm all in. Again, all in.

So far, really good trailers this week. Bill? Yeah, I definitely has the color out of space feel to it. That was a good call. I like James Franco. I don't think he's done a whole lot that's awful. Dave Franco. Dave Franco, that's what I meant.

James is not about to do movies anymore. Oh, okay. Well, I like them both. Yeah, but the little Franco. He's a solid actor, man. And I think it looks good. It looks interesting. Yeah, this definitely looks Kronenberg-esque.

So we'll see how it goes. This one hits theaters July 30th. And a movie we were talking about, I think, last week, finally dropped the trailer. And that's Stephen King's The Long Walk from director Francis Lawrence, who I didn't realize directed the first. couple of Hunger Game movies. Oh, well. Okay. Okay.

What's wrong with the Hunger Games? Not my book tea. The books are way better than the movies, by the way. Usually. Well, I'm just saying he knows how to direct a dystopian future

with kids in peril. Makes sense. True. Very true. Very true. Like it, it's, definitely in his wheelhouse, given that he has been involved with pretty much all of the Hunger Games movies from catching fire onwards, because he's directed every installment. So this definitely seems like it's in his wheelhouse, but I can imagine, based on what I've heard about the original book, the book is very dark, very nihilistic, and also quite tragic

as well. So I'd imagine another appeal on doing this film, other than being. a Stephen King adaptation is like he can go into that sort of Hunger Games mode, but go even further with it to make it, I am assuming will most likely be an R-rated film. So I'm definitely curious to see how it turns out. I know this has been in the works for quite a long time. And so people thought it was unfilberable given the subject matter. But yeah, I think it looks really compelling and it has a great cast that's been assembled as well. And, and I, And obviously we will cover it on the King's Zone podcast. Marcy and I will be in the future.

Of course. I mean, I'm definitely down for this one. It looks really good. Yeah, totally. It's Mark Hamill as the major. Judy Greer, Garrett Wearing. Ben Wong beat the new karate kid. Yes.

David Johnson, we've seen as the Android and Alien Romulus. Okay. Pretty good cast. Yeah. It looks solid, man. Oh, man. I'm sorry. But yeah, I think it looks pretty good. It definitely looks like it's based off of a book. And I don't know really anything about it. But it looks like it's going to be good. I'm definitely going to check it out. Lance, have you read the story? Oh, yeah. Yeah, this, it was a Richard Bachman when it was like one of his earlier ones too. So, This one and Salem's Lot bead were the two Stephen King books that had me feeling so sad that I, like, actually broke into tears at certain parts. Salem's Lot, there was a, there was a really, really dark segment about halfway through where the town was asleep. Most of the town members were asleep, and the way King described it was, like, super depressing and super dark.

and then this book, or this book, by the time I finished reading it, I was just like, yeah, nihilistic is the word for sure. If they stick to the book, it's going to be very, very difficult. So let's see if they, John Wayne, Chuck Norris, Americanize the ending, which would completely fucking suck because you'd lose the entire point of what the story's about. But yeah, I think the casting is phenomenal. Didn't catch Judy Greer in there. Is she like one of the parents of one of the boys maybe? One of those, don't take my boy, don't take my boy. I don't know.

I didn't see her in the trailer. But Mark Campbell's perfectly cast. I'm looking at the trailer now. I'm looking at the trailer now. And it looks like she's the mother of the main kid. Okay. And if you know Stephen King, you know that the main kid may or may not be the last one standing. So looking forward to it.

Looking forward to it. This is going to be, this is something I've been wanting to see put on film since I read the book. And I hope they don't disappoint. All right. This hits theater September 12. And our final trailer, spoilers, is a movie I'm not looking forward to. Oh no Oh yeah

Now I'm gonna clarify this The final appearance of Patrick Wilson And Vera Formiga as the warrens Not the final conjuring movie Okay The conjuring last rights Now the reason why I'm not looking forward to this Is because

It is directed by Michael Chavez Who I've not been a fan of anything he's done What has he done? the shittier the shittier ones he did the last conjuring movie he did

the devil made me do it he did the nun movies so cheese yeah so basically James Juan is producing yeah yeah

yeah damn that makes me not excited I was like oh cool another conjuring movie. Yeah. I have heard of this case, though.

Apparently it was the Lauren's final case with the small hauntings. I don't know if I was ever familiar with that. I think there was like a TV movie that came out in the 90s. Of course. Yeah, I was just about to mention that the haunting, the haunted, I think it's called the TV movie. I think so. Okay. You know, you know, I'm going to be against the grade.

I'm looking forward to this. I do enjoy the conjuring movies for what they are. And I don't think the ones that Michael Chavez has made have been that bad. I think he's definitely getting better with each one because I really liked how he did with the Nun 2, because that felt totally very different from the third conjuring movie. So I've got to curious to see what they do with the third one. So I imagine being that this is going to be at least the last. film in the franchise with

Vera Famiga and Patrick Wilson because I think after this, they're probably going to focus on turning the series into a TV show, which I think is actually a pretty interesting idea. I've heard of rumor that they'll probably recast Warren's younger. Like do more cases that they were involving. Because I want to see that case where they

that involved a werewolf, damn it. But yeah, I'm definitely down for this. I'm kind of curious to see where they go with this last one. And I imagine, like, knowing that this is going to be the final one, at least in the film franchise, that I would imagine they're going to go at least all out for this one. So I'm definitely excited, even though I'm probably the outlier in that regard. But, you know, that's just me. Higher or low, Patrick Wilson sings the outro song.

Oh, that's a good question. I'm going to say he's going to sing the outro song. Lance, what do you think? I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that it's back to form, you know, the first two country movies, which were really, really good, but I'm not like holding my breath. But I'm hopeful, and I'll leave it at that. Well, yeah, I kind of feel you on that one.

That's that, like, I didn't hate the. devil made me do it. It was all right. It wasn't up to expectations, but it wasn't a terrible movie. We'll see how this one does. Hopefully it's good. This one is, IMDB says, expected in theaters September 5th. Okay.

And that's the final trailer. That's an awkward way to present it. It says post-production expected September 5th. All right. We'll see. All right. On to listener feedback. This week we found the podcast spotlight on the conjecturing, a horror-ish podcast.

Speaking of which. A horror-ish comedy podcast. Come for the scares, stay for the last. laughs hosted by Rob, Laura, and Greg. What could go wrong? Let's see. Today marks eight years of the horror returns group. Holy shh. All right.

Nicea. Thank you for helping us keep this community strong. Marcy Papandria. Thank you, Marcy. All right. We know. Wow, has it been that long already? Wow.

Bejermine says, happy anniversary guys. Congrats to all the great you've done. Thanks, Bid. You're ready? I don't know who that guy is. He sounds like a fuck wig. In regards to final destination bloodlines, Pat Caruso says

Can't wait for this movie hoping it's good. Me too. In regards to Fear Street Prom Queen posters, Beatrix Harper says these are so neat. They captured the old covers aesthetic beautifully. Yeah, they're good looking posters. Pretty cool.

Yeah. The Halloween is Forever podcast, says thanks for the share. You're welcome. In regards to Toxic Avenger, Drew Steppick says,

Stand Behind Toxy. All right. In regards to the craft, I'm going to fuck that your name up. I'm sorry. Fatie Balthali says this movie

is one of the best about witches that I've ever seen. The craft. Yeah. It's a good one. It's a good one. In regards to in the search of darkness, 95 to 99, Danny Thompson says, ooh, this looks amazing. I don't know what's... Yeah, Brian.

Brian is into those. What do you think, Brian? Do they get better as they go further at the years? Or they all pretty good? Well, yeah, they're all pretty good. Of course, I contributed to the first ones when they did the trilogy of the 80s decade. And I've seen the 90 through 94, and it was pretty good. So I'm definitely interested in seeing 95 to 99.

Definitely takes you back to that time period. Very long documentaries, aren't they, like three, four hours each? Yes. Yeah. Oh, cool. All right. In regards to the Together poster, my bad.

Adam Bunch says the poster just gave me the creeps. Dang, that's an effective piece. All right. And sinners, here we go. Dean Borberle says, I'm going to go see it again tomorrow. Just loved it.

It was an experience I haven't had before watching a movie. Agreed. Good movie. Yeah, beat. Beat, I never give a tent. but I gave that one a 10. Nice.

And I know it's like one of like five movies though. You've ever give it a 10 to, let's. Yeah. Maybe. Yes. And that's it for the feedback. Our intro and logos come from Steve Carlton from the Geeks. Original skull artwork comes from Natsulani.

And if you'd like to help us out, please consider becoming a Patreon patron. Let you pick the movies for a future show at any amount. and for $5 or more a month, also pick a commentary for a future bonus show. All right, on to featured attractions. This week, we're doing cage rage, 2025. Well, sort of. We're going to start with sympathy from the devil,

sympathy for the devil from 2023. Close enough. Close enough. Forced to drive a passenger at gunpoint. Okay. A man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. I don't think that's quite...

Bad description. He was forced to drive him at gunpoint. All right. There you go. Sure. The director is Yuval Adler, also known for the secrets we keep. Writers are Lute Paradise,

also known for Lost on a Mountain in Maine. Have you seen that with me? It was a fun weekend. No, I haven't actually, but I kind of want to do. During a Q&A, the director and producer revealed that the passenger's red hair was a choice made by Nicholas Cage and that he just showed up with it to set. Of course. Not surprised. The film was originally set in New York during the winter,

but was changed to Las Vegas at behest of, you guessed it, Nicholas Cage. Not a surprise. We got to do this movie in Vegas, guys. I'm not having a lost in action. It's going to make total sense. Sure.

B, do you want to start us out? with the serpentate for the devil. Yes, yes. I'm definitely I'm kind of surprised it's taken me a little while to finally watch this movie because I remember seeing the trailer a long time ago.

I thought, okay, this is definitely up my alley. But when you guys organized this episode and paired up with this, with the surf, I'm like, oh, finally I could get around watching this movie. Yeah. I'm going to say, I really enjoyed it. Like, the plot is very simple.

Like, at first of all, I was just going to be kind of like basically another variation on the collateral kind of story where a guy kidnaps a driver and forces him at gunpoint to take him on these type of like mini missions and stuff like that. Well, obviously, I thought, okay, maybe there's a couple little differences here and there. But as the movie kind of goes on, Nichols Cage's character just becomes so incredible. unhinged and insane and even surprisingly intense, that it actually made the film much more interesting to me. Like, I think as a film overall, it is still really good. I really enjoyed it, and I really liked the sort of the back and forth between Cage and Joel Kitterman.

But the thing is, though, what I kind of liked it most is the unpredictability of Cage's performance, because you don't know. How his character is going to react in certain scenes because he just, this is a definite cage rage performance, but it actually really works within the kind of the context of the movie. And I love the fact that every time whatever cage is basically going insane, you just see Joel Kinneman's reactions and you can, and you don't know if Joel Kinneman is acting that or is he for real like, oh, Oh, the Cage is really insane here at the moment. So, and that's what it made it really entertaining for me as a viewer. And also I was kind of intrigued to know where the story was going to go. Like, definitely I had some ideas and some of them were confirmed and others that I was a bit surprised by.

But yeah, I really dug this movie a lot. Like, is it one of Nick Cage's best films? Definitely not. but is it a really entertaining friller that kind of takes up a simple concept and just adds a bit more personality and insanity to it? I'm going to say yes, yes, it does. Fair enough. Lance, what do you think? So I was very underwhelmed by the story. I thought that it was an incredibly paint by numbers. I felt that the ending did not have the kind of payoff that I wanted.

But most importantly, and this is my own fault because in my mind, I had this grand story put together that Nicholas Cage was actually going to be the devil. And when it turned out that he wasn't, he was just some Boston bump. And Kenam, it's like, they do all, they go to all this trouble to build it up and build it up. and build it up and what terrible things did this guy do and then to me at the ending it was just kind of anticlimactic just my opinion um and by the way when they when they when they when they roll that car and they're and they're standing there doing like 30 minutes of back and forth they cop cars are flashing how fucking long does it take cops to get down there see what's going on they

have time to move the guns around and change the bullets and put it in somebody's hand and choke someone out. I'm like, come on, really? And I don't know, his wife's a saint. I mean, this is all over, and she has to go through this pregnancy. She would be like, you motherfucker, fuck you,

fuck you, don't even bother showing up now, but she's like, oh, honey, I'm just glad you're okay. But there was one very redeeming quality to this movie, and it was, of course, Sir Nicholas Cage, completely freestyling. I swear to God, was this entire, I'd love to know, you didn't mention it, the trivia, Philip,

but I wonder if he improvised every single line in this movie. Because you didn't know what was going to come up in this guy's mouth. And he would be like, Sinister one moment. That's not on IMDB. Oh, man.

That, yeah, Cage, Cage definitely pull this one up, up above what, because I didn't give it a very good, You know, I didn't have a great feeling about it the first time I saw it because I was so underwhelmed with the story itself. And I was expecting these things that didn't come to be. And I don't know. Why were they saying maybe I am not smart enough to catch it, but like they were saying some, you know, biblical type stuff. And I'm like, there's going to be something bigger here at play.

There's something like the guy he's working for maybe is the devil. And none of that was true. And I was underwhelmed all that. but Nicholas Cage just fucking freestyling with all these crazy things and the way he was acting particularly in the diner was won me over a little bit,

I have to say. So liked it more than I didn't like it. Okay. Brian, what do you think? What did I think of car ride with maybe the devil? Right. Outside of Cage's performance,

I had to say I was completely bored. I didn't feel any urgency from Joel Kinnaman's character. It was just watching a car ride in a conversation with people. I mean, they even stop at a diner. It's like watching a road trip movie. The only redeeming quality is, the only redeeming quality is Nick Cage's performance because, like I was trying to say,

it probably won't say it in IMB. but I'm sure the script was rewritten by Nicholas Cage. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Well, considering every piece of trivia was, yeah, Nick Cage just showed up like this and this is what he did. So that's what we did. Set in Vegas.

I do think it would have been cool if it was set in the snow because that would have gave a little bit something to the movie, just the cold darkness of the area that they were in. But yeah, outside of Cage's performance, I can't say anything is really redeeming to me. I mean, just watching the movie, I'm just waiting for Cage to just Cage rage out in the movie. And he does. We get the yell. We get the screen.

We get the performance. The hairstyle was definitely a choice. But outside of anything else, I can't say that I was entertained by this movie. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I agree with everything Lance said. Nicholas Cage.

Nicholas Cage was pretty awesome, as he normally is, man, he does his thing. And he brings it every time, whether it belongs in the movie or not. But yeah, the rest of it was, it's definitely not his best work. not necessarily for Nick Cage, but just as a movie, it's not like super duper entertaining. Like I, so I've watched this before

and I started watching it again and I fell asleep last night. Uh-oh. And then I was like, do I really want to rewatch it and start it over again? Not really. So that ought to tell you all you need to know.

It was, Nicholas Cage was awesome. but not a super-duper interesting movie. Yeah, I mean, I did learn, I did learn, I did learn one important thing in here. Like, anytime your wife is ignored yet, won't get off her cell phone. If there's a, if there's a grease trap,

like with french fries cooking anywhere near, we know what to do with that cell phone, right? Yeah, that was, that was, that was educational. Now, the side cure, See, I misremembered this movie because I must be thinking of a different movie because I could have sworn that the guy that was, you know, just sitting there, I guess he was a trucker in the diner and Cage just like yelling obscenities at him and stuff like that.

And they ended up shooting at him. For some reason, I thought I remembered that guy's haven't been a cop or something. And he, like, tried to pull a gun out. But obviously, I'm mixing it up with yet another movie that takes place in a diner. with a killer in the diner because there was so many of them. You know, there was that, what was that last stop in Yuma County or whatever from last year? Do you guys see that one? Oh, I probably should have said that in the cool of the week.

I did watch that because I wanted to see, because that director is supposed to be doing one of the new Evil Dead movies. So I checked that one out. That's right. That one was more entertaining than this movie. Oh, well, there you go. Yeah, except for the Nicholas Cage, Freestyle. which which was girl yeah yeah and i'm not even mad that he didn't follow the script if there even was one right like he lost it did his own thing and it worked i didn't make any sense but

it worked yeah didn't didn't make a lot of sense i mean for all that buildup and look i love a good slow burn movie if if if it's got the payoff at the end for example house of the devil right but holy smoke man that that was just I don't know kind of just fizzled out for me you know I mean Kenaman's a good actor I mean I didn't like him the first

couple of times I saw him I guess maybe I was just angry that he tried to replace Peter Weller's robocop and I'm like you can't do that but now he's like he's great in that Apple yeah he's great in that Apple TV series where he plays an astronaut and there's some other stuff he's in. What was that one last year?

The Christmas one? Silent Night, right? Because he couldn't talk. Oh, yeah, Silent Night, yeah. Yeah, he was good in that. But I don't know, man. This was a bit flat. A bit flat.

Nicholas Cage did pull it over the, you know, the middle territory. A little bit for me, but not much. Yeah. But, like, had he actually been the devil and they worked in some sort of supernatural script to it, I think that could have been awesome. Yeah, maybe they have Arnold show up.

Throughout the car ride, if there was a little bit more psychological torture or something going on. Yeah. Maybe him seeing things that maybe is real or maybe it's not real. Mm-hmm. Because that's sort of what kept me watching it.

Is that I thought that maybe he was. the devil, you know, and then, and then, like, by the end and you figure out he's just some fucking mobster or something, you're like, all right. Well, then why does he look like that? That's not the guy I would hire from my crew. That's how he showed up to the set. That needs to lose canon for sure. I mean, I'm definitely getting caught. I mean, are you going to say no, to Nichols-Kade showing up the set dressing like that? I'm going to be like, hell, though. He can do it every once. Just about to say that. He didn't even. even need wardrobe. He showed up

dressed like that. Hey, Nick, why do you have red hair? This character I'm going to do. Okay. All right, let's go for it. Well, I think for me, like with this film, like, I can

definitely see some people being kind of disappointing because I think it, especially like the marketing around this, really hinted like maybe Nicholas Cage's character is the actual devil. Right. But I think what's interesting, and I kind of knew going into it, like, from what I've heard from people before I even saw it, that it wasn't really the case. So I kind of went into it without that expectation. But I think what they sort of, what's interesting about the film is, like, the title itself does have a bit of a double beating sympathy for the devil because, like, you got that sort of seed in the diner when Nick Cage does talk about sympathy. And you can, you can. could see it as like, and him kind of making fun of Joel Kittabin's character for saying that he

has a family and stuff like that. A family. Yeah, try to gain some sympathy, you know, from the devil. But, of course, Nick Cage doesn't do that. But then at the end, it kind of flips that a little bit where you realize, oh, you actually have sympathy for Nick Kitt's character because he, even though as an unhinged as he is, He is a man who is dealing with grief, and also Joel Kitteman's character is the actual real villain of the entire film. And then when he does kill Nick Cage at the end, it has this sort of coldness to it, even though, like, he's tried to, this character's also trying to redeem himself because he didn't want to kill Nick Cage's wife.

and daughter, but he ended up doing it. So yeah, it's kind of like a title with a double being, and I kind of, and I can see it being a little anti-climactic, but I like how the movie kind of switches gears at the last minute that the person you think is the victim is actually the real villain of the story, and the person you think is the villain is the actual victim. So I think it's kind of interesting how the film plays with that, and also the title kind of gives a double mating to it as well. But like through the whole movie until the end, like there's not really any, like it just seems like Nicholas Cage is a crazy person.

You're not even really wondering, well, is this really the guy that did it? Yeah. And I mean, I, you know, maybe that's an artistic choice that they went that direction. But like he seemed like he was had no idea who this person was. Yeah. and was like not and then it ended up actually being the guy that killed his family and you're like well

seems like there would have been some clues earlier but there wasn't at all it was like they just decided to do that at the end of the movie right but in a way it's kind of like it plays around with that a little bit because you're thinking to yourself like at first like oh is is this like a

I get a collateral type of situation where it's just the wrong Joel Kittenman's character is the character who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and who's just been forcing this mission. But then you kind of think, oh, maybe he might have something to do of it. But then it kind of switches around thinking like maybe Nick Cage is honestly for a while there. Honestly for, and maybe this is just me thinking this would have been a pretty good idea

if it went into that direction is like the person Nick Cage thinks is the person that Joel Kittenen is wasn't that person and it just ends up that he put this innocent guy through this complete nightmare for no reason because he'd mistaken him for someone else and I thought that which yeah would have been funny then yeah it would have been funny like I like how the movie at least totally and with the script it kind of plays around with that like those are the things I sort of got out from it but I can definitely see at the same time like it those type of aspects don't work for everybody. But I kind of strangely got that out of it, which is kind of weird.

All right. Scores. Speed, what do you think? I'm going to think. I'm sort of thinking about it, and I thought about it last night, and I was thinking about it again, even after this conversation. But I'm going to stick with this rating. I'm going to actually give it an 8 out of 10.

I really dug it a lot. I think if the movie didn't have Nick K. in it or some of its interesting ideas. I would say it would probably be more of a six, but I think sort of the interesting elements that I picked up on, and Nick Cage's completely unhinged performance definitely elevated it for me where I was just completely infrauled from beginning to end because I was like, I kind of need to see where this is going, especially with that type of reformance that Cage is giving. Like, is it one of Nick Cage's best films?

Definitely not, but I did find it entertaining. And it's definitely better than a lot of the stuff that he was making during the 2010. So that went straight to video, believe me, I've seen quite a number of them. But I did enjoy this one overall. All right, Lance, what do you think? Well, because of Nick Cage, he adds at least two extra points. to it, so I'll give it a six. I liked it more than, more than I didn't.

All right, Brian. If we would have B, rewrite this movie, the way he just did, I would have gave it an eight, but it's a five. And all five of those points are for Nick Cage. All five. Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. I'm going to agree with Lance again here, man.

I think it's a I think it's a six and that is solely because of Nick Cage's performance. He brought this movie to a new level. Indeed. Had he not been in the movie, you probably never would have seen this. That would be good point. Someone like Dane Dahan, maybe. Yeah. I don't know.

I think Dane Dahan could have totally pulled that roll off. Yeah, I guess. Not in the same way that. Nick Cage did, man. I like that he played it wild and loose. That worked. Yeah. All right.

So, uh, mostly worth it. Check it out if you haven't seen it. All right. On to the new one. The Surfer from 2025. Uh, a man returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son.

Uh, when he's humiliated by a group of locals, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps right. and pushes him to his breaking point. Was he ameliorated? Yeah, kind of in front of his kid. Director is Lorkin Fingin, also known for Viverium.

That was a good one. Ah, that's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. Ryder is Thomas Martin, also known for Ripper Street. I haven't seen that. Okay.

At a screening at Glasgow Film Festival 25, director Lorcan Finnegan said that the snake featured in the film bit Nicholas Cage on the hand for real. The ultimate method actor. There's your little bit of trivia for the day. Interesting. And then the snake was poisoned by Nicholas Cage. And died two hours later.

Yeah. He's like He's like Chuck Norris But like without fire. Right. Exactly. Beed, What'd you think about this one?

Guys, I'm not going to lie. I kind of loved it this movie. Yeah? I figured this was right up your alley. I had a feeling. I had a feeling. Well,

I think the reason why I love the so much. I mean, it is set in Australia, although my only disappointment with the movie is Nicholas Cage is meant to be an Australian character, but he doesn't have an Australian accent in it at all, which upsets me. But to be fair, he got Americanized.

Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I wish he kind of tried it too, because he could have gotten around and says, like, good I made, where's me, Nicholas Cage? I'm going to put the shrimp on the Barbie. Where's a kangaroo so I can ride it? Anyways, but the movie does say that he has lived in America most of his life. But I want to really, and so he has the American accent.

But what I really liked about this movie, it kind of goes into a lot of toxic masculinity as well, which is something that, see, like a common fee that pops up in cages work every now and again, because we even talked about this in Vampire's Kiss as well. as well. But I think what's interesting about this one. Now, I don't know if you guys have seen this movie, but watching this movie, it reminded me of a pretty fantastic Australian film from the 70s called Wake in Fright, which is basically like this outsider

who goes to a small country town in Australia. And he gets caught up with the locals and he kind of descends into madness. So I would be surprised if Larkin Finnigan and the writer just took a lot of inspiration from that movie because that film also has a lot of psychological elements as well. And I like how this film kind of really kind of escalates with this story because obviously Cage is there with his son. He wants to show like the place he grew up in.

And then once he goes down to the beach and has a little. to run in with the surfers. And in Australia, like we do, there have been cases where a lot of surfer groups are very territorial of beaches where they won't. That's a surfer thing everywhere. Yeah, that's what I mean, yeah. And it's, I mean, we even see that it in like point break as well. So, and even though like, like, he's like, oh, I used to live here. I was at Australia He was like, and they're like, no, get the fuck away from here, man. And so he feels humiliated and his son feels humiliated.

So in a way, it's kind of like him. You take your son and your tiny pecker and you go back up to the hill. That's actually a pretty good Aussie accent. I know. That wasn't bad at all. I hit it on that one. And the interesting thing is to, like, he's, he's like dead set on staying in this on this beach to kind of go up against this surfer group and then it kind of escalates from there

when they steal his surfboard and then he calls the police and then he realizes the police or at least the cop that he deals with is maybe involved with this gang so they basically dickhead a complete dickhead and it kind of escalates from there and it's like how this surfer gang is kind of tormenting him and how in a way he's like so dead set in his ways of wanting to kind of pay back against this gang that it kind of sets him on a path of self-destruction and madness and seeing Nicholas Cage like going around dealing with this like the Australian landscape was pretty interesting I mean we do see him with a snake and I'm from But I remember, I don't think that snake in Australia is a poisonous one.

So thank goodness it was a poisonous. But, you know, he has to deal with, um, yes, exactly. And not only does he have to deal with like snakes, he also has to deal with shit on a drinking fountain. He has to deal with a, uh, a coffee vendor, this being an absolute dick to him and some, and, but again, it's kind of an interesting thing like, but then again, it kind of goes into, It's like, is all of this in his head or is there something else going on? So that's what I really liked about the film a lot because it does play with that.

Obviously, we do get a proper resolution to what is going on in the third act, but I think it's actually a pretty well done, very Australian feeling, even though it's made by Irish filmmakers like psychological thriller. and also Julia McMahon, Dr. Doe, the original Doctor. Yeah, Dr. Doom. Yeah, I did not recognize him at all. Oh. Yeah.

It was a nip-knit-tut. It was really good. Yeah. I didn't even click. I knew I'd seen him somewhere. I thought he was really good as like the leader of this surfer gag. And again, with his character, there's a lot of interesting things that feel almost like they put a little bit of an Andrew Tate or Jordan Peterson kind of elements in this character where he's. like saying like, oh, men today have to be,

surfers have to be tough. And I was like, oh, we're going to be men. The menosphere. Exactly, exactly. But I think it's actually a pretty interesting film. And of course, Cage even has a, the occasional Cage rage moment where even at one point, he grabs a rat.

And it was like, eat the rat, eat the rat. but yeah, I really like this movie a lot. All right, Lance. I may be the dissenting voice tonight on this one. I did not like this at all. I thought this was all over the place. I thought it was incredibly confusing. And I know that was the point.

And I get everything you're talking about being. I think there could have been a better way to show the, you know, the toxic masculinity and the, you know, the, the way that, you know, someone emerges as the alpha and that kind of thing and what that can all lead to and whatnot. But to me, it was just a bit of a mess. I mean, it was completely all over the place. It had me thinking halfway through the movie, is he actually that homeless guy? And is he like, is this all going on in his mind? Is this like, is this like, like an American psycho type thing where you don't know what's really happening and what's not.

But, you know, at the end, like Bede said, they did kind of wrap it up a little bit and a bit of a neat bow. So you kind of know most of it was going on. Obviously, when he thought every single person was staring right at him and laughing in that one scene, I'm sure that was in his head. But, yeah, I don't know, man. Number one, why would this guy be a big of an imbecile to just fucking stay there? and slowly lose everything. And how is it that everybody was so much in on it that even that coffee shop guy did what he did?

I'm trying to dance around spoilers. Because there is some weird things. Dr. Dooms the guru. Yeah, I know. But is it like a mind control thing? If you're going to dig into why everybody's doing something, the movie's going to fall apart. Well, I think also, too, it does establish, like,

he's a, not only is he the leader of this gag. he's also like a well-known influential figure in the community. Like he also is like, like, because they kind of establish all these surfer guys all come from pretty well-known backgrounds. There are ambulance drivers, their cops, their businessmen, or they work for real estate companies. And Julian McMahon's character is like a well-known kind of figure. So it's almost like...

Nick Cage's character even knew who he was. Yeah. And so it's essentially like he uses his money and influence to kind of control these people into almost like this cult-like status. And maybe there's a little bit of Trumpism there too as well. So it's kind of an interesting thing. That's a stretch maybe. Maybe not full board. Well, okay.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. And to me there were like a lot of really herky jerky things. like, for example, in the early part of the movie, he's like with his son. And I don't know. I thought maybe something was going to come with that that didn't. And then the son disappears for the longest time. And then I know he got weird flashbacks.

He dropped them off at home. Yeah, I know. I don't know. And it's a parking lot to take a call for some reason. Yeah, why would he just keep staying there? And then he waits, I don't want to get too far into. far it goes, but like, waits for a certain person overnight. And it's like he's, see, I started thinking the more he started looking the way it was,

that that's why I thought maybe he was the homeless guy the whole time. And it was just like in his mind or whatever. But I don't know, man. Would anybody really be this fucking stupid to just sit out there and go through all this fucking shit and not leave? Not just fucking simply leave. I mean, I get it. That's obsession, as you were saying, uh, Veed. but, you know, I'm not, I mean, I have a slightly different score than you, I think, when we, when we go around Robin, that's all I'll say.

Well, I think also, too, sort of thinking about it now is, again, kind of going into that sort of toxic masculine, not just with the surfers being like this. It wasn't even really toxic masculinity. It was just guys being assholes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But also at the same time, you got Cage wanting to. I would imagine Cage since he hasn't lived in this town for quite a long time, he just reckons he's part of the locals. We should have said that from the get-go.

The minute the first guy walked up to him, he should have said, I am a local, my house is right up there, you know, exaggerated a little, like he already had that. You know? If he, if he would have said he's a local and lied about his house over there,

a car they would have probably went down a lot harder on him for lying because i'm sure the locals know who lives there i guess exactly it lets a fair point and also to yeah it also to stealing his board and destroying his car and also too with um i could imagine like there's already a hint of craziness with cage like even before he's just like because i could also say like this is an obsession. He wants to move back to this town to the point where it literally it becomes his obsession to do it. And he just wants to, you know, because basically he wants to prove to his son that, you know, we belong here too. But obviously, it drives him inside. And again, that's the whole thing like when we become obsessed with something, it just literally drives us inside. it definitely had a little bit of an Eden Lake vibe to it, right?

You know, with the town where everybody's kind of in on it, they're all assholes, and they're, you know, at a beach setting, that was a lake, that this is a sea, but it's still kind of a beach setting. I don't know. What do you think, right? Oh, yeah. I'm kind of on the beach side. I really enjoyed this one.

I like the slow burn aspect to it. This was a more subdued cage rage movie. for me because he wasn't outright just screaming and going wild it was the slow descent into insanity and another thing i don't think anybody really brought up i like the retro feel to it especially with the title card and the the font oh yeah that's true the beginning of the music and everything put you in a i almost wasn't sure of what time period this was set in with the with the the retro look of it. But then, of course, he had

the modern phone. And I thought the movie did an excellent job of keeping you thinking what was real and what was not. Yeah, definitely. You brought up with the bum. I kind of was like, are you not who you say you are?

You know, because their stories were kind of almost lining up. Yeah. True. And I just took his reason for staying there was just maybe he was a little bit stubborn with the fact that he was born there and he grew up there that maybe he had just as all every right to be there as the locals

because in his mind I'm local too so I'm not going to leave sure they don't own the fucking beach how about that well but yeah I did I actually had a great time with this and yeah most most people did.

I think it's like 85% of rotten tomatoes last time I checked. Really? Okay. Yeah, I think, so that is a part of surfer culture. Like, there are some really territorial surfers, and if you're not a local, you're not surfing that spot. And they will absolutely kick the shit out of you if they have to. So that's a real thing.

Okay. Yeah, that's for sure a real thing. Like, all over, not just Australia. but most of those are kids that have nothing. Like they've got a board and that's it. There's 20 of them living in one house and they all surf on the same spot every day. It's not leaders of the community. Right.

Well, that's the twist, right? Yeah, I guess. But I did think that they did a really good job of kind of subverting and keeping you guessing the whole time in the movie and trying to figure out what exactly was going on because I had the same thought with the old man and then it was like a like is he just crazy is any of this really happening? I'm not sure. Sure. Yeah, of course.

And I'd like the way that they did that. I was maybe, I don't know what I was expecting with the ending, but maybe something a little different. And I think with a different ending, they really. could have stuck the landing. With it, the way that it was, it seems a little insane. So I think I'm kind of

undecided. I'm sort of in the middle one this one. Like I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Fair enough. Yeah. I wanted to see Nicholas Cage Kilimaw with a surfboard in a bloody ending.

That's what I'm saying. You can't get everything we want. Spoilers. Oh, we got to go scores first. All right, all right, I. Bid, where's your score? I, I, no shock for me at all. Out of Ted, I really like this movie a lot. Oh, what?

Because also since it is, yeah, I think also too, because it is, being that it, like, it is set in Australia, there are a lot of things like it really, by Irish filmmakers, it definitely really captures the Australian feel and which I find really fascinating and I feel like there are definitely things

even like in Australian ways of life and also what we see here in terms of the media in terms of how it approaches some of these surfer gangs and stuff like that it sort of really does capture that quite well and yeah I think the movie does a really good job as a really compelling psychological thriller,

but also having this great performance from Nicholas Cage that, like, he has the odd ball, I mean, sorry, he does the occasional, like, Cage Rage bit, but for most part, he really does a commendable job of really getting us into the mindset of this character, whether he's experiencing madness or not. Yeah. So what was your score again?

Uh, Lance. B-Book Oh, nine out of ten. Nine, holy moment. Okay, wow. You know what? I think if you want to, you know, put down your ten bucks, it's,

and see Nick Cates tortured for an hour straight, then, you know, you got to get in line for this movie. It does get a little uncomfortable. This was a three on ten. for me being sorry, man. I just thought the story was kind of all over the place, all over the place for me. And the ending was just too woo-woo.

So it's a three. I'd like to say, maybe I'll be re-watch it'll be different, but I'm not going to re-watch this one. I might. I'll watch this shitty copy. Brian, what do you think? What is a woo-woo ending? I'm confused on that one.

kind of cuckoo kind of out there. I was a little cuntary's myself. It's like, were they holding his head underwater and he was talking the whole time? Or was that just the hallucination? Were they giving him ayahuasca? I don't know. One of Nick Cage's abilities is to speak underwater. But. And work while he's on a lot of drugs.

This is an easy eight on on 10 for me. I thought the acting was fantastic. We haven't talked a lot about Julia McMahon. Like I said, I did not recognize him at all. I think I was right there with you feel, how you thought you knew him, but you weren't sure what you knew him from. Yeah, like he looked familiar, but it wasn't even enough for me to go, oh, I know that guy. It was like, huh. Okay, anyway. You know, right? I love the retro aspect of it. And I also, Lance, I didn't think it was all over.

the place. I thought that was just going along with the movie. The whole fact that you didn't know what was real, what was not real, where the story was going. And I loved it. I think this is one of his best performances in a while. So eight out of ten. Very good. Yeah. So I think if you're going to drive somebody to that level of insanity, especially Nicholas Cage, he's probably going to get violent way earlier but we'll get into that I'm gonna I'm gonna go

six for now and with the right to raise it later if I want to I definitely want to watch it again it's not what I expected it to be for sure I don't know what I was expecting but not this

all right It was an interesting movie. It was, it kept me entertained, and I was, I was with it the whole time. And a little bit like the last movie, like, I think I just wanted something different to happen at the end. I don't know what the different thing is, but something that wasn't what was shown to us. I think that's what I enjoyed about it was I think I came and expecting his character to have a Mandy performance. Yeah. I got something different out of it.

I was hoping for that. Like, it is. Listen, they're being dicks. He's, he's being a regular human being and he's, he's like, I'm not going to get in a fight with these assholes. And everything sort of seems to, but like once they stole his surfboard, that's it, dude. We're ending this. You're either going to beat my ass or I'm going to fucking kill you. All right, yeah.

Spoilers. This is a motherfucking spoiler alert. You've been fucking warned. This is a motherfucking spoiler alert. You've been fucking warned. This is a motherfucking spoiler alert. You've been fucking warned. The violence should have started, honestly, with the guy that purposely knocked his coffee into his face.

Oh, yeah. Sure. That's an ass whooping for sure. That wasn't an accident. After he gave his father's watch and his cell phone, it was collateral. You walk off with your coffee. And 10 seconds later, someone's like, hey, and you turn around and knock it into your face. Yeah.

There's no way you're not jumping on top of that guy. He's just sitting there taking it the whole time. And then we kind of find out that guy who knocked the coffee in his face is one of the surf a gag as well a little bit. like rock big big conspiracy right everybody's in on it exactly like a cult and another thing we didn't another thing i don't think none of us brought up was one of his motivations to stay there and to get that house he grew up in was also to fix his marriage hmm because he still had his mind said that he could fix his marriage even though we find that later she's with somebody moved on yeah pregnant that wasn't going to happen.

That's what like, oh man, I was kind of sad for him, man, like the whole movie. It was his saddest. Really bad for Nicholas Cage. His status performance since,

since leaving Las Vegas for sure. And it was like, man, every single person just treated him like a piece of garbage. And he didn't do anything about it. Exactly. And you kind of see like how, not just with Nick Cage,

but also that other homeless guy as well, like on how they treated him. So again, when the film kind of plays up, are Dick Cage and the homeless guy, one in the same, or are they two completely different people? And then you find out that the homeless guy was also kind of a victim of that gang as well.

And the reason why he's there is that, like, he believes they had something to do with his son's death. And then Nicholas, and also, too, when you kind of find out it towards the end, like the reason why all of this has happened to Nick Cage was this kind of initiation performed by the surfer gang to drive him to see how far they can push it. Because Julia McMahon sees something in Cage. Right, right.

And he wants to kind of see like maybe if we push him, drive him a little inside, he truly is one of us. Like if he is a local, as he claims to be, let's push him and as like a hazing or an initiation. Yeah, like fraternity hazing on steroids, Pete. Exactly, exactly. If you smack a guy in the face with a wooden sign, he's not just going to get up with a cut.

Like, that guy's dead. Well, they were like in the water. Yeah. I think they were like, oh, babe, that's, well, that's around the time where they're like, yeah, maybe we need to, like, stop this right now because someone could actually die. Like bonfires. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

Exactly. It literally is a bum fight when you kind of think about it. That dude had it coming, no. I got to say. Well, kind of over, really, because then, of course, the homeless. this guy goes insane and like pulls the gun out of all of them and it basically lines them all up

and you kind of see how these surfer guys, their real personalities come out because now when they're faced in a situation that actually is life. Real danger. Yeah.

Yeah, real danger. They like all start breaking down and crying and it's like, yeah, well this whole movie shows you guys aren't as tough as you think you are. Like push comes to shop. Typical, typical police. Right.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Should pull that out earlier. Yes. All right. Yeah, all right. Maybe after they killed your son and your dog. Yes. Like, I'm sorry.

Those guys would have been fucking dead. I'd be in jail and that's it. Yes. Yeah, there's not really that much to spoil, right? I mean, it's not like one of those big, you know, twist endings or anything like that. But what was the significant? of him seeing the water over indeed like when they were they were holding him down under water but he was talking or well or was he tripping did he slip in some kind of hallucinogen or well i think with uh because you do see a lot of um sort of sequences where he sees himself in the water a water splashing around him but i think it's meant to be like because he does mention that his father killed himself like when he was younger right So I think it's just those kind of like flashbacks to that because he shot himself and then fell into the water.

So I think it's kind of a case like that's, we find out those flashbacks are those for the exact, for the action. Like those are the reason why he's having those flashbacks. But at the same time, the movie is playing around with that. Like, is this like Nick Cage? Because we never see the guy's face when he's face down in the water. kind of looks exactly like Yeah, I thought that too for a minute. Then we realized, no, those

Yeah, but then you realize oh, these are just flashbacks to his dad killing himself. So. Yeah. But I was confused all the way up until the end. Like, even after the movie ended, I was like, wait, did I miss something?

Like, probably not. Was he the old man? What was going on? Oh, no. Oh, no. The Cage's dad wasn't the old. Oh, man, no.

I think it was... Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, he was a different, completely different character who has his own vendetta against the surfer gang, although I think essentially, yeah, I guess for him he didn't pass the test and being initiated by them. I guess not. Yeah, wasn't it, like, basically...

Dog, that's okay. Wasn't it basically confirmed that he really was who he was when he ran into that photographer for the second time? Yeah. and she showed him a picture yeah and that's where it's on the start that the clicks later

well see but even when they had the picture of him in front of the Lexus or whatever it was that he was driving I was like well is he just a homeless guy standing in front of an expensive car I know I thought that too

I thought that too for a minute yeah because at that point in the film I was weird like I want to go somewhere I was convinced he was the bomb the whole time at that point the film. But, uh, all right. Anyway,

I knew I would be a, the, the odd man out, but that's cool. It was no night swim. Why show the bum throwing shit onto the, onto the water fountain?

Except it was the only way that, you know, he couldn't get to the water, I guess. And that also the reason there was a dog. Dog, yeah. Whose dog was that?

I think it belonged to the surface. because, yeah, that's, and also too, like, pretty much it's almost like, we're almost denying, basically denying water and food to Dick Cage's character because he really eats or. Torture. At all. You're drinking out of a puddle, man. Slowly stealing. And also eating birds eggs. Yeah.

There's birds of eggs. There's water in the back of those toilets. Yeah. that's true. All right, Bede, where can everybody find you? That's new to the show, because we have new listeners

that don't know where you are. Well, if people want to find me personally out there on the internet, you can follow me on Twitter, blue sky, and letterboxed under Bede Jibide. You can find all my work at all the other podcasts that I co-hosts with Super Marcy on the Supernetwork

over on supermassy.com and all podcast streamers everywhere. And if people want to hear my solo show, Bede versus the Living Dead, you can listen to that on all podcast streamers everywhere as well. And also there are spin-off shows there too. So give those a listen on the Bede versus the Living Dead podcast feed. Yeah, Camp Crystal Lake, et cetera.

So, uh, exactly. Uh, what do you do it next? Amity, Amityville Horror? Bid versus Ammonie. Well, I've thought about it. doing the Abadneville series, but Brian kind of sold my thunder there for

all the... He started doing it. It is coming back. Yes. Sounds like there's enough movies to go around. I think we can each do one for a lifetime. I mean, I think I was like on To Be Tuesday the other day because we were

trying to like look for possible ideas for movies and then we ran into Abiddeeville Bigfoot. Oh God. And I think I saw like There's Abeddyville Backpack, Abedieville AI. Backpack? Amityville toilet.

Yes. And then there's the one that... I mean, there's one that I'm fascinated by. It's called Abedieville Vibrator. I was close, Philip. Well, definitely have to watch that one. So there's like 40 movies in that franchise. Oh, man.

Always fun to have you here, man. Nick Cage and an Australian film. We couldn't have planned that better, you know? So it worked out quite well. It's Nick Cage and both Boston. Nick Cage is both a Bostonian and also an Australian.

Good night, where's my red socks? Yeah, it's the same accent in both movies. Exactly. Exactly. Oh, man. Well, you you guys can find us at thehorrorit returns.com or email us at the horror returns at gmail.com.

Next week, we're going to check out the brand new clown in a cornfield. And what's the other? 1996 is the clown at midnight. So, beat until the horror returns again. Good night.