The Horror Returns - THR - Ep. #519: You Are Not My Mother (2021) & Hokum (2026)

Episode Date: May 9, 2026

It's Irish folklore week! Cool of the week includes Widow's Bay and Luc Besson's Dracula. Trailers are Evil Dead Burn and Pitfall. The podcast spotlight shines on The Horrorcraft podcast. And we get feedback from Fernando Gales Yufera, Oscar de Alfonso, Raymond Torres, Peter Diepenthal, Marisa Hammerton, Pat Caruso, Annie Wilkes, and Dave Duncan. Thanks for listening!     

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, everybody, to The Horror Returns.

I'm Lance, and with me as always, we got Brian, the man, in the house with us. What's up, brother? What's up, man? Philip, Philip, he should be, back next week, man. He's getting stuff wrapped up. Nez wanted to join us last night, but

unfortunately we had a recording snafoo, so it's all good. Yeah, my fault, my fault. Come on, man. You know how things are at the Horror Return Studio, right? You never know who's going to pop in and when. We make sure everybody's got the code to get into the room,

so you never know. So this is our week, Brian, of Irish folk horror, I guess, right? Haven't we done, we've done some Irish folk horror weeks before, haven't we? I think a couple of times. I think so, man. It's a pretty big genre. And I'm a big fan of folk horror in general, so should be a fun week.

Were you looking forward to this one, Brian Hockham? A little bit, but we'll get to that later. You and I both talked about oddity, last year, didn't we? Yeah, we did. Okay, all right. So I guess we'll jump in, man. What's your cool of the week? I only have one thing, and it's, I watched the first episode of Apple TV's Widows Bay. I started watching it. What do you think? It's not grabbing me right away. Uh-oh, it didn't grab me either. But I only watched the first episode, so I don't know if it's, it gets better.

It's not bad, but it gives me the mist, the fog. A little bit of comedy in there. And right now the comedy is not working for me. Uh-oh. Well, at least you don't have to suffer through Kiki Palmer. I don't think she's in it. Oh, God, no. So it's kind of like a small New England town, I guess.

soon? Yeah, basically there's strange occurrences going on. A lot of the townspeople thinks it's like supernatural, but there's one guy that's trying to bring tourists and stuff. Okay. Basically like the guy from Jaws. He's trying to bring in tourists of the town, because I guess it's a dying town. Uh-huh. And they can be the next whatever. He says they can be. and along the first episode, he realizes that it might be some supernatural occurrences, but he's not letting that out right away because he's, you know, trying to save the town's financial status. That sounds familiar. Yeah, I got that from the trailer, Brian.

I thought, is this a remake of Jaws? Because the guy said, I'm the new mayor and the beach has to stay open or something like that? Yeah, something like that. Okay, all right. But he's quickly realizing throughout the first episode that maybe some of the locals are correct and what's going on. Hmm.

It might have potential. Yeah. Yeah, I was planning to check it out, but I'll wait, I'll wait reserved judgment until you, until you guinea pig a couple episodes for us, I think. Yeah, I think there's three episodes out right now. now, so I'll definitely watch the next two and decide if I'm going to stick with it or not. All right.

What else you got, man? Is that it? That's it. Is that literally it? So that is the cool of the week then? It has to be. Widows Bay. Okay.

All right. I'll write it down. I binge watched a series yesterday. It was a quick watch. They went by really fast, but I'm trying to stay caught. up with MCU stuff, so I finally got around to checking out Wonder Man. How'd you like it? I was pleasantly surprised, man.

It was very, like you said, it was super meta, like super aware of itself, but I was really surprised by, of course, there's obviously a lot of comedy in it, as you could imagine. But some of the people who show up, Joey Pants, shows up, he's got kind of a major role. Josh Gadd. He's kind of like uses this one character's powers to rob banks and stuff like that. It's kind of like almost an evil

Josh Gagad. And he's like singing Olaf songs from Frozen in a bar doing karaoke and everybody's throwing dollar bills. Josh Gad like, he likes to make fun of himself a lot of notice. So this was a good role. I liked it, man. I dug it.

And of course, it was good seeing Sir, Sir Ben Kingsley. Yeah, I need to catch up on it, and I need to catch up on Daredevil, because that just ended. I'm ready. Yeah, that's what I was actually trying to do, was clear this one from my plate, because I like to watch them in order, so I'll... Yeah, we got a Punisher coming Tuesday.

Already. A little one shot that they made. Okay. I'm all in, man. I'm totally about it, man. Yeah, and I hear you. you got to watch you got to watch

Daredevil season two, then you got to watch the Punisher, and then you got to watch the new Spider-Man in that order. I like it. Okay, I like it. Thanks for the heads up on that, because that's definitely what I'll do. I've caught up

on the new season of For All Mankind. We talked about that one before, but my cool of the week, Brian, I never thought I would say this. You've seen it. And that would be Luke Besson's Dracula. Or I like to call it Dracula dead and loving it.

You remember that one? Yeah, with Leslie Nelson. Yeah. This one had quite a bit of comedy in it, which I dug. I did not think there was going to be a musical number in the middle, Brian, but damned if there wasn't. You get a musical number, you get a love story, you get a little bit of comedy. I really enjoyed it, man. I really enjoyed it.

I strangely enough enjoyed it too because it's not what I expected Oh not at all Not at all and you could tell he spent a lot of money on costumes And set design Because like that musical number He like It's kind of hard to describe

But the character They kind of like move back and forth Between like five different huge set designs With different costumes and time periods and everything So I think he goes to like The French court the English court, the Dutch court, the Spanish court, and one more.

I can't remember what it was. Probably Italy, wouldn't you imagine? Yeah, I think so. So, yeah, that was a fun movie, man. I loved it. It didn't take itself too seriously. That's what I liked. Have you seen this?

You're caught up on the bear, right? Oh, totally caught up on the bear, yeah. Have you seen this special episode they dropped? No. It's called Gary. Gary? It's about John Bernthal's character and cousin.

It's like a prequel episode. It's a standalone? Yeah, it's like an hour-long prequel episode. It's called Gary. Where can I see it? Is it Apple TV or... I think it's Hulu. FX.

Hulu. So it's up now? I think so. I am going to go check this out, man. It's like... I haven't... watch it yet, but it's supposed to be like about, what was his name, Mikey? Okay,

yeah, sounds about right. And cousin doing like a work road trip to Gary Indiana. Ah, that's where Gary comes in. Okay. All right, let me see if I can find this. So I guess I'm not caught up on the bear then to answer your question. It just dropped like this

week. Okay. I am going to have to check this out then, man. All right. I made a note. Thanks for the heads up. No problem. All right.

So we got Widows Bay and Dracula. Brian, do we have any horror headlines this week? Yes, we do. Just announced today. Terror Fire 4 will be set during New Year's Eve. Okay. That, I guess, right? Would make sense?

Yeah. They're going through all. They're just like leprechaun. They're going through all the holidays. days. Is he going to be in space in this one? Funny enough, he's Damien Leon. Uh-huh. No space, no Easter bunnies, no, none of that.

Okay. So they're not going to go there. No. All right. New Year's Eve. Well, why not? Fuck it. Fireworks going off and everything else, right? He could probably get away with a lot of shit with all the shenanigans on New Year's Eve. Let's see. A Quiet Place, Part 3 begins filming early next week. Which one's that? Quiet Place?

We have Part 3 with John Krasinski back in the director's chair for this one. Back in the director's chair. I guess he didn't direct the last one then, huh? What was the last one? Well, I mean, that's hard to say, right? Because there was part two, but, oh, day one. Right? The Quiet Place day one. I know he didn't do day one.

Okay. That's right. That's right. All right. Yeah, I'm ready for them. I assume that this one's going to wrap up the main storyline with the family. I would guess. I'm all for it, ma'am. Depends on how much money it makes. If it makes a ton of money, it just can keep going.

Probably. What kind of makes you wonder what they're going to do? I bring this up every week. What's up with Fast and Furious, dude? did they really just like kill them off on an airplane and that that's it? They're still filming. Are they? Okay.

I think they went through rewrites. That's what's taken so long. Ah, okay. Because they're trying to, I think, truly finish it with the next one. So maybe some characters have, have, or some of the actors have beef, you think, or something like that. Doesn't that tend to happen a lot on this? A lot of alpha males. a lot of beef.

Yeah, because I heard the Rock's not, even though he was in the end credit the last movie, he would not be in the next movie. Of course. I don't know, man. Well, I don't know. It feels like Quite Place 2 was a long time ago.

So, you know, I hope these kids aren't too old now that it's unbelievable, you know? Yeah, let's see. Curry Barker teases his brutal new take on the Texas championship. on massacre focusing on a twisted family with some really messed up stuff happening on that farm.

So it's going to be focused more on the family members. All right. Not just leather face in particular. Well, that's cool. That's cool. Yeah, it's, I don't know. I mean, I'm looking forward to obsession. That's for sure.

Yeah, that's getting a lot of good feedback and reviews lately. Seems like they have a lot of faith in this guy. you know, to let him do a feature-length film and then also let him take over the next chainsaw movie. That's some big shoes to fill. Yes, it is. More Dexter Resurrection casting news for season two. Kane Hodder joins the cast.

Now, where is he going to fit the timeline? Sounds like they're loading up on potential burial killers. I guess. Well, did you watch the last season, Brian? I'm not even caught up on the original season. Oh, then I can't say anything. You'll get it. That definitely tracks, okay?

If it's kind of going to springboard off what they did in the last season, which it would only stand the reason that it would. Then, yeah, there would be a, I guess, for one of a better word, a serial killers club. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And Peter Dinklage was sort of the mastermind. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it, man.

Yeah, some of the later Dexter seasons, after they got through the one with John Lithgow, in my opinion, the next couple just kind of went downhill. But this might have been the best Dexter season ever for my money. I might have even liked it better than the Lithgow season. I'm not even at the Lithgow season. I just finished up with the brother. Okay. Which was what, season two?

Yeah, could be. You've got, who's the character that's always popping up and saying, surprise, motherfucker? Oh, the other cop, the other detective? Yeah, he was one of my favorites. I don't know if you've gotten to the part yet. Is he starting to get a little bit suspicious of Dexter yet? Yeah. We're there.

Okay. Okay. All right. Because I think in one of the final episodes of the season, he just straight up told Dexter, I'm on to you, motherfucker. What's the same, docks? Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, you got a ways to go then, man. Okay. Let's see.

Long Lakes 2 is officially coming January 14, 2028. Nice. And I said, even though it is called Long Lakes 2, as of right now, it is not a direct sequel. It just takes place in the universe, and Nicholas Cage will be appearing in the movie. Well, I think we all enjoyed the first one, if I remember correctly. I definitely did. Okay, all right. Let's see.

What else do we have? I think there was one more thing that I wanted to talk about. Did it involve Irish folk horror? No. Did it be... Okay. Here it is. Original Blair Witch star Michael C. Williams says the new Blair Witch Project installment is not a remake.

Okay. He teases the film, will expand the mythology instead of promising the witch is back. And the franchise returns with original creators. So a lot of the people that were in the movie and helped make the movie are part of the creative team. I did hear about that, and I've got a lot of faith in this one. I really do. I think this is going to be a fun watch. Do you know if it's going to be a found footage format?

They haven't said, and I was a little down on this one. I thought this was just Blumhouse cashing in on another franchise, but now that they said it is not a remake, it's going to be its own story, and a lot of the original actors and directors and writers are on board, part of the creative team. I'm a little bit higher on this one.

Yeah, I'm kind of excited. I don't know, man. It feels like it's the right time for a new Blair Witch franchise or, you know, It just feels right for some reason. Maybe that's just me. I don't know. Yeah, I get you.

That's the news. All right. So that's the news. And now Brian is going to take us on a little trip down to the trail. Brian is going to bring us the big, the small, and sometimes the very, very weird. What's our first new trailer tonight, Brian? The new survival horror slasher film, Pitfall. Pitfall.

Okay. This is directed by James Condelt and stars Marshall Williams, Richard Harmon, and Alexandria Esso. That name sounds familiar. Yes, very familiar.

Wasn't she in Dr. Sleep? Or I think it was someone else. Yeah, she played what's her name in the flashback. Yes. Yes, she did. I can't think of it either. I want to call her olive oil from the Popeye movie. How about that? Wendy Torrance. That's... There you go. That's not the actress's name. Shelly DeVall.

Yes. Yes. She's a good actress. She was in Starry Eyes. I think that was like her first breakout role. So she's been in a few things. In Midnight Mass. Yep, that's right. That's right. And I did recognize. as the guy from Final Destination Bloodlines. I did too. I did too.

I like that guy, man. He's, uh, I don't know, something about him. He's kind of like, he's kind of like the perfect combination between someone you root for and someone that kind of looks like he might be a scumbag if you give him a chance. Yeah, and he is really into the horror genre. Okay. I've seen interviews like he's a big fan of it, so it kind of works with him being in these movies.

He feels like one of us, doesn't he? Yeah. Let's see, his synopsis. After a young man gets separated from his friends while in the woods, he falls into a 10-foot deep pit of spikes, impaling him through the leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that this fall was not an accident. Okay.

So what did you think of pitfall? You're going to think I'm crazy. But I don't know why I got this. this feel when I first started watching the trailer. But like it showed the big round hole, the pitfall, right? But you can really see what was at the bottom. Brian, for a minute, I honestly thought that it was going to be a movie version of that cheesy old Atari game pitfall.

You remember that? The one, I think it was Activision that made those. They were kind of like the off-brand of Atari games. I do remember. Yeah. And I thought, is this guy going to, you know, get a whip to go across the branches of trees and go across the pitfall. Are there going to be alligators coming out?

So that's where my mind went. I just kind of assumed it was a film version of that, but I got Apex vibes a little bit. Yeah. Right? You did too, didn't you? Yeah, but I think there's going to be some brutal, gory kills in this one. I love these anime movies, man. Like Apex, I was, I think I said when we watched the trailer, you know, that it was a genre that I always liked to watch.

So, like, the first weekend, I think A.J. and I watched that either the day or the second day that Netflix put it up. So I'm sure this will be the same. Is this one going to be streaming or theatrical? Trying to pull that out right now. Pitfall. That cannot be the release date. It must be a festival or at least a May 29th in limited theaters. Ah, okay. So I don't know, man.

That means it won't be here in Melbourne, Florida. I'll have to walk 45 minutes to get to it at Disney Springs. But we're going to Disney Springs Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday, anyway. For Mother's Day, I'm taking AJ out to eat at the Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney Hollywood Studios. and then we're going to get a swing by Disney Springs and hang out there for a little bit. So who knows, man, maybe we'll go see a Mother's Day movie, but I don't think this one will be out by then, will it?

I don't think so. All right. I like it. I'm into it. Yeah, me too. And on to our second and final trailer. It is the official red band trailer for Evil Dead Burn. I am not going to try to ponder.

announced the director or most of the cast names. Okay. But we talked about the teaser a little while ago. No, you weren't on that episode. Nes was on that episode. Yeah, I definitely listened to you guys talking about it. Now, with this one, full disclosure, Brian, I tried to open the link and it said I had to log in,

to YouTube or whatever to prove I was old enough to watch it and had an account. And like, I forgot my login. And then I got stuck doing another shift. So I haven't seen this one. So what do you think? I'm into it because it looks like the trailer starts at a funeral for somebody. And it goes along line with the rumors that that's why they purposely read from the book,

possibly to bring this dead relative back. Ah, okay, now that makes sense. That makes sense. I get it. And there is a lot of gore at this trailer, as you would expect from a red band trailer. There is somebody with a headrest seat part, you know, the top part that extends up.

Uh-huh. Impaled in somebody's face. But no cheese grater scene? No cheese grater. Somebody falls on an open, dishwasher with the bottom drawer pulled out with knives sticking up. Oh, I've always worried about that happening to me. You can imagine.

One of the Deadites takes a shot of hot candle wax. Okay. It definitely looks like it's following along lines of Evil Dead Rise. And this is not the same director of Evil Dead Rise, right? Sebastian Venisic He did that infested movie The French Spider movie

Oh the French Spider movie Yes And I liked that movie But I didn't love it So I'll reserve judgment But dude it's

It's evil dead Oh by the way You got a minute To go off topic Just a little bit Yeah Speaking of the show You and Nez did

And y'all's talk about The new mummy movie? So you guys were saying that it was kind of like unofficially. You've heard rumors that there's like Easter eggs and that it's basically part of the Evil Dead universe, right?

Yes. Okay, I could be wrong and I got to go back and rewatch the original Evil Dead because I probably haven't seen it in 20 years. But weren't they playing like a reel-to-reel tape of, you know, like the double-sided real-to-reel tape of some dude

talking, saying that he discovered something like in ancient Egypt or in a casket or in a tomb? I think so. I think that's where the connection was. So doesn't that make perfect sense then that this is literally the evil dead universe? I mean, they should have tied it even more tightly, I think, maybe even like with an after-credit scene or something. Yeah, and you haven't seen the mummy yet, have you? No, but I want to. You guys sold me on it. I definitely am. It's on the list. The way it's shot in the style of it is very evil dead, which the director did Evil Dead rise.

That's right. That's right. Yeah, dude, I'm confident that that's in the same universe, man. I'm positive that the doctor from the beginning of Evil Dead was involved in this, these shenanigans going on in Egypt or whatever. I'm pretty sure. I think he said somebody in the mummy shares a last name with some. somebody from the original movie. Okay.

Yeah, I can't wait, man. It's not up where I can rent it yet or purchase it or whatever. But believe you may, I will, man. You guys got me pretty excited about the mummy, especially the grandmother, the way Nez was describing her. Yeah. I honestly couldn't tell if I was supposed to be rude for or not. Well, that's the mark of a good character, right?

Yeah But yeah I'm all in on the evil dead burn They're continuing with the mythology There was a shot in the trailer It looks like it's connecting With the evil dead rise Okay

From the opening scene of that movie With the girl on the dock by the water Sure sure There's a scene It looks like that girl Standing on the dock again So I don't know if this is where That movie picks up

That would make sense Yeah, because they do seem to be pretty good with, you know, kind of keeping it all in universe. So how did the mummy do in the box office, by the way? Do you know? I think it did decent. It didn't do. Okay. It didn't break the bank. Yeah, I'm just saying I wouldn't be too surprised if it did well if they do like a, you know, a sequel to it and they tie it like more directly to the deadites, you know? Yeah.

And then another thing about this trailer. the house that they're in, apparently the rumor is it's the house from Ash versus Evil Dead that... Okay. What's her name? Zena. Zena Warrior Princess. Yeah, her character...

Lucy Lawless. Yeah, that house she had in the show. Mm-hmm. Or saying that this is that house. Well, it makes perfect sense, man. Hopefully, God, wouldn't it be awesome if she showed up in the movie? Yeah.

Or any of the characters. Yeah, I'd love to see all the ash versus the evil dead character show up again, man. I really thought they had great chemistry. It was a crime that that show didn't last longer. That show could have had a good three or four more seasons, easy. Yeah, we were going to get into the future on that finale. Man, maybe one day, Brian, maybe one day. Yeah.

All right, Evil Dead Burn hits theaters. It got moved up a couple weeks. It was July 24th. It is now July 10th. Well, that's good. Less time to wait for it. Yeah, and that was the final trailer. All right.

So I guess that means it's time for listener feedback. This week, the podcast spotlight shines on the Horror Craft podcast. The HorrorCraft podcast is a horror-focused podcast, hosted by Cassandra, Kiley, and previously featuring Zane. What happened to Zane, I wonder? Got to listen and find out. All right, maybe Zane went off to film the new Mummy movie, which caters to both longtime fans and newcomers.

The show explores deep dives into the horror genre, features special guests and includes the spooky mom's coven. I can only imagine. All right, regarding Hellbound Hellraiser 2, Fernando, let's see, Fernando Galles, Yufera says, Magnifica. I think that explains, that pretty much hits the nail right on the head. Yeah, I like the second one better than the first one. Yeah, oh yeah, you're going to love this one, man.

Oscar de Alfonso says, greetings from the light. Forward ever backwards. never messaged me privately if you're interested joining the Illuminati Brotherhood organization. It's for real for those who believe. Have you reached out to him yet, Brian?

No, I think I'll pass. Yeah, I think I'm going to, man. Yeah, I've always wanted to know more about the Illuminati. So I think I'm in, man. So I'll reach out to Oskara and let you know how it went. Or if I come out missing next week, maybe you'll know why. Okay, we'll come looking for Oscar. Okay.

Let's see. Raymond Torres says, huh? Chatter doesn't have eyes? I guess that is the picture of chatterer. Was this just a test run to see what it would look like or something? I don't know. Do you, Brian?

I'm not sure if this is regarding a poster or behind-scenes pick. Okay. Well, not sure. I haven't seen Hail Razor 2 in a while, so maybe it's due for a rewatch. Peter Dispenthal says, my mummy said I was handsome, and Marissa Hammerton says chatter. So there you go. People love, I guess people love Hellraiser 2. Sounds like it.

Regarding the Raven, our bud Pat Caruso says, couldn't get through the Raven board as heck. he may be become an alcoholic like his role I reply to don't forget the opium usage Edgar Allan Poe had a few had a few habits for sure

yes he did all right regarding a horror meme about waking up in your 30s Annie Wilkes says is that the one from Annie Wilkes is that who I think it is is that from a misery

Misery, right? Thought she passed. I don't know. Apparently, she's in her 40s because she says, oh, no, then what about 40s? I'm now in that age group, L.O.L. So who knows? It's a relative.

Okay. A couple more from our buddy, Pat. He said, Obsession. I honestly can't wait for this movie. I think Pat Russo wants to do a commentary with his brain. Yeah, we got to figure those out. because we still got to do the maniac cop with uh oh we do we do have a maniac cop was it norelden okay thank god you remembered i'm terrible it remembered yeah i got them all on the

schedule i just we got so many movies we need to cover coming out especially this month it was yeah very big month in horror may was okay um well maybe maybe maybe Maybe Friday the 13th Part 2 is the one Pat wants to pick because he says, name the date and time, brothers. So there you go. And regarding the poster for Nope, Dave Duncan says dope. I guess he digs it. All right, our show intro and all of our new logos come from Steve Carlton from the geeks.

And be on the lookout for more great stuff from Steve. A lot of it's there now. Our original skull artwork comes from Natsilani. If you would like to help the show, please consider becoming a Patreon patron. We will let you pick the movies for a future show at any amount, and for $5 a more a month, also pick a commentary for a future bonus show,

maybe two commentaries, if we remember. Featured attractions. It's now time for our main attractions, and as we're going back to Ireland again for a couple of movies. So we'll start with, 2021's, you are not my mother. In a North Dublin housing estate, Char's mother goes missing. Boy, she almost really got charred, didn't she?

Yeah. That opening scene, I was like, what are you getting into? Right. When she returns, Char is determined to uncover the truth of her disappearance, and unearth, I'm trying to do my Irish accent, on earth the dark secrets of her family director and writer was Kate Dolan

also known for the allegedly upcoming would they think we've been talking about this one for three or four years the Megan spin-off soulmate Dunfound just doesn't have distribution which is weird I hope they don't pull a

bat woman with it or whatever that was the one that they made and never uh well they could pull the acme versus coyote and just have another studio buy it you never know right yeah all right the missing item on angela's prescription is lithium lithium is frequently used to treat mania that is part of a bipolar disorder manic depressive illness it is also used on a daily basis um to reduce the frequency and severity of man panic episodes. The more you know. That's right.

That's right. So, all right. So you are not my mother. Brian, what did you think? I liked this one. Did you? I didn't think I was at first. It started off really slow.

Yeah? But gradually, as the movie went along, it ramped up. And then it kind of answered a few questions because I was trying to figure out where we were going at the story. And forgive me if I'm wrong. this has to do with changelings. Changelings or the fairy folk? Yeah. Wasn't there some movie?

This started reminding me of another movie I thought we saw where they, would they like kidnap the fairies would kidnap the children if they were left alone or something like that, and then they'd come back different. I think we did a couple movies like that. I think we've done a few. This storyline felt super familiar. Yeah. I guess it's a popular myth in Ireland,

but I thought the acting was pretty solid. Yeah? I was kind of feeling for this girl who's, you know, kind of a loner getting bullied. Oh, yeah. She had it bad. People seemed to know about her family. But I did like the one girl that came around,

the one that was kind of bullying her and then kind of came around and became her friend. I thought that was a nice touch right there. Yeah, good good. character. I thought the mom did an excellent job of portraying this person with manic episodes. And then as the movie's going wrong, you're just like, okay, maybe it's not manic episodes. Maybe this is not her mother. And then the reveal was pretty cool of her being a changeling or a fairy or whatever the case was. that they came to take

Shar when she was a baby and now they're back for her. Yep, yep. Yeah, it was, yeah, it's a... I agree, man. I think this is like a really, really big part of, you know, Irish folklore. So we probably do see this story,

you know, kind of pop up in different incarnations. One thing that that horror movies are able to do really, really well. And I guess sci-fi, too, if you think about it. Science fiction tends to do more, in my opinion, sci-fi tends to take a more like, you know, political and like social struggles and things like that and put it into a context where they can kind of get away with it. You know, like the original Star Trek did that a lot.

Like they, you know, tackled racism. Several episodes, they tackle racism. They obviously. had a lot to say about social inequities, income inequalities, a lot of that type of stuff. But they would do it in such a way that they could kind of get away with it

because they weren't directly saying it, right? Like, you know, these are people and this is our actual society. They put it in a sci-fi. But horror is really good. Like, take the Babaduke, for example. And I think this is another case of that. it's good about, you know, taking like a, I don't know, like a mental issue or a traumatic or psychological issue.

And, you know, adding a supernatural element to it. But really, they were kind of telling the story of a manic depressive, right? So I thought that was very clever the way that they did that. Now, this, to me, to me, the movie was a little bit boring. and I definitely do tend to like slow burn movies

but to me this one burned a little too slowly I don't know I just kind of felt like a really really long hour and a half movie

yeah because it doesn't really build up until like 45 minutes into the movie yeah yeah I think so

I agree I agree with you that they had some really good character arcs you know particularly the one that ended up

becoming her friend boy that one girl what kind of school did they go to? That's what I was thinking, man, that they can get away with that kind of shit, dude. The one girl was literally about to burn her alive. Yeah, I'm kind of, I was kind of assuming, Brian, that maybe it was a Catholic school. I think there's a lot of Catholic. I don't know if it, it seemed like maybe it was a public school in Dublin, but I don't know, man, maybe we should look into how the Irish school system works, because they all seem to be kind of like

tied to the church somehow, you know? Yeah, because they were super big in the Halloween. Oh, they were or weren't they? Especially that field trip. You know what? I'm always a sucker for movies set around Halloween. It's obviously our favorite time of the year. So, you know, there was that too. I had a score ready for this movie because I was kind of bored with it.

But I think you've talked to me up a little bit, you know? Yeah. What did you think about? So what was the male character? Was that her stepfather, brother? Uncle. Uncle. Okay.

It was her mom's brother. Mom's brother. And then you had the granny there. Yeah, which I wish they would have got more into her backstory because she seemed to know how to fight off these supernatural elements with the things she was making, a little protection. I don't know what it was, a little protection thing she made. She knew some shit. Yeah, well, then that came full circle at the end, right? because the girl, she kind of passed that down to her

because at the end she was, you know, putting together something to protect them also. So kind of brought it around full circle, you know? Yeah. All right. Is that enough on that one or any other points you wanted? Not a lot happened in this movie. It's pretty straightforward.

Yeah, it's more of kind of like just a character piece, wasn't it? Yeah. So my score, I would have to give it, I was entertained enough. I liked the acting. I liked the whole changeling slash fairy angle to it. Maybe I'm a sucker for those kind of movies because I like the other ones we did. So I'm going to give it a seven.

That's solid. That's solid. Yeah, I was, I hate to say it, man. I was really bored with it. I was really bored. And yeah, like you said, it really didn't even pick up until the third act, which, like, if that feels earned, I'm really cool with it, but it did for some reason just didn't quite feel earned to me. Like they were, I don't know, maybe spending a little too much time on the bullying and stuff like that.

But I'll give it a four. That doesn't sound good, but I mean, it's close to, you know, right on the fence. So didn't love this one, Brian, but I do understand your points. And it was certainly, you know, kind of clever with the way they set it up like that. All right, moving on. Let's see. What do we have next? Hocum, 26. A horror writer visits an...

Was he a horror writer, though? His little conquistador story, I don't know if it was horror or not. I don't know. I was a little confused at the story. It was super confusing, man. I don't know. Did you recognize that it was Dwight from the Walking Dead? Is that who that was?

Okay. All right. I guess that makes sense. And recognizing him, he didn't have his burn scars on his face. Right, right. Oh, okay, now I can see him. Now I get it. All right, so let's just say a conquistador writer visits an Irish inn

to scatter his parents' ashes unaware of the property is said to be haunted by a witch. Director, writer Damien McCarthy, also known for oddity. Let's say, now this one's a little more interesting. Adam Scott spent nearly three weeks filming all alone in a single room a process he described as emotionally demanding but important for conveying the character's isolation. Brian, we definitely got the asshole

Adam Scott here, like in Stepbrothers, didn't we? Oh, definitely, immediately. Not immediately when we're introduced to him, but as soon as he's around any kind of person. Right. super dismissive super asshole and I guess you could say

there's a reason for that based on his history but there's no excuse to act that way come on yeah but it was good to see the the dick Adam Scott back again man

when he got when he got punched in the tree house and stepbrothers is like my favorite scene in the movie well either that or putting the balls on the drum kit it's a toss-up What did you think about this one?

I enjoyed it enough, but I have to say this once again, people are hyping these movies up to being the most scariest movie of the year. Okay. And it's kind of ruining it for me because I'm coming into these movies thinking it's going to be on a certain level. And not that this one didn't quite live up to it, but it's not the scariest thing. I've seen this year. Okay. It definitely is well acted.

Right. Definitely builds on the atmosphere. That it does. I don't know. It just kind of, it fell a little flat. I think I, I think I was anticipating this movie a little too much. And it just fell a little flat for me. Okay.

I could see that. Yeah, I kind of, I don't know. Yeah, when I was, watching it. I was nonplussed a little bit. Like I was kind of expecting more. See, I did, I think we saw one trailer for it, but I did go out of my way to avoid reading anything about it. I went way out of my way not to read any reviews. I made sure not to see any more of the trailers because I did want to kind of going blind. So I hadn't heard a lot of that hype. I definitely, definitely loved oddity. I don't think this one's at that level.

it definitely has a lot of the same themes, man. It even has some of the same set designs, I think, like the bells, you know, that you ring from the different rooms and stuff like that. Yeah, have you seen his other film caveat? I have not. Check that one out. I get a little bit of that one and this one, too.

Does that one take place at a hotel? Takes place at a house, kind of run-down house. Is it kind of haunted? Yeah. Yeah, so there's, yeah, there's some themes that he seems to use. I've kind of got an overlook hotel vibe here a little bit. Yeah, I got that, and I also got a little bit of an insidious vibe. I could see that, yeah.

And then when we see the demons of parents, later when we'll get into spoilers but I kind of got a little Pennywise vibe to it that's right okay sure

yeah yeah penny wise or what was the Huluween movie a couple years ago with the dude that was doing

the kids show you know what I'm talking about I can't remember Mr. Johnson or Mr. Mr. Mayfield or something like that, right? Something. I know what you're talking about. Yeah, he reminded me of him a little bit, or the character reminded me a little bit of him.

It was kind of interesting, the way they mixed in the silo-cybin mushrooms into the storyline. I think Philip would have dug that angle. The mushroom milk? Yeah, yeah. I was kind of surprised. I was kind of disappointed Phil didn't. maybe next week he can he can talk to us about this one if he checks it out i think i think he'll like that angle i just wanted since we got introduced to an asshole adam scott i just kind of wanted him to be a non-believer right right what was going on kind of like you know he's supposed to be smart you know he's a writer he thinks he's better than people just kind of like

there's a reason why this is happening and it's not supernatural Yeah, too intellectual to buy into that shit. Yeah, but he kind of changed after he, I don't want to go on the spoilers, but after he met the bartender, yes, correct. He kind of had an immediate, well, not immediate because he was a dick to the bellhop. Right. But I felt like his character lightened up after that.

Yeah, a little bit. Finally kind of somebody got through to him a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, and I don't know if anything, did any of that have to do the fact maybe that it was a female character and his trauma involved his mom? Maybe, I don't know. Well, she, well, not really a spoiler, but like when she first meets him, he can't find his room. And she, he's rude to her. And then she was like, well, you look like somebody that doesn't need help find in his room.

She put him in his place. That's right. I think she kind of matched his energy. And he kind of liked that. Right. Yeah, it was kind of interesting when he showed up. And I guess it was the groundskeeper that had killed a goat, because the goat kept climbing up and getting on people's cars and stuff.

Yeah. And Adam Scott was like, well, you know, couldn't you just drug it or drag it away from here or something? He's like, no, that wouldn't work. So you kind of had that fish out of water thing, right? Like where Adam Scott didn't quite understand. the way things work around there. A little bit of a mystery aspect to this movie too.

Yeah, okay. That's true. That's true. Yeah, and they're, you know what? They didn't explain everything either in great detail. I don't think they left some things open-ended, which can, I guess which could backfire, but in this case, maybe it

didn't. This was one of those movies that, like I say, as I was watching it, I was kind of non-plus, like I wasn't super blown away with it, but it's kind of like one, like as soon as the credits started rolling. And then, you know, that night I started, you know, AJ went with me to see it. We talked about the movie quite a bit and our interpretations of it. And then like the next day, it was, it was kind of haunting me a little bit, you know?

Like, so it's definitely one of those movies that's sticking with me for a while. That's good. You know, and you can't always say that about these big Hollywood. with Black Busters, you know, and it was, yeah, it was kind of like a small cast. It was an isolated type of set. Oh, I also got a little bit of a vibe of the one with John Cusack in it where he was in the hotel room. Yeah, I got a feel of that in it. I don't know, without going into spoilers anymore, man.

See, like there is the one character, the bell hop, and then he shows up later, you know, doing a different job or whatever. And I thought he was going to be somebody out of time. Because to me, he looked like anachronistic, you know, like old school, like 1940s type. I don't know. But they didn't. Well, we'll get into that in spoilers, I guess. Yeah.

You just want to jump into scores? Yeah, we could do that because I don't want to give a lot of weight. All right, fair enough, man. I will give it a solid seven again. All right. another seven, and yeah, I'll go seven and a half on this one. Yeah, this one kind of stuck with me. And it's one of those that I thought about for a couple of days after I watched it.

That's always a big plus. Big plus for me. So, all right, without any further ado, 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.

alert. You've been fucking warned. Okay, let's get this out of the way. What was with this conquistador story? I have no idea. Because he's stranded in the desert for some reason. I don't know where his ship is. And it seems like out of nowhere this little boy appears out of nowhere. Yeah, and didn't they say it was like the third book in a trilogy or something?

Yeah, he was having trouble finishing. He was trying to wrap up the trilogy to his conquistador character. Right. And he had something in a bottle that he was trying to get out. And the thing he comes up with is tell this little kid to look at the flowers. Walking Dead style. Yeah, hit him in the head with the bottle. Right.

I thought it was a super weird story. I don't know. Maybe there's meaning to it. I don't know, man. And then how he changes the ending, I don't know, to make it less bleak or something. That was the lesson he learned. Was it? Were they trying to go?

Were they trying to compare him to Stephen King, you think, a little bit? Or is that a stretch? about not writing good endings or... Yeah, about not writing good endings or... You know, like sometimes his endings are like super bleak, you know, but then sometimes he'll take a story and the endings sort of upbeat, but it could have been bleak, like in the movie version. Possibly.

Like in the mist, I don't know. Who knows, man? And then jump back into the movie part. Adam Scott, the one drawback I didn't like, like is when we get to reveal that he was the one that shot his mother accidentally. Right. I didn't get no kind of inkling that he was dragging around all this guilt and shame and pain other than him being an asshole.

Yeah, same here. That was the only thing they really did to kind of, you know, show that. Because he has that moment when his mother appears to him and tells him it's all right. Right. that's when he kind of has the biggest emotion towards that whole part of the story yeah i think you could even see a tear right like he even had a tear come down and and then of course that did she hand him like a something to get out of there or was did he already have it and she just pointed it out to him or are we supposed to not know i think we're supposed to

not know i don't know i got to watch it again okay but it's just like when she's appears to him in the beginning of the movie. It's kind of, I mean, he gets startled, but it's kind of nothing to him. Yeah, I agree. I agree. They probably could have worked that angle a little better. I don't know if that was his acting or if that was the way it was written. It's kind of hard to tell.

Yeah. And I'm sorry, he would have got punched right in his face if he would have burned me with a damn spoon. Oh, no shit, dude. Yeah, that guy would have been well within his rights. you need thicker skin than that to be a real writer. What a dick. Oh, man.

I don't know if it justified drug in his flask with mushrooms. I don't know if that justified that, but. Well, he could have pissed in it, I guess, you know. And when we found out that, I was really hoping it wasn't going to be like some fever dream, hallucination. Right, right. I don't think it was.

So I'm pretty sure everything really happened in it, you know? Yeah, I do too. I just, I don't like those scenarios when it's, it was all hallucination or, or they wake up at the end of the movie and it was all a dream. And that happened. Cop out. What did you think about the setup of, um, the, the, the reason that the guy killed the bartender? Oh, because he was, he got a. pregnant and his family wouldn't approve?

Yeah. I thought that was kind of clever. I liked it, but I wish they would have expanded more on why they wouldn't have approved. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I guess you could only, you know, fit so much in a movie, you know, without

being three hours long. But yeah, that is another one of those kind of unanswered questions that it might have been nice to have a little more satisfaction, you know? Two more minutes of dialogue probably could have solved that. Yeah, what did you think of the look of the, not only the witch, but the form it took,

like the TB program. I kind of loved it, man. Like the, the googly eyes and the, you know, like you said, kind of like the pennywise disposition, like, hey, kiddos, what's his name, Ohm? What kind of name is Om? Ohm writes to us, kiddies, because he shot his mother with a gun accidentally. Yeah, I thought that was a great way to do that reveal Because they just kept saying his mother was shot by somebody

Yeah, and like you noticed early on He was very careful about how he scattered her ashes And then, you know, you could tell that obviously he had some big problems with his dad Because he just kind of like threw the ashes angrily And I think they met a few other references how he wasn't close to his dad. Obviously his dad blamed him. Totally. Yeah. I think they did mention that. Yeah, it makes sense.

I think they said after he killed his mom accidentally, his father became an alcoholic monster. Yep. Okay. Well, yeah, that's pretty good storytelling. Pretty good tight storytelling. Yeah, and I thought they did, I thought, I thought that the writer did a decent job of, you know, setting up the reason that that guy, I love the suspense of the scene where, like, you know, was the old dude Jerry was that his name, the old dude from the woods, the mushroom milk guy? Yeah.

Like, was he going to walk in and catch that bell ringing or was he not? And then I thought that was pretty well done. That was suspenseful. Yeah. And I liked the one guy, mall, the guy that was killed a bartender and was hiding the body. I liked how he got his comeuppins because he was the one that ended up getting put in shackles and dragged to hell.

I thought that was a cool scene. That looked super cool. That was great. Yeah, very well done, man. Yeah, and they showed the monsters just enough, right? Like, they didn't overdo it. Yeah, I agree. I think that kind of added to the creepiness for sure.

So my theory, Brian, and I don't think it came to pass. But my theory was that the guy that, you know, was the bellhop that he burned his hand. And then later on he showed up like wearing old school, like 1940s soda jerk, ice cream outfit or whatever. Yeah. I really thought he was a character out of time that only he could see.

But I think obviously they, you know, other characters could see him and stuff. I think they should have gone with that angle, man. and had that be like, you know, somebody from the hotel's past or something? Yeah, that would have been cool. I was really expecting that. But I don't know, maybe on rewatch, I'll look and see, well, wait a minute, there weren't other people interacting with him or something.

Well, the one guy talked about him. Yeah, that's true. That's true. After he got burned. Right. After Adam Scott burned him and the bellho walked away, that guy came up. It was like, what did you do to him? That's right.

Yeah, I don't know. I think it might have been a little bit more clever to throw that in, but that's all right. I didn't write the script. This is definitely a movie that probably should be watched more than once because there was also things going on in the background. Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. And it wasn't like in your face, jump scare type stuff. It was much more tension building and, you know, just enough creepiness.

could see just enough and, you know, like you said, that monster that had kind of the penny-wise vibe was sort of like Uncanny Valley. Like it, it sort of looked like a face, but it kind of didn't look like a face. Yeah, it looked real, but it also looked cartoonish. Agreed. Yeah, agreed. All right, I think we've covered this one, right? Yeah. All right, then, as always, we want to thank you guys for listening to another episode of the horror returns. We'd love to hear your feedback and ideas. You can always reach us at thehorror returns at gmail.com.

Or just go to our website, thehorrorreturns.com and go anywhere from there, follow our socials, listen to every single episode we've ever done, go to our YouTube page, it's all right there. T-shirts. Shop here. Get Steve's awesome fucking t-shirts. Speaking of Steve, I think he's going to be with us next week, right?

You better. He picked these movies. Yeah, he better suffer through this with us. All right. So next week, Steve joins us to begin a new retrospective with watchers and watchers too. So, until the horror returns

again, good good night.