Too Scary; Didn't Watch - SMILE 2 with Sam Sanders

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Sam Sanders (The Sam Sanders Show, Vibe Check)Movie & Guest Intro @ 3:11Trivia @ 9:27Recap starts @ 14:41TrailerSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a Head Henley, and Sammy, and you're listening to Too Scary Didn't Watch. Hi everyone. Welcome to Too Scary Didn't Watch, the horror movie recap podcast for those too scared to watch for themselves. I'm Emily and I am too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Henley and I'm also too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Sammy and I love watching scary movies and so I watch them so that you don't have to. And we've got a great movie today to distract us from the scariness of the real life world. Normally we have a check-in question here, did anything scary happen to you this week? We're gonna skip it this week

because I think we all know the thing. I think we've all thought about it a lot, talked about it a lot, and you listening probably have as well. So I don't, we're gonna just have fun today. Yeah, we're just here. We need that, we need that right now. We need that right now.

I did write down a semi-scary fact that I learned that I think we can all handle. Love that. Which like, it did shake me a bit, but kind of in a different way that I think can distract us nicely, which is that sharks have existed on this planet longer than trees. What? Wait, really? Isn't that insane? And longer than the North Star, like a lot longer than the. What? Wait, really? Isn't that insane?

And longer than the North Star, like a lot longer than the North Star. So sharks are 450 million years old, trees are 350 million years old. That's a whole hundred million years. I don't understand. And then the North Star is 70 million years old. I don't understand.

I know, I know. What was going on on earth? Just a bunch of bushes? Just ocean? Just sharks, just sharks. Just sharks and ocean. Just ocean and sharks. I don't know, I didn't do a lot of extra research.

I kind of just read that fact. Oh, how could you? And then like sat down on my couch and like stared at the ceiling for, and texted a couple of friends, just being like, hey. Did you know? did you know? Did you know? Sharks are over the trees.

And kind of what is the pretty standard response based on the people I spoke to? Yeah. It's one of those things that I can't process. I don't know what, even the concept of hundreds of millions of years, it's a number that means nothing to me. No, it's our teeny little tiny little human brains. We're not capable of.

Maybe that's kind of nice right now. Maybe that's what we need to feel just like so small. So small. And babies. We're small little babies. We're small little babies. I'm sorry to tie it back to the thing we were trying not to talk about. No, it's okay. We're just gonna think about sharks and. Sharks are cool. I want to think about sharks. That's how bad, sorry, I tied it back as well,

but things are bad enough that I wanna talk about sharks, which is pretty nuts. Pretty nuts. But I also want to talk about this week's movie to see what I did there. As do I, a wonderful transition, Emily. Thanks. This week, we are movie to see what I did there. As do I. Wonderful transition, Emily. Thanks. This week, we are going to be talking about Smile 2.

It was written and directed by Parker Finn, starring Naomi Scott, Rosemary DeWitt, Miles Gutierrez Riley, Dylan Galula, Lucas Gage and Ray Nicholson. It is in theaters now. And we have a guest with us today to talk about this film. He is a journalist and host of the Sam Sanders show and vibe check Sam Sanders. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. It's so good to be here. Welcome.

How are you doing Sam? Did you know that about sharks? I did not but you know what? It tracks because it's like, I don't know. I feel like sharks are like the casino of the natural world. Like the house always wins and like the sharks always win. Yep. Like they always come out on top. You cannot beat them. You can't destroy them.

You can't beat them. Like, yeah, leave them alone. Leave them alone. Really insane that we try to do anything with them two sharks. Like. Yeah, yeah. Makes no sense. Leave them alone. Really insane that we try to do anything with and to sharks. Yeah, yeah. Makes no sense.

It really does. They're in charge. They're at the top of the chain. In every way. And they always will be. Yeah, good for them. Good for them. Yeah.

Good for them. Sam, what are your feelings about horror movies and your relationship with horror movies as a kid? Did you always like them? Was there a turning point? Tell us everything. Yeah, my first memory of horror was being obsessed with the Child's Play movies, the Chucky movies as a kid.

I'm 40, so I was like under 10 when they were like first descendant. And my mother was like, no, we can't let you watch this scary movie, you're too young. But she finally gave in and let my brother and I watch one of the child's play movies. We were maybe like eight and nine years old. And because she's a prankster, after we saw that movie and were horrified, she bought a Chucky doll.

She would hide it around the house. She would hide it around the house just to f with us. Incredible. It's like pre-Elf on the Shelf. It's like a way worse version of Elf on the Shelf. Yeah, an evil Elf on the Shelf. Oh, you can watch the movie and we'll see how you feel about that. Oh yeah, yeah.

And so ever since then, I've been someone who loves horror but is like the worst kind of horror fan because I react viscerally to all horror. The jump scares get me. I yell, I scream, I cower, I hold someone's arm. My thing now is, and I usually go to movies alone because it's more enjoyable to be alone, viscerally to all horror. The jump scares get me. I yell, I scream, I cower, I hold someone's arm. My thing now is, and I usually go to movies alone because it's more enjoyable that way for me,

I will take my baseball cap and cover my eyes, like half the film, but I love it. But I love it. Do you ever plug your ears? No, I want to hear it. Weirdly enough, I want to hear it, I don't want to see it. I'm the opposite, I keep my eyes open and I plug my ears because the jump scares are too loud for me. I want to hear it, weirdly enough. every door is locked, thing. I was like, I refuse to be scared.

I refuse to be scared in my own home because if I let the fear in, it will take over. And I'll be done. I'll be done. I won't be able to do anything. Boundaries. And like with all genres of film, you have to suspend disbelief.

It's like, I don't go see a musical and then come out and start singing, talking to my friends. Like, I know it go see a musical and then come out and start singing, talking to my friends. Like I know it exists there only in that context. How horrible would that be if you did do that? That would be really bad. Is there a type that you like the most? Mm. I think that Scream is an incredibly rewarding franchise. And I love it when horror films take a look at the genre through the film itself.

And so a lot of the Scream movies have become meta commentaries on what it means to be a slasher flick. And I like it when they go there. I also enjoyed, I think my favorite movie of the year this year was Strange Darling. Have y'all seen that one yet? I also enjoyed, I think my favorite movie of the year, this year was Strange Darling. Have y'all seen that one yet?

I haven't, but yeah, that's like, people love it. And I've heard that I can maybe handle it. So I think that I have to give that one a try. It's like more tense than scary. It's just like stressful. And it confounds your expectations at every turn. You think you know what's going to happen, you don't know.

Love that. Yep. Yeah, it's good. Those are my favorite ones to hear about. Oh, yeah. I love horror that speaks to the genre through the film itself. I love horror that is also a commentary on the culture. So I think my favorite horror film of the last quarter century is probably Get Out,

because it's talking about some big things. But I'll watch anything. I love horror when an animal comes out at the end and is doing crazy shit, of the last quarter century is probably get out because it's talking about some big things. But I'll watch anything. I love horror when the animal comes out at the end and is doing crazy shit. Like the witch is perfect because that talking goat, oh my God, it's so good. Yes, yes, yes.

That's true, they do just hit you with a talking goat at the end, which is like, okay. Yes, it's like, all right, we're doing that. Which seems like it could be silly, and yet it's a very effective, scary goat. Scary talking goat. And she's like, yes, sign me up. I wanna live deliciously, let me live deliciously.

And I'm like, I feel you, I get it, girl. Yes, I do love the taste of butter. Would stye, yes, I would. Yes, I would. But yeah, generally all horror. I also am okay with bad horror movies because I think that as long as you give me three to five good jump scares, it was worth it.

Like my barometer for success is like, did I go, huh, at least once? If I did, it worked. Did you get me a little bit? Did you get me? Did you get me? Exactly. Okay, well then, Smile 2 probably got ya.

I got got. I got got. These movies famously have a lot of jump scares. I think this one had even more than the first one. The budget was bigger, for sure. They're spending all that money on jump scares. All the money on jump scares. Really cranking it through.

Speaking of the budget, I will tell us a couple stats. It has an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, 66 on Metacritic, 7.2 on IMDB. The budget was $28 million and so far it has made $114.1 million. Holy shit. And it's still in theaters. So it'll keep making money. It's working. I even listened to the soundtrack yesterday

because those little fake pop songs were good. Yes, that was some of the trivia I had is that you can buy the album. The main character in this one is a, yeah, like a pop star Lady Gaga type. And they do have quite a few performances of her songs. And Naomi Scott, the actress that plays the lead character, co-wrote a lot of the songs and she's really singing them and you can get them.

That's pretty cool. I love when a movie does that. It's just like Trap. It's just like M. Night Shyamalan's daughter starring. There are a lot of Trap. A lot of similarities. All the letterbox reviews were like Lady Raven could never or vice versa. I love it.

It's very funny. And Sam, did you saw Smile 1 as well? could never or vice versa. This is very funny. And Sam, did you, you saw Smile One as well? Yeah, a long time ago. I've forgotten most of it, but I did see it. Yeah. Okay. I'll do like a brief little recap of it.

You don't need to remember much, but before we do that, I think let's watch this trailer. It's kind of a short trailer just to get a little look at it. I'm nervous. Something really greasy is happening to me. I need to stop it, but I don't know how. It's because you're a horrible person. What did you say? What did he say? No! I keep seeing his face everywhere. This thing feeds off all the bad shit in their head.

No! Stop smiling at me! Oh no, oh no. Oh no. You're not in control! I am! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!

Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!

Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! I've been waiting for you. Okay. Wow. No sound effects. That was such a feast for my ears

in a way that I did not like. I was gonna say the jump scares, really highlighting the jump scares there. And when you're wearing headphones, you can't plug your ears, so. You know what? I just wanna bring up that it's not too late for us to maybe just do practical magic instead.

I still remember so much about the film. I think I could recap it again beautifully. I think I could do a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit I just want to bring up that it's not too late for us to maybe just do practical magic instead. I still remember so much about the film. I think I could recap it again beautifully if we want to just do that. I love it. Tempting.

No, I need to hear about this movie. This looks wild. It's insane. It's pretty crazy. And it comes in hot. It starts wild. Hell yeah. It starts and does not stop.

Did you guys see Ray Nicholson there, how much he looks like Jack Nicholson? He really does. Wait, is he a spawn of Jack Nicholson? He sure is. And his big smile is like, looks almost exactly like Jack Nicholson in the shining of just like-

Oh snap! Ah! Wow. Oh my God! I love that. That's his son. That's his son. Wow. That's cool.

Scary face. Scary face. Those are some scary faced men. I mean, like Jack Nicholson. Yeah. They're good scary smile men. Scary smile men. They have very sinister smiles.

Yeah. Was there any trivia about whose faces needed the most or least CGI for the smile? Because I love that stuff. No, I wish there was because I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces.

I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. I'm not a big fan of scary faces. Yeah, was there any trivia about whose faces needed the most or least CGI for the smile? Because I love that stuff. No, I wish there was because I do want to know who can just do it. Who was like, oh, I can just do it. I don't need it. Because they all look like the exact same smile. And I'll remind you that that was actually trivia from. Yes, the first one.

Or was it from Truth or Dare? Because there's like a whole- Yes, it was from Truth or Dare. For Lucy Hale. Yes, the first one. Or was it from Truth or Dare? Because there's like a whole- Yes, it was from Truth or Dare. For Lucy Hale. Yes. They were like, we didn't need to make her, we didn't give her any CGI on her face. Yeah, so there are similarities between this franchise

and Truth or Dare, which is very, very funny. But, oh, that like shot where her eyes light up, that's the jumpscare that got me the most. Just like so crazy. That was new to me. But that shot where her eyes light up, that's the jumpscare that got me the most. Just like so crazy. That was new to me. I was like, they didn't do that before. Didn't do that last time.

That was pretty new to me as well. Wild. So yeah, we're gonna have some fun, you guys. This is great. I am ready. I need it. I need it. Let's go.

I don't know. I'm feeling stressed. I'm feeling stressed. It's okay. Well, too bad. You have to listen. It's your job. I know. It's my job. You don't have a choice. All right. Let's do it. Okay. It's holiday party season. We're getting together with friends. We're celebrating holidays. We're staying in, we're having cozy little house parties, and that means we need to bring a bottle of wine to those parties. And it can be very overwhelming trying to decide what the right bottle of wine is to bring, what's everyone going to like. Worry,

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The holidays are coming up. You're probably going to be spending some time with loved ones that you don't see all the time. You'll be hearing stories, some that you've never heard before and probably some that you've heard way too many times. But have you ever wanted to collect those stories? Not just for you, but for your entire family and even for future generations. It can seem daunting to do that, to write an entire book, but Storyworth makes it fun and easy.

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this will be alongside all those other beautiful memories. So help your family members share and capture their stories this holiday season with Story Worth. Go to storyworth.com slash to scary today and save ten dollars on your first purchase. That's s t o r y w o r t h dot com slash to scary to save I'll first do a very brief recap of the first smile just to refresh our memories. Just like a general plot is that there is a demon slash entity that kind of infects someone, torments them by having them see people with smiling faces, kind of driving them crazy, eventually leading to them committing suicide

in front of somebody else, and then passing on to whoever witnessed the like violent death. And so the first movie follows, I can't remember her name, but it's Kevin Bacon's daughter, Sosie Bacon. Love them just keeping it up with like, which famous person's kid are we going to put in

this one? There's got to be somebody. And you think that she's going to beat it, but she doesn't. And it ends up with her lighting herself on fire in front of Kyle Gahlner. His character's name is Joel. And yeah, that's all we really need to know. Obviously trigger warning for suicide and self harm. But yeah, it picks up right with Joel, I think six days later from the events of the first movie. Okay. Also side note, he's really having a year, Kyle Golnar.

Yeah, he's in Strange Darling as well. Didn't expect that for him. Yeah. Yeah, good for him. Good for him. I mean, probably what's about to happen year, Kyle Garner. Yeah, he's in Strange Darling as well. Didn't expect that for him. Yeah. Yeah. Good for him. Good for him. I mean, probably what's about to happen, not good for him, but the actor, good for him.

Okay, so we see Joel in a car, kind of blank eyed. Obviously he's seen some shit. This is a traumatized man, but he's waiting outside of this house as another guy pulls into the driveway and Kyle Garner, or Joel is his name, gets out with a gun and it's clear he's got this plan to pass on the entity to somebody else or we're not really sure. And as he's walking to this guy's car, he passes by Sosebakan's like flaming body. It's kind of a jump scare of just like him hallucinating it. Okay.

Because that's what the demon does. It just kind of taunts you with memories of all the shit. Remember me? I'm still here. And he stops this guy getting out of his car, puts a gun to his back and is like, seemingly wants to go inside with him and is like, don't tell your brother we're coming. He's got a plan, he's got this thing he's gonna do. It's, I don't know, we're playing catch up. But they walk in, this guy's like,

I think they're drug dealers slash criminals. It's giving crack then, yeah. Yeah, this house is looking pretty abandoned, I think they're drug dealers slash criminals. It's giving crack then, yeah. Yeah, this house is looking pretty abandoned, boarded up windows, and there's one other guy inside that when he sees Joel holding the gun to this other guy's back, they're brothers, the two guys that we don't know,

and it quickly escalates. The other guy pulls out a gun, but we've all got guns, and so it's like, don't move, don't know. And it quickly escalates. The other guy pulls out a gun, but we've all got guns. And so it's like, don't move, don't move. But then something happens. A shot goes off. I can't remember the first shot, but a couple of shots go off and both of the brothers in this drug den die.

And the second guy, it's clear that Joel did not want him to die because he was supposed to stay alive to witness the demon. To witness the suicide. Yes. And so he's, he's trying to resuscitate him. He's like trying to save his life. Watch this, watch this, watch this. He's like, no, no, no, you can't die. You can't die. One last thing, one last thing, one last thing.

But it's too late. He loses him. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. his name in this is Louis Frigoli, great name. And he's put, immediately puts his hands up and he's like, oh, whoa, man, like, I'm sorry, I didn't see anything, like, I'm just here to pick up like a package, like, I have nothing to do with this, I don't have any problem with you. And Joel, I think is like kind of stoked about this. He was like, oh, there's somebody else here,

there was somebody else here, maybe this is all gonna be okay. And then at that moment, a car full of additional like people in this drug cartel gang, whatever, pull in. And Joel starts looking for a way to escape the house. And this shot is very cool. I feel like it's mostly done in a one shot. The cinematography in this movie in general

is like very fun. They're having some fun with the constantly moving camera angles. It's just everything's like in motion all the time. Even if it's just like turning the world upside down or spinning around characters, it just like gives you this sense of being like. Disoriented.

Disoriented. The whole thing is disorienting, which is I guess like speaking to the mental state of the person who's possessed by this demon. You don't know what's up and what's down, literally. And the camera's always doing that to you. Cool. It's a lot.

It's a lot. Yeah. So Joel is running through this house, kind of breaking down boarded up windows, trying to find a way to escape these guys that are like running in this house, kind of breaking down, boarded up windows, trying to find a way to escape these guys that are like running in with guns, trying to find him. And he eventually breaks out through a back window of the house and he runs into the street

and is immediately hit by a car. Jump scare. That jump scare got me good. Yeah. And the truck like drags, the truck that hits him, drags his body for a while so that the blood trail left by him

is in the shape of a smile. Wow. Lovely. Title comes up, smile two. Wow. And so now Lucas Gage has the demon. Okay.

He's got it. What's his character name for the demon? Louis Fragoli. Louis Fragoli. Louis Fragoli has the demon and here's where the pop star comes in. Sometimes this pop star goes to Louis Fragoli for drugs. So we find out that this pop star,

Sky Riley is trying to go back and restart her career after a car accident with a famous actor, Jack Nicholson's son. What's his character's name, sorry. His character's name is Paul Hudson. Yes, so the two of them are in a car accident. They're both on drugs, alcohol, et cetera, and Hudson dies in a car accident. They're both on drugs, alcohol, et cetera. And Hudson dies in a car accident.

Sky Riley, the pop star, lives. She's spent the next few months recovering. She has to have intensive surgery and rehab, et cetera. There are scars on her body. She has back pain, et cetera. But she's about to go on her tour. And so she's dealing with like crazy back pain and because she has a history of drug abuse,

she's not prescribed with the strongest pain killers. So she hits up Louis Fregoli to get like some Vicodin or some opioid type pain relievers. She goes there undercover of night, doesn't tell anyone from her team, and as soon as she gets there, she realizes that Louis Fregoli is on one. He's trippin', it's weird.

I think he pulls a sword on her the second she walks in the door. Oh, he does, you're right. I missed a big plot point. He opens the door with a sword. And then she's like, stop, and then he's like, why are you here? And she's like, I texted you and you said come over. And so she's trying to calm him down, and she's like, I. And then he's like, why are you here? And she's like, I texted you and you said come over.

And so she's trying to calm him down. And she's like, I just need some pain pills. My back is killing me. He goes, wait, let me go to the back room and get you some. A few minutes pass and you realize he's being tormented by this demon and he comes back out crazed. And she's like, I just need to leave. But before she can leave, Louis commits suicide in front of her

by taking a big old circular weight, like a 30, 50 pound weight. Oh shit. And banging it into his head over and over and over in front of her. Oh my God. And we're seeing the effects of that. It is wild.

The effects are so gnarly. You see basically like a part of his jaw fall off and like hear the noise of it. And this is not the first jaw to fall off in this movie. Later on someone else's jaw falls off. And I'm like, what's the deal with the jaws? It's a lot. I gotta say, I think this is one of my worst,

the worst ways someone can die. I don't wanna watch this. It's very bad. Having your face smashed. I don't wanna watch your face get smashed in. I'd almost rather deal with a knife situation. I don't want to watch your face get smashed. That's a bad, bad way to go.

It's bad. So now that he's done this though, the demon has now entered the pop star. Oh wow. This pop star is gonna, is she gonna commit suicide in front of a huge stadium of people? Are you guys trying to tell me

that's what's about to happen? What? Possibly. Smile 10 million is the next movie. But after he kills himself, she does dial 911, but then looks around, you know, considers she's in a drug dealer's apartment. There are like lines of cocaine on the table. She's in this very high stakes, personal moment of like a comeback tour from being a drug addict. And so obviously this would be

like a huge hit to her reputation, hit to her reputation and maybe like ruin the tour. God forbid. Oh, God forbid. God forbid. Oh God. God forbid. No, God forbid. Who, wait, who said that? Justin Timberlake? Yeah, this is gonna ruin the tour. Yes, yes. This is gonna ruin the tour.

This is gonna ruin the tour. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. And she also, right as he kills himself, she vomits in his apartment. Oh, so. I guess it's not that important. But I mean, it's a reason why she can't call 911 and just bail, cause probably they would be like,

who's is this? Yeah, exactly. Well, and then after that, she spends a few minutes trying to figure out if there's DNA in vomit. It's kind of funny. Yeah, she's like, googling, is there DNA in vomit? Yeah. Is there?

I don't know. I think it said it depends. I think the little results she got were like, depends on the vomit, I guess. So it's not a super comforting answer for her. I just wanna say she rushes home after this. She grabs a big bottle of Voss water. That's why your background is Voss water.

She drinks so much Voss water the entire movie. She chugs it. She chugs the entire bottle in one gulp. And some of the trivia was that Naomi Scott actually did this, this isn't VFX, and she was just like, it's so much harder than you think to chug an entire bottle of water. And I would presume multiple takes of it.

And it happens over and over and over again. And to jump ahead a little bit, I'm like, why is she drinking so much water? Why is it always Voss? She reveals later on that part of her recovery is that whenever she feels the urge to do drugs, she should chug a bunch of water really quickly. And so in all these moments

where she's getting really stressed out, you see her stop and just pound water. It's for that reason. Yeah, it like eventually makes sense. But at first you're just like, what the fuck? How much did Voss pay for this placement? It's for that reason. Yeah, it like eventually makes sense. But at the at first year's first year, like the boss pay for this placement. It's crazy. It's crazy. I just want to say a quick warning to our listeners. I've drank so much water that I passed out once. I like had a day where I was like, I'm going to drink as much water as possible. You can OD on water. And so just be careful out there. Yeah, in the trivia, it also says,

doctors recommend avoiding chugging water like this because it overworks the body, decreases the absorption of various nutrients. It makes it hard for the body to properly hydrate. Yeah, you like flush everything out. Yeah. So drink some water. You gotta be careful.

You gotta be careful. I also heard a rumor that Voss water specifically makes you really gassy. I heard it makes you gassy. Interesting. Wait, stop, how? How? Really?

What? Tell me more. We're gonna get sued by Voss. You know what, I can't confirm this rumor. It is a rumor. I really want more information. It's not from personal experience that you have this.

It's not me, it wasn't me. I didn't drink a bunch of Voss to get gassy. Not me. But I just take warning, okay? Cause it might make your stomach hurt. Okay, yeah, drink slow and you know, if it's Voss, just maybe even slower. Be aware of the risks.

Be careful, kids. Careful. So we had heard the night before, her mom is her kind of manager and she has this personal assistant named Joshua and they had said- That's just mean too. Joshua's trying so hard just to be like her friend.

And she's like, F you Joshua, the entire movie. Yeah, she's not particularly nice to either of them. The mom we find out is a task master and pushes this poor child way too hard. We don't love the mom as manager in general. Yeah. It's usually not a- Mommagers, no bueno.

It's not right. It's not right. Not a great idea. But they had told her the night before that she has early morning rehearsals and a meet and greet with fans. So to make sure she goes to bed early and gets lots of sleep, obviously she shouldn't get any sleep this night

after witnessing a very violent suicide. I think she does in her, she like lays in bed and has visions of Louis Fregoli, like hearing the sounds of like his jaw like falling, blood dripping and stuff. So she goes to work the next morning having no sleep. Her mom says, you need to stay hydrated and gives her a bottle of water.

Boss water. Boss water. She says, mom, it's making me so gassy, stop. And her mom mentions that Skye should reach out to her friend, Gemma. She's like, I miss Gemma. Gemma was really good for you. So we learned that Sky previously had this best friend Gemma

and at the peak of her addiction, seems like she was a pretty horrible friend to Gemma. And so they've had a kind of falling out and haven't really spoken in the last year. And then she's in this dressing room and a guy comes in, asks a favor of her to, they need her to speak at a charity event. Yes, and he's like an exec at the label.

So it's important that they are good to him because he's gonna be the one deciding how largely to finance this new tour. So he asks her to make an appearance at this fundraiser gala charity event for struggling children. And she wants to say no, but her mom is like, you need to say yes.

And this record label guy is like, don't worry, you just have to read teleprompter. But she really can't do that. He don't know she got a demon in her. Are you telling me that she's been asked to go speak in front of a room full of children? Are the children gonna be there? They're not really, they're not like children.

I think it's a college or something. Those are hardly children. Like a music. Okay, sorry, I misspoke, yeah. They are, they're young people. But yes, it is presented as like, if you say no to this, you're gonna be like a huge, you're gonna look like an asshole.

You can't say no. Say yes to this. Right, you can't say no. Oh, terrible timing. She's doing more Googling about vomit. She's drafting texts to Gemma and deleting them because we're seeing like their previous text history is her like, being really cruel to Gemma and so-

It is tough to reopen an old text thread. Oh, for sure. You're like, oh, that was the last thing I wrote to you. Damn. You can't just be like, hey, how you been? But also at some point in here, she starts to get a text from an unknown number that basically says, I know what you saw.

I know that you were at Louis's house. We need to talk. And she's like, what do I do? And over time, this same number says, and I know who you are, Sky Riley. Yeah, I know you're Sky Riley. Yeah. Yeah, so she's got a lot on her plate.

She's getting more and more stressed. Well, and what starts to happen, and I forget when it starts because I didn't realize it was happening for a while. Eventually you start to realize that she is an unreliable narrator because some of the things that she is seeing aren't true, they are hallucinations.

And that becomes a central part of the plot because before you know it, maybe like halfway in the movie, you can no longer tell what's actually happening or not. And that's part of what the film is trying to do. It is so disorienting because you have to question everything you see on the screen. It's wild. Yeah.

Dang, that's a lot to be following. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and it pulls it off well. Like it is disorienting, but it doesn't feel like, I feel like it's still enjoyable. Like you're still having fun watching it.

But yeah, she has to do this meet and greet with fans at some point and- And this is before she's supposed to go to the event with the young people. So before that she's done practicing and rehearsing a really good pop song. I was gonna say, we do get some fun dance scenes. Fun bops.

And the choreo's nice, I like the choreo too. I just wanna watch that, that sounds fun to me. Let me watch just that part of the movie. Yeah, it's fun. During the meet and greet, this young girl has a really strange disorienting smile, which throws her off, and this older guy ends up kind of having like

stalker energy and has to be pulled away by her security detail that shakes her up. He like comes up to the table. They're basically, she's signing autographs and then taking a photo. This guy comes up and has like a smile and also has like a rash that is, he's like scratching

and just- He's nasty. Has really weird energy. And he's like, please write like to Antonio love Sky. And she's like, okay, and writes it. And then as he's like taking a photo with her, he's like, I can see how sad you are inside. And he's like getting like too close to her

and then starts like holding her too tight and she freaks out and the security has to come and like, yeah, take him away. And as they pull him away, his shoes come off. It's so weird. Do you notice that? His shoes came off. Wait, why?

I noticed it and I was like, why are his shoes coming off? How the heck did that happen? Right, anywho, that thing I noticed. It makes you wonder if it's in hallucination. Right. You know, like it seems like. That's the thing with like anything can be in this, it feels, yeah.

Exactly, yeah. So she, they pause the event, mom runs over with a bottle of Voss, drink, drink, drink. Something else that's happening during this is we see, there's been flashes of when she went through the trauma of the car accident, she's in the recovery process, started pulling out chunks of her hair from stress. That's what it does.

Yeah. I mean, look at me, I did it. Yeah, yeah, you really did it. All of my hair is gone, it's been a week. You had a full head of hair six days ago. But we see that this habit is coming back and she's starting to pull her hair out again, just another thing showing that she's kind of coming undone.

And she goes home after this meet and greet and finally decides to call Gemma. And they talk and it's a little awkward, but Gemma seems cautiously happy to hear from her and is like, you know, how are you? And it's, you know, that seems hopeful that they'll be able to maybe repair their friendship. Skye is, I think asks her to come over

and she's like, I know, you know, I've done so much to hurt you, but I'd really love it if you could come over. And Gemma agrees. She says, okay, I'll be there in like 45 minutes. So now Skye is alone in her apartment, beautiful apartment. Beautiful, beautiful.

The closet's like a house. Oh my God, it's huge. That's the dream, to have a huge closet. And it's got like wallpaper with like a lion on it. It's like very, it's like dark inside, but in a cool way. It's like peak W hotel lobby energy. Oh yeah. Dark but sexy. Yeah, very sexy.

And she's practicing piano for a second when we hear a loud crash, another jump scare. And she sees that her Voss water bottle has fallen off the kitchen counter in a way that seems impossible for a bottle to do on its own. And she goes to grab a broom and dust pan to clean it up. She's really freaked out. And as she leans down to start cleaning, she sees in the entrance to the hallway to her bedroom, the shirt that says to Antonio love sky. And then she's like, oh, is this stalker?

Has he found me? Is he in the house? And then we end up seeing him and he starts to chase her, but eventually you realize it's a hallucination. Oh shit. It's not actually him. And then I think at some point Jemma shows up and is like, girl, what are you doing?

Yeah, she basically like runs, like she's about to run out of the apartment, escaping from Antonio, and then Gemma's at the door. And then she's like so frantically like freaked out. And Gemma's like, oh my God, what's going on? And there's nobody there. The lost water bottle is intact. Oh my God.

It's intact, it's been intact this whole time. What? Yeah, and so at this point as a viewer, you're like, oh crap, this is really disorienting. And this is the point in the movie where I started to feel really unmoored. Because I really thought it was happening and it wasn't. And that is just the reality of the rest of the film.

Entirely. And also important to point out, I think that you follow a trail of Antonio's clothing down the hallway, leading up to a pair of poop-stained underwear, so. Skid marks for days, baby. Easy. Ew.

I feel like there's something too, also, of her previous history as a drug addict that likes something about the demon is taunting her with these things that aren't really, I don't know, that feels connected, that people would already be primed to sort of question her sense of reality. Exactly. This demon's really mean.

Also, I think I'm really interested that they decided to have the protagonist be a pop star because it's such a perfect example of how vulnerable pop stars are. Oh yeah. Like how we put them on a pedestal, we think that they're untouchable, of how vulnerable pop stars are. We put them on a pedestal, we think that they're untouchable, we treat them like royalty, but then, I mean,

chaperone, perfect. They're just isolated in suffering. Exactly. I want to say somewhere I saw that Ariana Grande actually liked this movie. She loves horror movies. She does. Pop star stamp of approval. that Ariana Grande actually liked this movie. She does. I think she was malignant for Halloween one year, which I thought was really good.

Gabriel. Exactly. So now she immediately upon reuniting with Gemma, looks like maybe she's fallen back into her old ways of addiction because she's completely like freaking out about her situation that appears to not be real. And so she's kind of torn between being extremely scared about what just happened, but also aware of the fact that she can't like fully tell Gemma what's happening

or she'll appear to be either relapsing or losing her mind. And so it just puts her in this like really awful position of like trying to ask for help while also figuring out like how honest to be about things. And so she kind of she just is like, like something weird has been happening. And could you would you mind just like spending the night? Like I just feel like a little freaked out. There was like a creepy guy at the signing today. Kind of anchors it in reality enough that Gemma is like.

It's like just stay here, help me please. I'm in a weird place. Yeah, so Gemma spends the night and they fall asleep and we see a flashback nightmare to Skye's car accident. Basically waking up upside down in a car wreck. Looking at dead Jack Nicholson's son. Oh.

In the car. With a bone popping out of her leg. Yeah, and you realize that she was part of the cause of the accident because she was like drunkenly taunting him while he was driving, provoking him to what ended in an accident. It's really traumatic. It's very bad.

And Skye wakes up screaming in her bed. Gemma is kind of half awake from this. I guess she just wakes, she's not screaming. She's just like, and it wakes Gem up enough. So Gemma is like, are you okay? Is everything okay? And she just wakes, she's not screaming, she's just like, and it wakes Jem up enough. So Jemma is like, are you okay? Is everything okay? And she's like, yeah, yeah, I just, um, you know, had a bad dream and she lays down and she's looking up at the ceiling and she has this kind of haunting, uh, line about how she just feels like she hurts everybody she ever loves. It's like this very like vulnerable moment of her

expressing how much she's been suffering over the past year to this friend. And it's quiet for a minute. And then Jemma says, well, that's because you're a horrible person. And. It's really, you're like, oh my God, Jemma, what? And then you realize that Sky Riley

is having a hallucination about Gemma. And then Gemma's sinister and has that nasty smile. But then Sky wakes up and then real Gemma shows up with coffee and now Sky is up and she's like, I'm late. I gotta go, I gotta go to work. And then she shows up to work just crazed. Not well, clearly, like even worse. Not doing well.

And I just wrote this line down. I'm sorry, I'm so obsessed with this. But the first thing Skye's mom says as she arrives is like she calls out to like a PA or something like, could you, I need some water for my daughter. Voss, preferably. But yeah, and then we get kind of another fun dance, but obviously Skye is looking more and more haunted and it's harder for her to do anything.

To hit her steps, to sing, to rehearse. Yep. Yeah. And she has an episode during rehearsal that freaks everybody out. Yeah. She sees a flash of her dead ex-boyfriend, like, appear in front of her while she's doing the dance.

And she falls and stumbles backwards. And she thinks she falls hard enough that her bone pops out of her leg the same way it did in the car accident. And so she's screaming bloody murder. Bloody murder. Oh my God, my leg, my leg. And everybody runs up and they're like, what, what, what, your leg, what?

And of course looks down and it's fine. She's actually fine. And so. God, this stresses me out. My, my shoulders are just so tense. It's so stressful. And oh, spoiler alert. I purposely chose to see this movie with a friend on election night The shoulders are just so tense.

I purposely chose to see this movie with a friend on election night so that I could avoid election night news. Oh, shit. I left this movie to then find out that Kamala Harris had lost the election. And in the middle of this movie, the guy sitting next to us pulled out his phone and tried to go to CNN.com. And we're both like, put it away! Put it away! Put it away! I don't want to see another state in red.

Don't show me one more red state ever again. It was wild. Anywho, my mistake, lesson learned. No, actually, it reminds me, on election night, my husband and I were like, do we go to a mo- like, where can we go where we won't be confronted by reality? But I think I was like, oh, I don't wanna see any of these.

I can't do this. You made the right call. I couldn't do that. I could not have gone to see a horror film like this one. The Night Democracy Died. So yeah, nowhere was safe. I went to a bar and thinking this bar won't have anything and they were projecting it up on the wall.

So it was everywhere. You had to stay in the comfort of your homes and even there. And nowhere was safe. No, not great. No one was safe. So after this, she runs back to her dressing room, embarrassed and scared again.

And this is where she sees her assistant walking out of her dressing room with the big smile on his face, Joshua. The one that she hates, Joshua. Okay, Joshua. And she's like, again, freaks out at him and is like, Joshua, I like you. Oh, because her dressing room is trashed, like something, someone...

She walks into and she thinks that Joshua trashed, it's like fully trashed. Then the mom comes in and was like, Joshua was with me all day, he didn't do this. What's your deal, girl? You are in, what's going on with you? The mom is like, what's going on with you? But also the mom still keeps pushing her

to do all of these things, including this appearance at the fundraiser for the youth thing. Yeah, she's basically like, are you using again? Sky says, no, you can drug test me. And she's like, okay, well, good, because you made a commitment and we have to go do this. She basically was like, if you screw this up, there are no more chances that you even have a career still

after that accident is remarkable. So like keep it up, stay on the good foot. We got to go. It's bad. So we go to this charity event. She puts on a very beautiful dress. It's like a little- And also she is so gorgeous. So gorgeous. She's very a very beautiful dress. It's like a little. And also she is so gorgeous.

So gorgeous. She's very, very beautiful. It's wild, yeah. In a very beautiful dress. She looks great. She's doing very, very badly. She's supposed to be reading this teleprompter to talk about music and helping young people,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But then the teleprompter stops and then she just starts talking about how hard her life is and how stressed she is and how this is too much and it gets really weird. And then she ends up saying the name of her boyfriend who died in the car accident. Like walking to the stage now, his name.

It's in the teleprompter, which presumably she is hallucinating. But like the teleprompter, which presumably she is hallucinating, but the teleprompter finally starts back up and she awkwardly finishes the speech. And then she's like, okay, and now next, coming up is Paul Hudson and everyone is like. And so then she's like, oh my God, freaking out. Well, she sees Paul Hudson in the audience.

Oh yes, you're right. Okay, he stands up. And this is where he looks extra Jack Nicholson-y because he's got the big smile. He has a smile. And she's screaming, stop smiling at me, stop smiling at me. Obviously everybody in the audience is like,

oh no, like this is so bad. It's getting bad. Whatever is happening here. And so at this point, this older lady who had been on the stage before tries to come help her out and like get her off stage. But Sky freaks out, pushes the old lady back, sends her flying off the stage into a table.

Oh, what? Like knocks her out. No. She's strong. She is a strong pop star. Yeah. It's really bad. And you're just like, oh, so then at this moment,

you're like, okay, it's over. It's done. She can't do anything else. They're clearly gonna just like let her take a break. But you later see her momager and the record label guy and the other people like trying to sue things over, but you can't. It was a freaking disaster. Yeah.

This is pretty, pretty bad. Really bad. There's no coming back from that, right? So now she's turning back to that unknown number that has been texting her of like, okay, something is going on. I think maybe they send another text of like, I know you've been seeing things. Everything you're seeing is real, I believe you.

Yeah, please, please meet with me, sends her a little drop pin of a bar. And she goes to meet with this man who we find is named Morris. She's all incognito. She's like dressed up in her like disguise because she's very famous. Loves the oversized clothing with the hood over her head.

And she meets this guy, Morris, who was like, I know what you're dealing with. It happened to my brother as well. You've got this smile demon, and it's gonna make you go crazy for a week, and at the end of the week, you kill yourself. But I can save you before the week is done if you let me, as an RN, he's like an RN, a nurse.

He goes, if I can make the demon think that you've died, it will just leave your body. So let me slow your heart rate down enough to where your body dies for like a minute or two, and then I bring you back. And that way you can escape this thing. And she's like, okay. She's like, I'll try anything.

So now this movie has become Flatliners. I would say yes. What the fuck else are you supposed to do? Yeah, what are you gonna do? Also, while this is happening, because I think she's kind of fled all of the other people. She's running from everything.

She's just run away. And so she's just getting like phone call after phone call from like, mom, Joshua. And then there's one that just says CAA and just really made me laugh. Like the agency. CAA calling. And so she's just like, oh, I'll do anything.

The only thing is that wouldn't then the demon go into the RN's body? If it's not that- Well, he does say like, we need to do it so that nobody is in the room when you're dead. I think that's part of the plan is like, he'll set it in motion and then leave so that she is alone when it happens.

That's crucial because yeah, otherwise it will just pass on. Do we think he's Hal Garner's brother? Does it matter? No, it shows a jump scare flash of his brother, again, ripping his jaw off, Morris's brother. More than one jaw was ripped off in this movie. I don't get it. Like do it once, don't do it twice.

The prosthetic person was like, let's do it as many times as possible. Yeah, they're like, it looks so good. Can I please do it again? Like I really like doing it. Let me do it again, let me do it twice. The prosthetic person was like, they're like, we figured out how to do it, let's do it as many times as possible. Yeah, they're like, it looks so good. Can I please do it again? Like, I really like doing it. Let me do it again, let me do it again. But it looks like this guy truly commits suicide by ripping off his jaw.

That looks like the mode. But he, Morris does say this was like eight people ago. So he's been following the trail and investigating and has been able to track it down to her. So, but then she gets recognized at the bar and she runs out and is kind of being chased by fans. And so she runs back home. She's tearing her hair out in bigger and bigger chunks.

Chugging more and more of us water. Chugging more and bigger chunks. Chucking more and more of us water. Chucking more and more water. And I can't remember how this first appears, but then in her house, she sees a couple of her backup dancers, just like crouched in dark corners in like very... Like a leopard about to pounce. Yeah, bending positions.

They're like up along the wall about to just jump on her. And they begin to surround her and chase her down, but they're climbing up the walls to do it. It is weird. It's so weird. But it's also a very fun, well-choreographed scene, because it basically culminates in her just being chased around her house by all of her backup dancers with big smiles on their face.

And they're kind of moving as one with limbs everywhere. And so, yeah, it just like looks like this big, limmy spider creature, like chasing her around. And I think her hallways are made of mirrors. Her like bathroom floor is mirror. So there's like a lot of mirrors in her house. So it just looks like extra limbs everywhere. Very cool scene and very creepy. And it ends with them surrounding her

and pulling her into the middle of this, being surrounded by bodies. They like smash her head on her piano at some point and then ultimately pin her down and one of the dancers arms or like face- Goes into her mouth. Shoves into her mouth. And then it cuts to black and-

Then it goes to the flashback, right? Does it? Yeah, it's another flashback of her, like the full, we get the full picture of her and her ex having their big fight where he's just like, just saying the worst things imaginable to each other, leading to her causing the accident, like grabbing the wheel and making the car fly off like a cliff, essentially. Oh, wait, I have a question. So does the demon terrorize them to the point where they just like,

can't take it anymore and they kill themselves because of that? Or do they kill themselves because they think they're fighting the demon and they kill themselves instead? Do you know what I mean? That'll, we'll answer that ish. Okay. Time shall reveal. All right.

You're asking the right questions, Ann. I'm trying to get to the bottom of this movie. I'm trying to get to the bottom. Yeah, yeah. But then I believe she wakes up in a wellness clinic. She wakes up, a wellness clinic. She wakes up, she's in rehab with an IV in her arm and her mother on a chair next to her.

And what you expect is for the mother to say, you have been through so much, rest up, it's okay girl. But the mother basically says, okay, rest up for a day. We got you 24 hours here, heal up real good, but then the tour starts and you cannot miss it. This is your last chance. So Sky Riley gets mad and ends up killing the mom brutally with shards of a mirror in the rehab room.

Holy shit. It happens because they get like a more and more heated fight where the mom is saying like, you ungrateful little bitch. I gave my career for you, my life for you. I'm here working for you every day and this is what you do. Like, how dare you? Evil, but like feeling like it could be her mom saying that. And then it kind of gets more and more evil to the point that it's like, wait, is this the entity?

Is this real? Yeah. And then she, the mom smashes a mirror and grabs one of the shards and is like, look at what you did to your mother. Look at what you're doing to your mother and start slitting her own throat. Holy shit.

I think I blacked that part out. This is when I had my, the hat was covering my eyes by that point. And Skye is trying to unhook herself from the IV, which is in there so good. So there's all these horrible shots of her really trying to get this IV out. Another line that I have to call out is that when she first wakes up, her mom says, the doctor said you're sleep deprived and extremely dehydrated. Okay.

Of course she's dehydrated. So she finally gets the IV out and she's like running away from her mom who's like smiling and slitting her own throat and stabbing herself in the eyes with this like shard of glass or mirror. And as Skye reaches the door, she's like reaching for the door handle

and looks down and sees a shard of broken mirror in her own hand and turns and looks back and realizes that she has done it. And her mom is like dying on the floor. Like for real. For real. And at that moment, Joshua is arriving at the door knocking like, hey.

Oh, Joshua. Really wish you'd been nicer to Joshua in the past. This is when you really want Joshua to be on your side. She is covered in blood with her mother's dead body in there. She locks the door and is like, give me a minute. Can you get me a soda? And he's like, okay. And he's like, what kind of soda?

And she's like, any kind. Surprise me. Yeah. And so he leaves giving her, you know, the hallway is clear. So she puts on a sweatshirt to cover her blood stains on her hospital gown, but still, she's still very much covered in blood. Like the gown is coming out from below the sweatshirt and she looks. Bad.

Yeah, like anybody would be like, -"What the fuck is happening with her?" -"This is troubling." Yeah. She is not discreet at all. Yeah, so she then ends up in the, like, main lobby or grand room of this rehab facility, and everyone's like, what's up with this girl? And then before you know it, she steals the gun from the security guard,

shoots into the air, and like flees the rehab center, literally barefoot with a bloody hospital gown and a bloody sweatshirt over her. It's cold outside, she's just trying to flee, she steps on glass. Of course. And then in that moment, she looks up and sees the friend. Gemma. No. Gemma has two coffees and Sky is like,

what are you doing here? And she's like, I was coming to see you in rehab. I brought you coffee. Sweet Gemma. Sweet Gemma. And then Sky is like, we gotta go. We gotta go, I need a car, where's your driver? And Gemma's like, we gotta go. We gotta go, I need a car, where's your driver?

And Jim was like, what is going on? But also, I support you, so let's effing go. They end up commandeering this big escalade from the you don't know how to drive, let me. Oh no, oh no, I don't like where this is going. Right, so at this point, the two of them are in this gigantic escalade, driving to meet the guy who had been texting to start the process to stop her heart to fake her death so the demon leaves. And Jim has given her a ride to do this.

And it's like a 38 minute ride to the Bronx. Staten Island. Staten Island, yeah, Staten Island. Staten Island, yeah. Staten Island. She sees Sky's foot and is like, you need to go to a hospital. And Sky's like, I need to go to Staten Island. Very fun.

And Sky does for a moment, like say, I can't do this to you, Gemma. Like I feel like I've always just pulled the people around me into my own mess. And I don't want to do that to you again. Like, I think like I've always just pulled the people around me into my own mess, and I don't want to do that to you again. I think you should get out, I should go alone. And Gemma has a moment of being like, you know what, no, we're ride or die.

Like, I'm here for you. And- Emphasis on die. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Ride and die. Yeah. Uh-huh. But at this moment, Sky's what I was thinking. Ride and die. Yeah. Uh-huh. But at this moment, Sky's phone starts ringing.

No. Okay. And guess who is ringing Sky's phone? Her dead boyfriend. Her dead mom. Jemma. No! Jemma!

No! Jemma! Jemma! And so Sky answers the phone, and Sky's like, how are you calling me right now? She's like, yeah, I was finally returning your text. I wanted to check on you, are you okay?

And she's like, wait, this is our first time talking? Turns out all of Jemma was a hallucination and then you look over and the Escalade is evil Jemma with the smile. Oh no. Who's driving the Escalade? There you go. That's a great question. It turns out Skye is actually driving the Escalade? There you go. That's a great question.

It turns out Sky is actually driving the Escalade, but then we realized that maybe all of it is not real. Let's pick it up from here, because that's where I get confused. I get so confused. So she's kind of realizing that it's all happening in her head. So she closes her eyes and she's like, I'm in control,

I'm in control, I'm in control, and opens her eyes. And now she's in the driver's seat by herself and Gemma's not in the car. But then she's like swerving out of control and I think it's in a car accident, but just like happens to be right where she needs to be at this place where she's meeting Morris. And so-

I think she needs to do more of that closing her eyes stuff and saying I'm in control. Let's do that a few more times. All the time. Yeah. Honestly, I'm really happy. Let's do that a few more times. All the time. Yeah. Honestly, I'm really happy for Gemma for several reasons. This is really a movie about Gemma. This is a movie about Gemma.

I was like, whoa, Gemma just immediately is like coming to her and staying overnight and is like, oh, I would like, that's not probably healthy boundaries for Gemma. Gemma has boundaries actually in real life. Yeah, good on Gemma. Yeah. So then now she is driving the car by herself with glass in her bare feet and a bloody sweatshirt

and hospital gown on and she gets to Staten Island to meet Morris and Morris has rented out an abandoned pizza hut. Oh, I love that. In which to do the ceremony to kill her and bring her back to life. I have more questions about Morris's medical license. Fair. New York's hottest club is an abandoned Pizza Hut. Right.

So he has the IV and all the drugs and he needs her to go into the deep freezer room of the Pizza Hut because part of what is needed to get her heart rate low enough is a really low temperature of the room. Yeah, they're walking into this like walk-in freezer room. She's in a hospital gown, shivering. He's in a parka and all nice and cozy warm.

And as they're walking in the room, we see a brick holding the door open. And he's like, oh yeah, don't let the door close because you can't open it from the inside, which is like, motherfuckers. Also, also, that's not how those deep freezers work. I know. They have handles on both sides. I hate when they do this in the movies. No one would build that. No. Also, also, that's not how those deep freezers work. I know. They have handles on both sides.

I hate when they do this in the movies. No one would build that. No. No one would build that. It's a death trap, it's literally a death trap. It's a fucking death trap. Ugh, anything. Yeah, you think Pizza Hut corporate

is going to handle that liability? Yeah, come on. Come on. Come on. So Morris is showing her his equipment, it says like, here's the needle, it's pretty big and I have to inject it like straight into your neck artery

because that's the fastest way to stop your heart. And then I'll keep you dead like as long as possible to get like have our chances be highest. So you'll like start a timer and then I'll come back and resuscitate you. At which point he says, sit tight. And then he just like leaves the freezer. Yeah, he's like, I gotta go grab and resuscitate you. At which point he says, sit tight, and then he just like leaves the freezer. Yeah, he's like, I gotta go grab something real quick.

And it's like, what? And you're like, what? Now? Yeah, yeah. And so she's laying on this kind of makeshift metal hospital like operating table that's probably just like a Pizza Hut table. And she's just alone in this room calling out to him,

Morris, like, where did you go? She's looking around at all the medical equipment. I think having the same thoughts that you were thinking, Emily, of just like finding herself in this situation in like a Pizza Hut freezer, surrounded in medical tools by this guy that she doesn't know. And like, really not a great situation to be in,

but also not much worse than the one that she's already in. Exactly. And as she's kind of contemplating her surroundings, she notices little drips of blood on her hospital gown, which I feel like is now not soaked in blood anymore. Maybe she changed the gowns. Yeah, how'd that happen? Because it used to be that you wouldn't notice

any drips of blood on it, because it was absolutely completely soaked. But anyways, there's blood drips coming from the ceiling, and she terrified, looks up slowly, to reveal herself upside down in the car accident, hanging on the ceiling from the seatbelt. And the car accident version of her like unbuckles

the seatbelt and falls on top of her. Falls onto her in the Pizza Hut deep freezer. It's wild. So then she fights off her car accident self and is like, oh my God. And she injects herself with the syringe that's meant to stop her heart. Oh God.

And then the entity kind of reveals that, ha ha ha. It was all a big hallucination, this whole thing. Oh my God. And then like locks her in a closet. It's like you're not in control, I'm in control. I'm in control. Wait, so the whole thing, like she's not even in an abandoned pizza hut

or she is still in an abandoned pizza hut? No, she's not. Yeah, we're about to see. Okay. Whoa. The entity tells her to break a leg and then when she wakes up, she is in full concert tour apparel and is on stage for the first performance of her world tour.

She is at Madison Square Garden on the floor. Holy shit. And then she looks over, her mother is still alive there in the crowd. The record label guy is there, the assistant Joshua is there, and everyone's waiting for her to start her world tour. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. And then the entity appears in Madison Square Garden

as her current self, but then the entity version of herself tears its stomach open and reveals a monster. She has this long scar along her stomach from the accident. So it basically like pulls open her scar stomach. And the entity is like really hard to describe. It's almost dragon-like. It's like a skinless limbs and

Big long limbs. Rows after rows of teeth. Mouths and teeth. And mouths. Right, so jaw-focused. Yeah, true. They love jaws, they love jaws. It's really big.

And it's huge and it gets bigger. And so it's on stage with her tearing open her stomach in front of an entire crowd, is that what's going on? There's two of her because it was like appearing as her. So basically she's the same as she was. The hallucination is tearing his stomach open and the monster comes out of it. Okay.

And it's getting bigger and bigger. And so she's looking up at it and screaming and screaming. The same way we saw Louis Frigoli looking up higher, like the line of sight is obviously to this like huge creature at the end. That's not visible to anybody else except for you. And so obviously the audience isn't seeing this.

They're just seeing Skye screaming and screaming. Looking up. Yeah. And then having a moment where it kind of flips and her expression goes blank. Because the monster, the entity monster hallucination tears Skye's mouth apart and then crawls inside. And to the crowd, this just looks like Skye

is choking and collapsing. The crowd is just like, oh my God, this woman choked and collapsed on stage at the start of her world tour. What's going on? They're all like, oh my God, are you okay? Then she stands up and they're like, oh, she got it together, she pulled it together are you okay? Then she stands up and they're like,

oh, she got it together, she pulled it together. And then she turns around and you see the sinister smile. And then the shot goes to the audience and you hear the sound effects of a bloody bludgeoning. And then you realize that she has actually fatally stabbed herself in the eye and in the head repeatedly with her microphone in front of all of the concert spectators.

And that is how the movie ends. Oh! You called it Henley. You called it. Wow. It really is Truth or Dare. Cause that's how, no spoiler for Truth or Dare. That's how it goes well. As soon as it ended, I had that feeling. I was how, no, spoiler for Truth or Dare. That's how I wrote as well.

As soon as it ended, I had that feeling. I was like, wait, and I couldn't remember the movie at first, but I was like, there's another movie that did this, and yeah, it's Truth or Dare. Yeah. And so it's very funny that this movie, Smile One already has some elements that are kind of lifted from Truth or Dare,

and this one, they're just like doubling down, and like, well, let's do Truth or Dare's ending too. But it's great. And it really makes you want to smile three. I am now, I want to know. Yeah, what's gonna happen? Are there that many people infected? Can there be that many people?

Yeah, it's like, are they all now carrying the entity? I don't know. Yeah, I want answers. Or does it choose one? Yeah. Yeah. It was, I will say the movie ends and I looked at the screen and looked at my friend and I said, well, fuck that.

It pissed me off. It pissed me off. Yes, yes. Good to feel angry at a movie. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. That's a good.

This is why I'm upset. Only this, this is movie. Just the movie. Yeah, yeah, nothing else going on. This is the beauty of horror movies in general, that it lets us externalize our emotions and put them somewhere else. And it's like, that's nothing in real life.

It's this movie that did it. It's the movie. That's what I'm mad about. Nothing else. If it's doing this well in the box office, it's for sure going to have a third, a smile through. Absolutely. And I wonder how they'll handle that.

Because I don't know, is the demon gonna be too spread thin? I mean, is he gonna- It's just gonna be about how exhausted the demon is. Does the demon have a momager? Does the demon have a momager? Who's gonna be in the next- The demon's like, I need to unionize.

I can't be doing all this work. Exactly. It's time for a pay raise. I'm not getting paid enough and I have no days off. No days off. Not at all. Wow. Have you guys seen those videos that have happened lately

of singers falling into the holes on stages? Oh, Olivia Rodrigo. Chris Martin just fell into the hole recently. Chris Martin and Olivia Rodrigo. They fell into the hole? Like there's little parts of stages that can open up and close so that tech people can, you know, bring in whatever they need to bring in. And it seems like this is

something that would happen all the time, but also, I don't know, for some reason it just happened twice to Olivia Rodrigo and Chris Martin and they both looked pretty painful. Yeah, it's a direct and deep fall. And like that's like a real life jumpscare. Yeah, just made me And like that's like a real life jump scare. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Just made me think of it with like an audience being like, oh no, something bad just happened. But I can't, I can't do anything about it from here in the nose bleeds. Yeah, nothing I can do.

Wow. You know, I love to see a franchise in the making. I really do. If it's like, if you know, let's, let's see where we go. Let's see how far it can go. Let's get to like final destination level where it's like, we are doing this times 12. Mm-hmm. Here's my thing with this movie.

I loved how it played with what is real and what is fake. I liked the music. I liked the way it was shot. It was like a gorgeous horror film, but they could have accomplished all of their goals with like 50% less gore. It was too gory. At a certain point I was just like,

I can't take this seriously because you're just like making my stomach turn. And I guess I'm an outlier because I'm assuming what people who have gone to this film have loved the most about it is the extreme gore, but it was a turnoff for me. It kept me from giving this film an A. Like it was smart in every way, but it was so disgusting

that I could not give it a really good grade. I think you're really highlighting something that I am deeply curious about. And I hope that there's some like analysis of this by someone smarter than myself, because a movie we just did for our Halloween live show is Terrifier 3. Which is like no plot, it's no story.

It's just gore. It's literally just straight gore and the most disgusting, despicable, horrendous, depraved gore you've ever. People like that shit. I don't get it. It's packing theaters. Like it is, it's so successful.

Who are these people? I don't know, but there are a lot of them and it honestly scares the shit out of me. Sammy's one of them, which makes me feel, honestly, it makes me feel a little bit safer to know that Sammy is one of them. Sure, put a face to it. They're not all face to the...

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Put a face to the audience, but I don't understand. Like it's like people, yeah, they're showing up for the gore. They love the gore. to the audience, but I don't understand. It's like people, yeah, they're showing up for the gore. They love the gore. It's so weird to me. I will say I do love gore. Yeah, I'm the opposite where I hate jump scares

and I love gore. And so same thing for me, but for opposite reason, I'm like, I can't fully like the smile movies because I had too many jump scares. But then just a caveat for a Terrifier 3, I will also say that I don't like the Terrifier movies either. I think the gore is incredible, but I would prefer there to be some more plot. There's literally no plot.

I do want, I'm sure somebody has analyzed this and if not, they will. But just now I was like, when were all of the like, when was the Texas Chainsaw remake? When was the, what, Hostel? Like what was happening in society when those were the popular horror movies? Oh, like Torture was happening in real life. Yeah, it was when Post-911 and all of that.

Yeah. Not to speak to certain social anxieties or something. Yeah, I wanna know like what's happening in our collective psyche related to enjoying these. I mean, what's happening? I think I know. I think we know. But, there's, cause it doesn't feel like all of a sudden

it's like extreme gore is back. Super popular. Yeah. I don't like it. Well, there's also this like, I find that these films are like nihilistic. It's kind of like, no matter what you do, you can't beat it.

No matter what you do, you can't get away from this. And does that speak to a current national mood? No matter what we do, Cheeto Jesus is gonna win. No matter what you do, genocide in Gaza, no matter what you do. Is that kind of what manifests in these gory ass films? Yeah, and this little bit of like,

here's how you escape it. Ha ha, just kidding, you can't. There you go, you can't escape. You can't escape. Yeah, and that I feel like was my concern about the franchise as it will get boring also. In addition to maybe not wanting to feel like that. Like everything bad is constantly inescapable.

It's also just becomes predictable. It's like, if I know the whole thing in a smile movie is that you can't win, then it kind of takes. Yeah, it kind of takes any of the, it just becomes not interesting. Yeah, I know how it's gonna end. So yeah, I think that if Smile 3 happens and it ends in the same way,

yeah, it'll just be, I'll be very bored and kind of like, well, I'm over it. Well, also it's like what you want in these horror films is for the final girl to make it. That's what you want, you know? And that is a winning formula. And at a certain point, I'm not going to sign up, no one is not going to give me that, you know?

And certainly if we have 10,000 infected people... One of them's got to make it. One of them's got to be able to figure it out. Someone's got to make it, yeah. Someone's got to make it. That monster's spread thin. Exactly. Capitalize on that. I have to say, when we pulled up the trailer,

I saw my YouTube suggested videos. There were a couple that were like, how to beat the smile monster, like, theories on smile. Oh my God. So people are already out there putting their minds together to figure out how to beat the demon. Doing the important work. Yeah.

Incredible. Insane. Wow. Well, Sam, thank you so much for joining us this week. Oh my God. All we needed was to have some fun. I think we did it. And this was good catharsis

because after I watched the movie on election night and left the theater, I couldn't even debrief on the film with my friend because we were just debriefing on the election results. Of course. So I was like, I need another drink. We end up at this bar with a really sad Irishman who was like, I can't believe y'all did this.

And so the Irish bartender just kept feeding us drinks and wanted to like commiserate about the election. So that night... Was it Tamm'Shanter? No, I ended up at the bar at Potagalooie. Oh, nice, okay. I don't know the name. There's an Irish bartender at Tam O'Shanter,

I was just curious. Okay, okay. But I realized I had yet to like vomit out my feelings about this film until today, so thank you for the catharsis. Because my election night literally, it was just like bad movie experience to bar with a sad bartender.

Talking about how America has failed. Understandably, this was put on the back burner for a bit. Exactly. Then, to cherry on top of that night, I leave the bar and I'm taking the train to get to the movies. I'm waiting for my train, and across the little way at the train station is a young black man around 22 or 23 wearing a Trump sweatshirt. Oh, no.

I saw Trump rally yesterday. They were like, it was like a, what do you call, motorcade when it's just like car after car with Trump flags. They can't even walk for him. Oh my God. Yeah, it's not ideal. Anywho, this was the first space to actually process the film. So thank you all for him. Oh my God. Yeah, it's not ideal. Anywho, this was the first space to actually process the film. So thank you all for that. Oh my God. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us. And will you please let our listeners know where they can find you and anything you want to plug. Yeah. I am at Sam Sanders on all the major social platforms and I publish two podcast episodes every week. On Wednesdays, you can find episodes of my show Vibe Check, And I publish two podcast episodes every week. On Wednesdays you can find episodes of my show Vibe Check,

which I co-host with my good friends Zach Stafford and Saeed Jones. We call that show Your Favorite Group Chat Come to Life. We gab about the world and current events and it's super fun. It's called The Sam Sanders Show. That's in all your podcast feeds and also on YouTube. And if you're in LA, you can hear it on Fridays and Saturdays on KCRW, a radio station. I know, those still exist. Wow! Amazing.

Yeah. And that one is an entertainment pop culture interview show. I interview folks like Saoirse Zemada from Agatha All Along or Brian Jordan Alvarez from FX's English Teacher or all kinds of fun creatives making fun stuff. So that's my interview show, and Vibe Check is my catch up with my girlfriend's show. But you can hear me twice a week.

And there's also a newsletter, the link is kcrw.com slash Sam Sanders. And my newsletter this week was all about making sense of the election results by processing Smile2. So read that if you want. So kind of relevant, relevant to everyone's interest in this moment. Perfect.

Yeah, yeah. But that's where I exist. Amazing. And we'll have links for all of that stuff in our show notes. So everybody, check out Sam. And we close every episode with a voice from the movie. But I feel like there wasn't really too many voices from the movies.

I almost said, and now I have to say is that maybe I should sing it out true. Oh fuck yeah. It's funny, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep and I just like went on this big Wikipedia deep dive into this movie's star and the music and the soundtrack and I was playing the song from Smile 2

to like, lull myself back to sleep. They're actually bops. They're bops. I think I am gonna listen to it. I can't really remember, but it's very like Lady Gaga-esque. So I'll just say, from all of us here at Too Scary to Watch. Very Lady Gaga.

Hell yeah. That's exactly like Lady Gaga. Bye. Beautiful, beautiful. Hell yeah. Sounds exactly like Lady Gaga. Incredible. Bye. Beautiful. Beautiful. We did it. We made it.

Thank you all for listening to another episode of Too Scary Didn't Watch. If you enjoy the show, please remember to subscribe and rate us on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Five stars only or we will haunt you. And if you simply can't get enough of us, we have good news for you. We have lots of bonus content available on our Patreon at patreon.com slash TSTW podcast. You'll get access to video trailer reactions, two bonus episodes a month, the power to vote for upcoming episodes, and more.

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