The Horror Returns - THR - Ep. #491: In Dreams (1999) & Black Phone 2 (2025)

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

We go dreamin' this week. Cool of the week includes NBA opening night, Tacoma FD, and Guts & Glory. Trailers are Primate and Silent Night, Deadly Night. The podcast spotlight shines on What's Your (Least) Favorite Scary Movie? And we get feedback from Meagan Dunn, Aaron Ahlstrom, Faith Baltali, Xim Vader, Rob Cheshire, Dani Thompson, Belinda Nettles, and Jimmy Spindler. 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, everyone, to The Horror Returns.

I'm Lance. We got Brian. We got Philip. What's going on, guys? What's up? Not a whole lot, man. Same shit, a different day. Yeah? Brian, you watch that Rockets game?

last night? Yeah, the one Durant gave away for us. I hope he learns from that, dude. He made three mistakes. He didn't get both the free throws. That would have won the game. He, I don't care. I mean, I'm glad they didn't call it,

but he did call that timeout when they didn't have any. They said it was after the quarter ended. Oh, yeah. He called timeout, clearly. And they didn't have timeouts left, Philip. erroneous erroneous on all accounts

and then he got fouled out so he wasn't even there to take the final shot and they missed the final shot but live and learn right yeah I mean we took the world champs to double overtime so no shit that was awesome

fucking KD's veteran I know man I know dude jelling with a new team can we use that excuse nah Okay, fair enough. That was what preseason was for. He fucked up.

Yeah. I think he was just trying to do a little too much. Maybe. He won me $18 last night. On a $2 bet, Philip. I did a four-part parlay, and everybody hit their points. And the Oklahoma dude missed his rebounds by one. I put the under.

So I ain't mad. But I wish they had won the game. They had every opportunity. He just needs to learn to trust his team. So what's his name was bawling out of control? Sangoon. No shit. Hitting three after three after three.

I hadn't been watching it, man. I've been keeping up a football, though. Yeah. All right. Indeed. Max comes into the Cowboys, brother. Woo. Philip, my cool of the week is in, is NBA opening night.

And we already covered it. So what's you got? uh man so yeah football for sure uh doing the fantasy stuff and all that i'm all in with the kids and all that uh nice nice for stuff that i've watched um i started checking out Tacoma fd which is like the broken lizards guy they're doing a fire department sitcom thing it's stupid okay it sounds promising it's silly and stupid but it's fun it's silly and stupid but it's fun The chick from Dangerous Animals

is in it. She's one of the firefighters. Oh, the surfer girl? Yeah. And she's really funny and looks way better when she didn't fuck with her face.

But, but yeah, it's not necessarily horror and not particularly good, but that's about all I've watched. My default. We'll take it. Brian and I are going through our 31 days, dude, watching a different horror movie every night.

I'm doing all 20-25 shit, so I'm running out. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel. Spoiler alert, Brian, I just watched my second killer Popeye movie of the Batch. I haven't seen any of those yet. We'll talk about that later. Yeah, I'm going through mine, helping my daughter with hers. we just finished the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Nice.

She did not like the remake. She was completely out as soon as he stepped on camera. Yeah. I agree. She's got good taste. Has she seen The Watchman? No, we haven't gotten there yet. She likes to make lists of movies.

She's got them all broken down in different. categories. And this was their 31 days. And she's kind of hit and miss with franchises. So I was just like, well, just pick one and we'll just run through them all. Not a bad idea. Yeah. And last night we watched Cabin in the Woods.

She really enjoyed that one. She enjoyed it because it's not what she expected it to be. She didn't know nothing about it going into it. And just kept looking over at me and I was like, they'll explain what's happening. Just, just waged. The dirt bike scene.

Which I still think if they wouldn't have shown that bird, hit the wall. Yeah. That scene would have been more impactful. Oh, yeah. It still was, it still was kind of like,

holy shit. It was, it was a holy shit. He does his big speech. Yeah. No matter what, we're getting out of here. Oh,

that's right. Thor himself, right? Yeah. I love that movie. That might be one of my favorite horror movies of all time. Yeah? Well, my Cool The Week is going to be a new reality competition show on Shutter from Greg Nicotero. It's called Guts and Glory.

I think we talked about this a couple weeks ago. Oh, yeah. Dang, I've got to watch that. It's three episodes out right now. We've watched the first two. It's pretty cool because they kind of had somewhat an idea of what kind of show they were on, but they didn't get the full breakdown. Okay. So when one of the, I'm trying not to spoil it, when one of the competition, one of the competitors is out and then they find their body later, then they start to realize what kind of show they are on.

and then Greg Nicotero comes in in the second episode, and everybody's just kind of like, what the fuck is going on? You're going to come back as zombies. Are they actually killing people? No, because that's a snuff show. Have we made it to that point? They're putting them through, like,

horror movie scenarios each episode. Oh, okay. And Greg Nicktero's company is doing all the effects. Damn. And from what I understand is when my daughter told me, one of the competitors is Norman Redis's son, which I didn't know. So it's pretty fun so far. I think it comes on every Tuesday on Shutter or AMC Plus, either or.

So are they just like springing these scenarios on them? Like unexpected? Yeah. That's funny. Because one competitor, one competitor thought she was basically on a show where they're going to be put in escape rooms and have to escape them. Like, she was completely surprised at what kind of show she was on. Like, I honestly think some of them still don't understand what they're in. I'm going to check that.

That sounds fun. I know. I thought it was going to be like a horror makeup thing or something. I did too. So that, that's pretty much all I can talk about because. You know, me and Atlanta are doing the 31 days, and we got those reviews coming out,

and anything else I'm going to talk about with Ness. Okay. And Nez is going hot and heavy on the 31 days, like always, man. He's like giving each one its own episode. I don't even know if he rewatches him. I think he just remembers him from 20 years ago. He just sits movies and goes. It just says 10 on 10 hell of good.

Yeah. Oh man Is that it guys That's cool of the week That's it In and out this week Okay Well Brian

New Year is approaching There's got to be some stories right You got to be some news Yeah We'll start with TV news The Stranger Things Spendoff that was rumored Is officially happening

It's moving forward And they said It will have no Character From the original is what's funny, Lance? Well, thank goodness for that. I've been reading so many articles about how

Stranger Things and some other shows have overstayed, they're welcome, right? Like, now these kids are old, and they just, like, they didn't jump the shark, per se. Like, it was still, last season was still good, but it was, I don't know, a lot of people are talking about how it's wearing out its welcome, so I just find it ironic. That's only because it took so long for it to come out. So how's this spinoff going to go down?

Do you know any details? No, they haven't released any. It just says the guy, one of the executive producers, said it was 1,000 percent, not going to have any characters. It's going to be all new story, all new characters. I guess that's cool. I imagine there's a lot of stories you could pull from the whole upside down thing. That makes sense.

All right. Well, we're going to fucking watch it. What am I talking about? I'm going to watch every one of them. We're getting close to the final season, aren't we? Is it Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving, they broke it up in the three sections. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's is the finale.

Don't have long to wait. Let's see. Horror legend John Carpenter is returning with the TV series titled John Carpenter Presents. It will be a supernatural anthology series with the first season set in this will probably tickle Lance because he gets excited when we bring up Alaska. It will take place in the Alaskan wilderness. Good place for a movie. And we broke Lance.

You'll be there, Brian. Are you, have they filmed yet? Could we catch you in the background yet? or got to wait? In the snow, you will never catch me in no snow. No? Okay. He's like, I don't go to the wilderness.

I mean, like taking my dog outside. You'll go answer the phone booth. It's like the only thing standing right there in the front of a big frozen lake. Phone booth. That's where you have to wear the skates. All right. Let's see. Oh, yeah, hockey.

Brian, you play hockey, right? I don't know how to ice skate. I'm actually I'm all wrong good at it for a big dude I used to play roller hockey back in the day I'll bet you were that dude wearing all the gold chains

skating backwards macking on all the chicks no I kind of suck at skating backwards but I'm really good at going forward and running into somebody so you're not denying the gold chains I was not all right

A24's Crystal Lake series has officially wrapped filming. It's set to premiere on Peacock in 2026. Ooh. All right.

Well, I guess that's right around the corner. Let's see. Movie News. Universal is developing a young Bella Lagosi biopic. Okay. Okay.

The film will explore Lagosi's early years from his rise in fame as Dracula to his struggles in Hollywood. And Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the executive producers. I guess he's pushing this movie. Is it going to be like documentary style or like a movie?

A biopic. Okay. So like a movie then? Yeah. I thought you were going to say Leo was going to play Bella. I don't know. Fake accent and everything. You never know.

I think he's getting in that part of his career where I'll see his name popping up on a lot of stuff from me. his company as producer. He's James wanting it, Philip. You know what, though? I like this idea of putting some of the old actors that, you know, people don't really know, like, how many

Bella Legosi movies have you seen? I'd love to watch a movie about his life. Yeah. Yeah? Wasn't he a junkie? I'm going to suspect that's probably one of his struggles in Hollywood. Okay, we're going to find out.

He's in Hollywood, so probably. There you go. Let's see. Next month we get Osgood Perkins' Keeper movie released in theaters, but he's already started filming his next movie, The Young People. The Young People. Which is set to release next year. So this guy stays busy.

Yeah. Wonder what that's about. About young people, Lance. Okay. Dada, da, you got me. You young people, get off my lawn. Well, I still don't even know what Keeper's about.

I know. I've seen like two different trailers, and all I know is that is she-hook in it. No. Yeah, I saw the trailer today for five nights at Freddy's, too. And if they're trying to make these animatrials, into the good guys of this one. I hope

my guess isn't correct on that. Didn't work very well for Megan, too. They're going to have the good ones versus the bad ones. I'm worried, dude. Not that I'm a huge fan. I think there's a second set of five nights at Freddy's robots that are like the nightmare version or something.

Okay. I'm probably saying that completely wrong. But there is like some torn up really creepy looking ones too. Get Logan. Get Logan on the podcast. Yeah. Get Logan on the podcast. He's going to set a story.

He's at right now. All right. And finally, we got another thing that wrapped filming. Evil Dead Burn, the next installment has wrapped filming. Okay. I'll watch it. Yeah. It's directed by the guy.

He did that movie. We reviewed the Spider one, infested, the French one. Oh, yeah. The evil dead, burn. Get away from me, the evil dead. That's a terrible. Is that French? I'm trying, man.

I'm trying. It's like Transylvanian. Transylvanian. That is the news. All right. That is the horror headlines. So now it's time to take a trip. down to the trailer part.

Brian is going to bring us the big, the small, and sometimes very, very weird. What is the first one tonight, man? First one is Primate from Johannes Roberts, starring Johnny, whatever his last name is, Troy, Katsur, Jessica Alexander. Okay. From what I understand, primate...

The young people. is going to feature mostly practical effects and animatronics and is going to be pretty violent for what I understand looks that way what did you guys think of primate

I think it looks terrifying yeah you think so real life for yeah because you know like how cool would it be to have a monkey as a pet but then you're talking about it off Yeah, like a chimpanzee.

That's probably not a good idea because they're way stronger than you. Yeah, no shit. Yeah, I immediately thought of all those stories. Like, you know, the stories and you see the people's faces afterwards. And even after all the reconstructive surgery, they're like, kind of like the face of the chick in a terrifier or something. Has that happened multiple times or is it just the one lady that got her face ripped off? I thought it's. I'm sure it's happening multiple times.

Probably. does they go for the face don't they? Well, I mean, if they're mad, soft spots, what are you going to do to stop it? Yeah, you ain't got to make a monkey out of my monkey.

I mean, I'm assuming that one guy's getting his face ripped off at the end of the trailer when he's looking at the picture and he was like, who the fuck would have a monkey for a pet? The monkey's like right there. Oh, boy.

It'll be fun. I think it's going to be a fun movie. It's kind of silly, silly fun. I also think... You don't like silly, Lance. No, sometimes I do. And we'll talk about one of the 31 days, but... Oh, God, it's pop high. No.

Do you think that they got this idea from... Nope. Because they kind of had that one scene with the monkey that was part of the crew in the sitcom? I mean, possibly, possibly, but this is you've heard monkeys attacking people for years. Yeah.

True. True. I mean, this is kind of like a Tiger King situation. Like, you shouldn't have wild animals like that as pets. Cautionary, too. Yeah. There's some people here in Florida that keep gators. I saw a video on reels or something where the guy, like, puts up a piece of chicken and calls the gator.

and it waddles up out of the water and eats the piece of chicken out of his hand and then he pats it on the back and I'm like That's wild I saw a little video of a lady that caught like a They found like a baby alligator and they kept it And then it grew up and it was still super cool with them It's weird

Yeah I didn't know I had a like four or five wolves Like actual wolves And a pen in the backyard That's crazy well Alaska Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. Wolves.

Wolves are different, though. They're pretty smart. Are they? Dude, an alligator's still a lizard. That's true. If it wants to, it's just going to eat you. That is bizarre, man. All right.

Primate hits theaters January 9th. And on to our second and final trailer. Lance, everything I'm hearing about this movie, this is going to be right up your alley. All right. Christmas movie. Okay. It's a horror movie.

Yep. And I also heard that it's a fucked up rom-com. Come on. Oh, I did get that from the trailer a little bit. Are they really going to do that angle? That's what I'm hearing. I think somebody, I think I've seen somebody seen it at like a festival or something. And they were raving about the violence and the whole kind of romantic.

comedy aspect of it. And, well, of course, we're talking about the new Silent Night Deadly Night. Right. Directed by Mike P. Nelson and another thing, Up Your Alley, Lance, he did the wrong-turn remake. Nice. Nice. I saw the, I saw the antler scene. I saw that they're recreating the antler scene.

Yeah, but it's not Lanier Quigley. No, but you think they'll be. Toplis? Probably not, huh? Oh, this is R-rated. Same producers of Terrifier. Okay. Has potential. It has potential, Philip. Yeah, I think so.

I'm not mad at remaking that one. Yeah, this star is Rowan Campbell, Ruby Modine, and David Tomlinson. Okay. I think it looks fun. It's like a good holiday slasher. I mean, I'm down with the rom-com. If you mix it with the horror. And you can do what you want with something like that with like a slightly obscure old horror movie, you know?

Right. You can make it do whatever you want it to and nobody's going to get mad at you. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think so. It'll be fun. And now is this coming out in time for this Christmas? Yes, it is on the schedule for December 11th. Oh, I can't wait to see the new schedule.

Okay. Almost done with it. Matt, I know you've been asking. I'll get you the schedule. Matt's been wanting to come on. Oh, nice. It's been too long. I had a dream about that dude last night.

Whoa. Yeah, not that kind of dream. Not that kind of dream, but it's weird. It's like I went to England and hung out with him and Kate. and I don't know, man, we were just talking about horror movies, you know, going to the pubs. It was bizarre, dude. It was like real. I like how you brush past dreaming about Kate.

Well, you brought up Matt. Oh. All right. That was our final trailer, a silent night, deadly night, and primate. Maybe you're psychic, like the lady in our movie. All right. Anderson, listener feedback before we get there.

This week we're going to shine the podcast spotlight on what's your least favorite scary movie. A couple of four nerds having a weekly discussion of our least favorite parts and defenses of our favorite scary movies. Okay. Interesting concept. I like it.

Because you can make fun of the dumb parts. Yeah. Everybody's got that angle, right? Yeah. All right. In regards to Scarecrow, Megan Dunn said, I enjoyed this. Watched it again the other day. Review coming on E-Society, 31 days real soon.

Awesome. In regards to Halloween 6. I don't even know which one that is. It's the Paul Rudd. Oh, okay. Aaron Alstrom says, you realize it's still 10 times better than Halloween ends. That is. a wild statement. I don't know

if you do they need to rewatch Halloween 6. That's the one they try to put Michael all of a sudden he's part of a cult. Oh. He gets his niece pregnant with his own child. Still got to be more fun than Halloween ends.

I rewatched both of them and I don't think it's better. Man, I hadn't seen that one since it came out. In regards to I know what you did last summer. Faith Patali says, wow, it's been 28 years. It was the best horror movie of my childhood. Sarah Michelle Giller and Jennifer Love Hewitt are my favorite actresses. We got to get you better movies. No shit. At least they're talking about the real one. Not that atrocity that came out this year.

In regards to New Silent Night, Deadly Night, Zim Vader says, what is this? Please explain. A remake, a reimagining, a pre-exam. sequel, a reinventing a follow-on from part three, part two, or part one. Whatever the case, I hope the main character moves their eyebrows every time they speak. It's the only way they can emote with a big, fake beard. I'm going to say reimagining. Yeah, that's what it looks like to me. In regards to Halloween kills, Rob Cheshire says, Brutal.

I think in a good way. in regards to Crean princess Yeah In regards to the screen princess post Danny Thompson says thank you for sharing No problem Belinda Nettles says thanks and congrats

And in regards to the dogs Jenny Spindler says How is it so far Listen to the last 31 review You mean Lance put out I talk about it there Yeah, that movie That movie's getting talked about a lot, man.

I see a lot of stuff online about that. And it's on Prime. Prime, is it correct? Yeah. Yeah, streaming on Prime. Huh. Everything's going to the dog. Yeah, I'm not going to check it out.

Yeah. All right, well, that's it for listener feedback. Our intro and new logos come from Steve from the Geeks. Be on the lookout for some more great stuff from him. And our original skull artwork comes from Natsulani. If you'd like to help us out, please consider becoming a Patreon. Patron. We'll let you pick the movies for a future show

at any amount. And for $5 or more a month, you also get to pick a commentary for a future bonus show. All right. On to the movies. We dive into end dreams. I don't know. And dreams and nightmares with end dreams and the black phone too. There you go. Dreaming our lives away. Yeah. We're going to start with End dreams.

from 1999. It's just an odd wording in dreams to like try to say it. Anyway. Yeah. Kind of awkward it seemed like, right? Yeah. Sort of got forgotten. A suburban housewife learns that she has a dream world connection to a serial

murderer and must stop him from killing again. Directors Neil Jordan, also known for the company of wolves and the crying game. interesting that's quite a yeah that's one extreme to the other there uh writers are neil jordan with berry wood and bruce robinson uh the minsel institution seems were filmed at northampton state hospital uh an actual asylum in northampton massachusetts which was abandoned at the time that's creepy yeah it looked like it certainly looked like it uh right and Of course, we have some Robert Downey Jr. stuff. That's what everybody really wants to know, right?

Yeah. I was wondering it the whole time. Yeah. Is this high Robert Downey or sober? Probably. Following his 1996 drug arrest, Robert Downey Jr. had been clean for most of 97, successfully completing the films,

two girls and a guy, the gingerbread man, and U.S. Marshals without issue that year. I forgot who was in that movie. however, when filming In Dreams during late 1997, he relapsed back in drugs throwing his career and personal life

into another period of turmoil. The relapse occurred in September 1997 roughly a month after filming began. Downey Jr. would eventually be arrested again in December 1997 the month that filming for In Dreams

wrapped. Then he became Tony Stark and made $50 million per picture. That's right. That's right. All right. Brian, what did you think about in dreams? First time watch for me. I've always heard about this movie. Just never got around watching it. And I was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked the performance of Annette Benning.

She really sold the fact of someone going through all the psychological stuff with her dreams and visions and psychic powers, whatever. you want to call it clairvoyant and she really sold me on the whole losing her daughter those scenes when they found her daughter in the water and she didn't even have to look she already knew those were good scenes

and I like the cat and mouse aspect of well this is 1999 so we're going to spoil it Robert Downey Jr. is the killer which I didn't really look into this movie so I kept hearing his voice and I was like that voice is familiar. And then when he popped up,

I was like, it's fucking Iron Man. He's the fucking killer. And I like the whole aspect of him able to communicate with her through her dreams. Yeah. But she's not taken at that at first. She's kind of thinking she's just losing her mind hearing voices. And this movie,

yeah, this movie was directed well, the cinematography I thought was, good, especially the dream stuff. Kind of out of this world type stuff. And I thought Robert Downey Jr., even though he had some problems filming it, I think he sold it to me as a serial killer. Well, he's supposed to be a psycho.

Yeah, might have helped. I would imagine the drugs didn't hurt. He went method. Yeah. Meth and method. I can't think of where I've seen. seen the guy that played her husband, he was kind of

a down point for me. I didn't like this character at all. Yeah. And because that whole scene just was like, yeah, I had dinner with the woman. I wanted to fuck her, but I didn't. So be happy. I was like, oh, no.

Dude, no. Yeah, kind of silly, wasn't it? Like, we're supposed to be supposed to be rooting for this guy? What's going on? Yeah. But I thought, I thought everybody did good, but it was really Annette Benning that really sold me throughout the movie. Because just, even her like appearance, the way it changed from the beginning, she's, you know, a happy mother, happy wife, happy-ish wife.

To mental patient near the end. And then the end really surprised me that she died. Mm-hmm. because I didn't think it was going to go to go that direction. Well, I was kind of thinking that. I was like, I mean, her husband and daughter just got murdered.

Just let her die. Yeah. Yeah, but I did like, even though she died and he lived and went to the mental institution, and he was basically like, oh, I can live with that. But then turns out she's just going to be fucking haunting him forever. I like that ending.

Cool twist. Yeah. So, yeah, good first time watch for me. All right. Lance, what do you think? Yeah, first time for me, too. I remember seeing the poster, like the curvature and all that. I don't know, I guess at the video store or whatever.

This was kind of like videos are, they were still in pretty strong, I guess, right? And was this 99? Yeah. And this came out? Yeah, it was a great year for film. You had, let's see, you had American Beauty, being John Malkovich, The Matrix, one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. 99 was a great year. Blair Witch?

Blair Witch, yes, sir. Blair Witch. The real Blair Witch, right? Yeah. Not the UFO retailing. Yeah, it was brutal. This is fucking brutal, man. I couldn't believe they went the places that they went.

And I was, I kind of think I was, I kept having that hope that she got the vision in time to save people. And, but she didn't. And that was just. Was there visions like of stuff that already happened most of the time? Yeah, and she could see it. And you're, and Brian, what you're saying, I think is true, right? That Downey Jr's character was kind of projecting that shit. Yeah.

But, yeah, she had the vision of her husband before it happened. Yeah. Yeah, but they didn't get there in time, right? They got there. Nobody believe it. Oh, yeah. That's frustrating. By the time that happened in the movie, I think that's when her vision, she started

seeing visions of stuff before it happened. Oh, yeah. In the beginning, it was stuff that already happened. Yeah, I think you're right. Just not quite soon enough, I guess. Yeah, it's, yeah, Downey Jr. was good. I had a feeling. He looked, I wonder if this part drove him to back to the drugs again.

again. Because if he was method acting this character, that's dangerous shit, man. If he's putting himself in a mind state of, I have to be dark, I have to go to a dark place to play this person who's a child killer. Oh yeah, killing young girls. Come on. It might have. It might have, you never know. Might have triggered him. Yeah, it's, it's a brutal movie. I fucking love the twist ending. Like, that's what sold me on this because I was kind of like, yeah, it's good. You know, like, like Brian,

said Benning's performance was pretty top-notch. But yeah, when they had that twist there at the end and, okay, just because one character's dead doesn't mean they're getting the worst end of the deal. I kind of like that, man. I kind of like that. I don't know if I've seen that

before in a movie. What did you think, Philip? Yeah, I think I like it. I mean, it's kind of a classic 90s thriller movie, you know? Yeah. Like, not really a who-done-it, but kind of, and they sort of follow the same model. It's the same, like, level of cheese, which it does, which it does have.

There's 90 cheese in this. Yeah. Well, and Annette Benning is a little much sometimes. A little overboard, huh? Yeah. But, uh, but all in all, I really liked it, man. I, I enjoyed it. It's, uh, right up my alley.

I like these things. Cool. All right. Scores. Brian, what do you think? I think it's a solid. and a half. I like Annette Benning's performance.

I like Robert Downey Jr. It kept me guessing because I didn't even bring up the fact that for a minute there, I thought it was the detective was involved on it because he would just happen to pop up places. Yeah. I'm like, why are you in the woods outside my house, dude? Yeah. Yeah, I didn't catch that red herring so much. Yeah, he was like, oh, your husband asked me to check up on you.

Yeah, come to the front door, asshole, not lurk around in the woods. Yeah. Fucking woods. Kind of creepy. But I think it's a solid 90s psychological thriller, and I'm going to give it a seven and a half. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Me too, Philip.

Yeah, seven and a half. It was, yeah, like I said, I just love that super original, very, very final 30 seconds of the movie where he thinks he's like, oh, I've gotten Scott free and I get to live. And then he's all of a sudden like, oh, shit, I'm going to be in hell. Yeah. Kind of cool. Yeah. You know what? I was going to go seven,

but I'll bump it up to seven and a half. I like it. Nice. Good stuff. Yeah. All right. So all recommended. A weird 90s movie that you've probably never seen.

Yep. I think I saw this at the time, but I don't know. It sort of mixes in with a lot of those 90 thrillers movies. I can see that. They're all kind of similar. I feel like the late 90s, mid to late 90s was big with psychological horror or murder mysteries.

Had a bunch of them. Ashley, was in like six of them. Matter of fact, that is... Six of them. That is the movie for tonight. Because me and my daughter, we were watching some YouTube video

and they were talking about double jeopardy. That's one. Oh, my God. She was like, what's double jeopardy? And I explained it to her. And she was like, is that a thing? And then she looked it out. She was like, that's a law.

I was like, yeah. And she was like, we must watch this movie. That's justice. That's justice. That's why OJ didn't go to jail. Glove Didn't fit, Philip Yeah, he must quit

All right Black phone 2 2025 As Finn now 17 struggles with his life After captivity His sister begins Receiving calls in her dreams

From the black phone And seeing a disturbing Seeing disturbing visions Of three boys Being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake Director and writer Is Scott Derrickson

also known for The Gorge and Dr. Strange. Oh, okay. Good stuff. Not the black phone or sinister. Well, that too. Those two. Okay. Same guy.

In one scene, Finn is watching a music video for the song, Subways of Your Mind by the band F-E-X. The song for years was famous for being the most mysterious song on the internet. As a recording of it circulated on the internet for years with no attributed artist. The search lasted several years only to be solved in late 2024. Hmm.

There you go. That's trivia. And I had a great Pink Floyd moment in there. Yes. All right. Brian, what did you think about Black Phone, too? Unfortunately, due to circumstances, I was not able to

get to the theater, so I have to pass on this one. That's usually my line. That's usually my line. But unlike Lance, I won't wait a couple months to watch it. All right. Lance, what did you think? Oh, I'm almost of two minds on this one.

So you guys know, famously, y'all know I didn't like the first one. I wasn't a fan. A lot of people were trying to. That's what I'm saying. Y'all tried to talk me down and convince me. But I was like, nope, I'm not going to change my opinion. Did not like the first one. So this one starts out

And you know, very first seen that the kid, he's 17 years old, kind of going way out of his way to project this tough guy image, right? Like smoking joints, fighting kids at school, you know, beating him up, blah, bye, you know. And I thought, man, this is... There you go, man. But I thought, Brian, we know. I thought it was just going to be paint by numbers, right? Like pick up where the last one left off.

And I didn't know how they were going to. have the gramer character, but I was kind of like, I don't know about this. Here we go again. I guess I'm in for two hours of the same shit. But then a funny thing happened. Like, they started showing these weird flashback scenes, and the music and the sounds and the bizarre way they mixed the sounds together just fucking pulled me in. This movie, for me, was an auditory treat. and Phillips already mentioned the Pink Floyd there was a huge scene with a Pink Floyd song which you don't see that in the movies

all the time the kids watch a night flight that version of that one it was awesome dude and it fit perfectly driving through the snow and all like Brian does all the time and it was yeah when he when he's watching night flight he's wearing a fucking mailbox he's wearing a fucking

Peter Gabriel t-shirt and you've got Pink Floyd. Now that alone, you guys know is going to pull me in. So I love the sound. I thought the visuals were gorgeous. I thought it was really well-found. I love the choice they made when they showed dream sequences. It was really cool. I had some, I don't want to get too much in spoilers, because I didn't know anything about where this thing was going to go. I don't want to spoil it, but we'll talk about that part later. Story not the best for me, kind of, you know, off the deep end, some things that are a little hard to believe.

Like, somebody figures out the name of something and ties it all together with three letters that are written on the ice. I'm like, really? I don't know about that. And then it's like way too convenient, right? Like Philip, like all the characters were so intertwined and blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day, I kind of enjoyed it.

I got to say, I kind of enjoyed it. It was a good movie-going experience. Yeah. It's... it's it's sort of felt like an old school like 80s 90s horror movie but like brought up to date because yeah like everybody who ended up in this spot like all had a relationship with each other which didn't make any sense but it sort of is you know it works for that kind of movie where they all come together and fight the the bad guy you know uh and there is some cheese um

A little more than I may have. There was a couple moments where I'm like, oh, yeah. What are we doing? I know. I know. It's inevitable. Yeah. But it sort of worked.

I thought Ethan Hawk did fantastic. Again, I think he's great as that character. I love it. I mean, I don't know where they go from here or if they try to keep going with this. There's a lot they could do. It's a cool character. Bigger opening than the first movie. Yeah.

I mean... Bigger opening than Mithrigan 2.0. Oh, okay. Thank goodness. I mean, the grabber is not the, you know, catchiest name for a horror movie batty. Right. I know his mask is super popular.

I've been seeing people post and wearing it. His mask is cool. That's what I'm saying. It's a cool character. Brian, I think they can go places with this. the ones you're seeing Brian are they like they have the two interlocking pieces

I've seen different versions of it I've seen people have the one solid mask and then the other one where it comes apart in different pieces yeah that's pretty cool I like it quick questions

yeah I know a lot of people have been saying this is a version of Freddie Kruger I didn't want to go there until spoilers I know I was trying to decide.

Well, it's been talked about a lot, so I don't think it's really spoilers. I mean, it is kind of in the trailer. Is this, I don't know I phrase the question. Is it good enough until we actually get a nightmare on Elm Street movie or? Yeah. Okay. It had very nightnare on Elm Street vibes. The whole thing did.

It's no Dream Warriors, but it tries to be. No, but it sure did scratch by. There was a scene that scratched my dream, Warriors itch. Yeah, for sure. And I, I, I liked that they did that. I think it, that's kind of what I was thinking. I was like, wow, it's not pretty good,

but it's close enough. Right. Cool. Okay. All right. Scores. Lance, what do you think? Strong seven.

Yeah. Yeah. I thought I was going to hate it. Hey, Michael, I just, I don't know if I'll rewatch it, but, I mean, the music, the sound. effects and the visuals pretty fucking good yeah yeah I think I think I'm gonna go seven and a half man I had a had a pretty good time it was a the story was a little convoluted at times but yeah but it did it it it accomplished what it set out to

accomplish okay not exactly the movie I expected but it's same here not not what I expect oh yeah good way to put it I didn't expect this at all I'm kind of glad I didn't know a whole lot going in. 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. What did you not expect? Dream Warriors. Yeah. Tell Brian about that scene, Philip. So she is like being attacked in her dreams, right? And so they have a couple of scenes where she's being attacked in her dreams. And like in the real world, she's like everybody's standing around her and she's getting like flipped around all upside down and shit, right?

So you got that thing going on. And it got a little silly for a minute. The cut on the arm, all the blood sprained. Yeah. Well, the spinning around. Yeah, I know. Circles was like, what? But then so in her dream, she realizes, oh, wait, this.

is my dream. I have power too. And she like fucking superhero slams the ground and explodes the phone booth. And then the ass kick and commences. It's pretty great. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. So Brian, the basic premise is that at the beginning of the, very beginning of the movie,

you see a little girl out. Like there's a phone booth. That's what I was referring to earlier. There's a phone booth like in the middle of this. All you see is this big frozen lake with snow and mountains all around and then a fucking phone booth. Like in the middle of nowhere and I'm like, this must be a dream. This is too surreal. But no, it wasn't because the camera angle didn't show you the cabins at the summer camp behind the phone booth. They just showed that.

So the little girl gets on there and you're like, who the fuck is she talking to? Come to find out later, it was her mom from the 1950s when she was a camp counselor there calling her on the phone. and she was answering it in real time, which would have been like what mid to late 80s, would you say on this? Yeah, I think this was set in 82. Okay, early 80s then. Gotcha.

Yeah, because they mentioned something about a few years ago is when the original event happened, and that was supposed to be like 78 or something. Yeah, and they kind of give you a timeline of his killing spree, right? Because I guess his first, when he first found out, was seven years before the setting of this movie. In this movie, what, three years after the other one. So he had a good four-year killing street going.

And if, spoilers, Brian, I'm sorry. No, if it's fine. Okay, you find out that her mom in that seven years ago discovered what he was doing, left the house on her own to go investigate. And everybody thinks she committed suicide by hanging herself. I think you can figure out what happened. Yeah. When she followed the grab her and got in the van.

fucking dudes after this whole family, man. Yeah. Yeah, it's too comfortable, right? Same kid's mom. Yeah, and then the camp counselor, Philip, he's tied into all of it, right? Yeah. Her boyfriend, her boyfriend's dad is the can counselor.

Is that what it is? Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Yep. And he's been there and knew him as Wild Bill, so they go into like a backstory of how he was, he used to work at the camp.

So it's kind of like Freddy's back. story. So he's going after the kids of Elm Street. Yeah. Yeah, and a little, a little Jason-esque, maybe with the lake and, I don't know, the camp. Maybe I'm stretching it, but. I thought, I thought the skating thing was going to be goofy. I was like, what? Yeah. It worked. I guess that's where he used to teach the kids to play hockey because he was an incredible skater. And so, like, He would fly by and attack people with an axe on skates while he was in the dream world, but it was like hurting them in real life. It's kind of interesting. And there, Brian, there wasn't really much of a kill count except for like the three boys.

And they don't show it in great detail, but they show you kind of just enough. But there's some dream sequences with like pretty brutal, gory deaths in them. Like that face and the glass pane, Philip sliding in half. Yeah. And that was pretty cool. It was well done. And they pull his mask off of him at the end and he freaks the fuck out, right? And his face is kind of crazy looking.

It's pretty great. Kind of cool. I think he did that in the first movie when they took his mask off. Yeah, I think he did. I didn't rewatch the first one. I should have. I wanted to after this. I thought about that too.

Yeah, the movie was just starting. I was like, God damn it, I kind of wish I'd rewatch the first one. Yeah. But, yeah, kind of. convenient on the plot lines. Philip, Philip said there's healthy, healthy doses of cheese.

Yeah. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's a delight for the senses. I mean, if you can see it on the big screen with like a really good sound system, you should do it. Because the sounds that they were doing

is like levels above nine inch nails for me, right? Like it, it was kind of music, but then it was kind of like smile was, Brian, remember, like where they had those weird noises in the background. Yeah, bizarre, but it all fit.

And then the closing score was really good because it was all happy, you know, and yeah, it was kind of cool, man. It was a sensory treat, I'll say. So the director obviously has a shitload of talent. I just don't know if it was the best story, like it was too much for stretch, maybe. For sure.

But I like what the, they did. I don't know where they're going to go from here because they kind of wrapped it up. Unless she's going to be a supermod of the lake, even though he was already dead. But, you know, I guess they froze his ghost. Yeah, and the deal

about if they bring the kids out of the water, he loses his power. I didn't totally understand that. I get the concept of like giving people a Christian burial so their souls can be at peace, but I didn't totally understand that part. Philip, did you get

better than I did? No, yeah. It was well, and which is how they could bring him back, you know, because I mean, he's just frozen under the lake. He's already dead and he came back, so I guess this is okay. Why not? They found a franchise. Yeah, why not? But I like Ethan Hawke as his character. I think he can totally

continue to do it. Yeah, that's crazy that he doesn't even watch horror movies. He says he can't even watch him. They're too scary. That's weird. It's a weird thing for a grown man to say. Oh, yeah, I have heard. I have heard you say that he said that before, Brian. It is.

Yeah, I've seen an interview. It was him and his daughter. They were talking about, you know, movies that they like and movies they watch together. And then, you know, her being in stranger things and him being on the black phone, they asked him about horror movies. And he was like, I don't watch him. Too scary. that's fine.

Not everybody's bag. True. But he's good in it. And I think he's a killer villain. I like it. So let's keep going. All right. Is that a wrap?

I think so. All right. So Brian and I are going to be bringing you guys another 31 days. We're going to report tomorrow night. So we'll get our next installment there. What else is going on with the podcast, Brian? busy helping Nez with 31 days

so all our other side podcasts will probably pick up again in November but we do have another episode of frightful reflections won't tell you what it is

you guys just to wait so it should be out probably by the time you hear this night swim no if Dane Dahan had been a night swim? Can you imagine it? Oh boy. I don't even think a 10 would even qualify.

All right. On that note, as always, we want to thank you guys for listening to another episode of the Hore Returns. Leave us a review. Check us out. Tell your friends about us. One of the few things left in life that's free. So check us out every week. You can reach us at the Hore Returns. returns at gmail.com find us at thehorreturns.com we got that for at least five more years yes and follow all of our social media links from there as well as here the latest episode of the show between me and philip somehow we'll get you two back in line next next week we got more found footage no no no no not more found footage we haven't done a found footage show in a while have we no i don't think so can't take it on top of my head All right, well, we're going to do it next week with Neeroy the curse. I don't know where that is. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it, but we'll go. Neraal.

All right, and Shelby Oaks. So, Brian, until the horror returns again. Good night.