Hello, and welcome to another episode of the
shock doctor's podcast. I'm Jim Smith.
I am Matt J daisy.
And we are the shock doctors.
In this episode, we're going to be discussing
a quiet place day 1,
which, as you might have guessed from the
title,
is a pre quote to the first 2
quiet place films.
Yeah. The day 1 pro log was the
best and arguably only,
especially good part of the second 1.
Sure. And it's... I think you know, a
valid point of entry for a, you know,
a new
non
office gym filmmaker
to step in and tell a new story.
I think that it's it's it's obviously where...
There's a lot of action. There's a there's
a lot of meant a lot of shit
hitting the fan, which is both good and
bad, I think, although this movie still has,
as you'd expect a good deal of quiet
time.
By the guy who did pig, so it's
got a little bit of an indie sen
character study sort of thing. Yeah. It's not
as bombastic.
As I feared it would be given that
it's set entirely on day 1 or, you
know, like, day 2 and day 3, however,
long first week. First few days. But and
also be kind of New York.
Right. Well, yeah. So
congested urban center
day 1, and the trailer that I kept
seeing
was very balls to the wall. So I
didn't expect to, like this at all although
though I liked pig a lot,
And it's been getting good reviews, and I
liked it okay. I... I've been Lukewarm on
this whole franchise. There are things
that I like more about this 1, things
I like a little less about it. It's
certainly better than the second 1. Yeah. I
know. Yeah. IIIII
like it just fine. It's got Lap in
the an. She's really good in this and
consistently. Pretty much everything.
Yeah.
Just as you've been generally pretty lukewarm on
this franchise. I have been, you know, a
notch or 2 more favorably
disposed toward it.
Yeah. And I
suspect that's about where we're gonna fall on
this 1.
This is the same the same margin as
what? Yeah. Pretty much.
Set your watch by it. Well, that's that's
comforting in its own way. Yeah. And this
crazy fucked up world.
Another thing you can set your watch by
is it's a movie where quiet is at
least at times paramount.
So, of course,
I had
yammer
zoom
behind me.
Whom I wanted to murder.
Yeah. Well,
it just...
They were definitely watching
Tiktok.
And I want. I wanted
a quiet place monster to come by
and eat them. And just, yeah, turned them
into into spaghetti. Yeah.
That's a that's a appalling. That's a that's
a horrifying
laps
Yes. I think re reed education camps.
It's straight to jail. Yeah. Right. For sure.
I'm I'm sorry. The screen
was not simultaneously
playing subway surfers,
but some of us paid
15 50 to watch this fucking movie in
Imax and didn't need to listen to your
crap.
Yeah. I... It's 1 thing to be y
and away. I mean, that's a serious in
fraction in my view,
but it's another thing to have another device
that is not only on, but playing audio.
I mean, that's generating noises.
That's like a that... Like that calls for
a kangaroo court.
A hasty trial followed by a public execution,
I think would be an order. Yeah. What
you've got to make an example of these
ne wells. The problem that I run into
with situations like this
is I wanna go outside and find a
theater employee and say, like, these people are
being incredibly disruptive,
please do something But then her employee would
be a zoom himself, you know, and well
just you're, like Veronica kart right at the
end of invasion of the body snatch signatures.
It's like, who do you turn to? Yeah.
Well, I'm that is 1 risk, certainly.
Best case scenario could be the guys like,
for sure, sir, I'll do that, and then
that walk up there and say, yeah, that
that 30 something
boomer, quote, on, unquote, over there.
Said you're making too much noise. I don't
really give a shit, but I had to
come over here and say something.
But the bigger issue is not necessarily that
the theater employee will fail to do anything
or fail to accomplish anything. That's part of
it. But also,
then I would have to get up and
miss part of the move Right. So, you
know, you you make that
calculation like, okay, do I wanna take the
chance that I can improve the rest of
the viewing experience
by sacrificing a couple minutes here in the
middle of the movie?
Or do I just kinda try and ride
it out and almost without fail, I ride
it out.
Because I'm just
error it. I do the same thing. I
did the same thing. Last time I had
a noisy element in my theater was dune
too. Is it too
action like they were, you know, in their
own home But they didn't have their fucking
phones out. There were older guys, and so
that I could almost live with. But in
your situation I don't even know what I
would have done. It's the kind of thing
that's so fragrant that you can't even... You
know, is it you're just... You know that
they feel no shame. You know. No. And
it's it's... There's nothing you can do to
lay down the law
in a situation like that. Again, I shu
them and that kinda worked
at first, but even initially, I could hear
them kind of giggling. And I'm like, oh,
okay. Right. I just became in their eyes
87 years old, and they absolutely did not
take me seriously, but maybe I got a
little something for the moment. I'm always seeing
people tweeting and and and so on about
how movie theater Etiquette is
dead as a door.
And it's hard to say because it is
all just anecdotal, but it it it does
seem like there's just a divergence
happening here. It's like when humans
split off from pro humans, you know? It's
like it's like that ne movie we watched
where they're, like, both humanoid, but not actually
the same species. That's how I feel occasionally
in movie theaters when someone just lack all
decor?
It's like, how do you even how do
you bridge this gap? You know, how do
you reach across this divide and and and
make this person understand.
Well, they deserve to be hanged.
They're they're getting off light
that you Yeah. Anything you could do to
them is far less than they deserve. Well,
again, it's just it's particularly gall in this
movie.
Where sound is so important,
and there are times where it's supposed to
be
ideally quiet enough to hear a pin drop
in theater.
And they're making noises with their phones and
whatnot. Yeah. Feeling under stimulated no doubt I've
seen a lot of... And we haven't covered
this movie yet. I imagine we'll use it
to patch a hole in our schedule should
such a miraculous event ever occur.
But right but that so called
slow cinema slash or move from a month
or 2 ago has been getting flack now
that it's hit digital because Slash fan and,
you know, people are watching it on shutter
or wherever it wound up. And don't know
how to deal with the ap chat on
where set the cool of it all.
And And and and you know... And I
haven't I haven't seen the move v, I
would, hold off on watching it on until
we work gonna cover it, I guess. So,
you know, maybe it's an annoying gimmick. I
can't say if it actually works in practice,
but it is the sort of such situation
where... Yeah. And my own attention span has
been fucking decimated by his smartphones. You know,
I'm not immune. I feel myself just cognitive
functioning differently
than I did when I was a teenager.
Yeah. You know, when I was impossible to
get a ahold It was a running joke.
I I had a cell phone, a dead
cell phone in my locker all year, you
know, like, a junior year year. I think
it was Yeah. It's forgot that it was
even there, because I liked I liked not
being reachable. Yeah. And now, you know, I've
I've got I've got a welded to my
hand practically same as everybody else. So I'm
not trying to be old man yells at
cloud about it. Inevitably, it is gonna come
across that way. But I think that any
movie that's even a little bit challenging these
days in terms of quiet time or a
slow burn approach is is going to just
break like a wave upon the ind rock
of
what Tiktok has brought.
And, you know, cell phones and then technology,
Youtube, all of it. I have a counter
point though, and this is what I was
building up to is couple weeks ago, I
went and saw
bad boys, ride or die. Okay. Which is
the polar opposite of a challenging,
potentially under stimulating
film viewing experience. Yeah. Not much risk of
being under stimulated. Did in that theater I'd
wage. And you're you're saying they were equally
ill mannered. They were worse.
There were there was there was somebody... There
was a like a family
in my row, like, down the row for
me. 1 of them had like a ring
light phone case if that makes sense? So
it's it's not quite a ring light. It's,
you know, like a rectangular box light, but
it's a light around the frame. Like around
the rim. Around the rim of the phone,
and and it was on.
The phone was out, and it was on.
And then the 1 at the end of
the group nearest to me
she had her phone out, and then she'd,
like, let it kinda drop to her side
facing me, and the screen was just white.
It it it was like a flashlight was
being specifically shine in my eyes while I
was trying to watch this movie.
And
and finally,
I said
out outside the phone just a just a
portal to whatever fucking awful void. They hail
from. You know, they were just... They were
trying to get back in touch with their
own kind
to no avail seemingly.
So I finally had to say, excuse me,
could you please turn that off?
And
she was a hair away, I think,
from
standing up and yelling at me for having
the t
to ask her to do that. And I
I didn't use any profanity
I didn't insult her. I just asked her
to turn off. Again, in my mind, her
stupid fucking phone.
But, you know, out loud, your phone or
that or whatever exactly I said. But, yeah,
as it was, she was mu to her
seller
like, who who the fuck are you?
Look at this H Toy asshole who left
his glowing white wreck tang at home.
It's like... It's like you're not even you're
not even playing angry birds. Or whatever the
fuck? You're not even... You just what an
asshole. What are you getting out of like
device? It's like, I'm sorry you don't know
the screen
dea
button on your phone. You just, like,
anytime you stop looking at your phone for,
however long, you just
wait for it to eventually time out. That's
the only way you've ever shut off your
screen, I guess.
That's probably yeah. That's probably it in her
mind. It it was not on and you
because it wasn't... Because it's light was not
angled
directly into her corn
as it as it was yours.
So
that's... Well, it serves me right for trying
to get d
about it. There probably is no
organizing principle
here. You know, it's not strictly a generational
thing. It's just a a jungle. Yeah. It's
just
civilization is assess pool, and
it's over.
We're already dead.
Speaking of which
we open
in a support group
for terminal cancer patients, Do I have that
right? So Sam, I believe is her name,
Neon character
is not already dead but on the brink
and In her mind, kind of Yeah. Already
dead. A lost cause. And obviously, there are
a few kind of car horn
lines of dialogue in the first 5 to
10 minutes that kind of indicate. Alright. So
she's gonna have this trajectory where she's sort
of in the midst of all this death
and destruction. She's going to learn to appreciate
life that writings on the wall That's fine.
I guess, the 2 lines
that follow hot on the heels of that
opening support group scene that gave me that,
like,
Kinda feeling
was she's talking to a nurse male nurse
friend of hers named Ruben.
And
we're treated to a bit of coworker banter.
But it's playful. I don't remember what ins
indicates it, but she says, oh, I'm a
very mean person. I think that she was
snip at another patient or I don't remember
the details. Well, she she was compelled or,
like, borderline
compelled into sharing
an in progress poem that she wrote. The
theme of which was shit.
Right. And and I think the snip in
particular that was being called out was that
she made a crack about 1 of the
members of the support group does a funny
walk when he's trying to hide the fact.
That he has shitting his pants.
Right.
Now it's all coming back to me. Anyway,
he she she out and says, I'm a
very mean person.
And you're... It's almost an inverse
save the cat kind of thing, which is
funny because she spends this entire movie du
taking care of a cat. You know? That's
a... Quiet cat ever. Yeah. The most ob
b
saint like cat in golf creation.
Spoiler alert
the cat makes it all the way through
the movie. Yeah. I figured when it was
readable. I figured when it was first introduced
that it was a fucking gone that there
was gonna be some situation where
the cat was making noise, and so she
would have to distance herself from it. And
it would be an extension of the... What,
you know, what I call the inverse save
the cat, a very literal
inverse shit
of that trope. But anyway, her branding herself
as not very nice, I think is kind
of meant to indicate that she's maybe not
in terms of being physically hardy because she
has terminal, but, you know, that... In terms
of her disposition, maybe she has what it
takes to survive the apocalypse that she's a
little bit prick. And I think they kind
of have to establish
that prick ness because
she's so devoted to this cat, which does
imp survive the entire movie. So we're it
not for these lines and and these bits
of behavior
to sorta of suggest
that she is a bit of a a
bit cold, yeah, then we would just think
that she was Florence and Nightingale or somebody.
Oh, saint. Yes. So they kind... Because because
of they they have to mitigate the cat
stuff, and I think that's a lot of
this dialogue is coming from. I'm a very
mean person.
And then the next line is he asks
her
along on this excursion
of some kind, other with other patients and
hospital staff. And they're trying to make plans,
and she says, I could be dead by
then. She's talking about cancer, of course, but
little does she know, they could all be
dead by then, You know, Right mentality is
about to become a much more commonplace place
concern, and that was the other car horn
moment for me in this 1 scene alone,
but it's not obnoxious. Just... It it does
it calls attention to itself, but it it
not in a way that, like, brings the
movie to a screeching halt. It's just a
little bit cheeky.
Yeah. So she winds up being c into
going out into the city. The carrot that
ruben dang in front of her is pizza.
It would work on me, it would work
on many of us. Anti social tendencies be
damned. And she realizes that she's been dupe
slightly
and
Shanghai
to this
Marion net show that she doesn't have any
interest in, but then she winds up being
a little bit enchanted by it And indeed,
the whole audience is just in rapture. The
film's first jump scare is a a balloon
popping, a balloon inflated by a puppet,
and it elicit gaps from the audience, the
in movie audience, at least. And when they
emerge from the theater, a crisis is already
a foot traffic is at a standstill, and
the group is has being summoned back to
the hospital because something is going on, and
they don't know quite what and not long
after
all hell breaks loose. She gets knocked out,
the
particulars escaped me, but she comes to covered
in ash, the very striking image. Cutting back
from a black screen. Very 09:11,
very evo of... Well, I mean, being
A person who media everything through movies. I
thought of 09:11
itself second...
And Spielberg war of the world's first
even though that movie is steep in 09:11
imagery. It feels the most like war of
the world's
than, you know,
almost any other movie that I could point
to. It's got that kind of grounded
blue collar ruins of the world trade center
kind of ambient
Gray thing going for it, which I initially
liked very much. I mean, I like it
in war of the worlds and it an
I like to hear as well. She's back
in the theater where they saw the puppet
show and pretty ex ex.
Which is good because this is the third
movie.
She is made to understand not to make
any noise. It... It's helpful that she's knocked
out And then when she comes to,
everyone else has already figured this out. There's
no scene of her putting it together
which would have been annoying when this is
our third housing because we're already old pros.
Yeah. She she gets hand signaled into this
realization by J Han for those of you
who either listened to the episode we did
on Quiet place part 2 or perhaps saw
that film
was
introduced in that film. I was trying to
remember if I was man
myself or if he was actually in that
I kept forgetting he was in this 1
when he showed up at the end on
the boat. I was like, oh, yeah. Right.
Well, yeah. I was definitely expecting when he
would you know, because he shows up... He's
in the row ahead of her with his
family at the Marion show. He's around for
the duration of
that setting, you know, that theater. And then
once Sam
leaves
that place. We don't see him again until
the very end of the film. And, yeah,
I was wondering, like, okay, They folded him
back into this 1. That's kinda cool. Maybe
we'll see more of him
or maybe not.
This seems like a weird choice.
Crucially,
prior to everything turning into an alien blood
bath they, take a rain check on pizza
because they're being summoned back to the hospital
post taste.
And Lap The is not standing for that.
And I and I I completely understand because
any of us could step off the curb
and get hit by a cement truck and
not get that slice of pizza that we
promised, but she, in particular has reason to
think that her days are numbered.
And the only reason she came out and
sat through that Goddamn puppet show was for
her slice of Za, and she's gonna get
it in, you know, this trip to the
city, not tomorrow not next week today. And
this, like, carp diem mentality
about pizza in specific, kind of does more
to shape the plot of this movie than
you might think.
It it it turns into... She does get
her bite of pizza pie.
Before we roll credits, and it's not the
main
thrust of the narrative, but it's not
incidental either. You. It's kind of funny, how
much of this movie is just about her
trying to get that slice of pizza that
she sat through that puppet show for. I
don't know even know what I would like
in it too. It's kind of a bold
move because it's the sort of thing
that you would put in a in a
in a comedy. It'd be more at home
in, like, a back the block or something
like that, something where you're like, you're fighting
aliens, but it's, like, kinda played for laughs
a little bit more. Like, or worlds end,
maybe where they're doing the where they're doing
the bar crawl. You know, they gotta finish
that bar crawl even though the apocalypse is
upon them. You gotta get that slice of
pizza
for some reason, this doesn't have the apocalypse
angle to it, but just talking about this,
what popped into my head was, I wasn't
even supposed to be here today. It's like
a clerk thing.
Yeah. It it does... And and and that
it's a Kevin Smith quest. Well the
and that gets back to
Michael Sa is kind of indie leaning, I
think. It's a unaffected
protagonist
for a movie like this. But it's not
like The first 2 movies were very father's
knows best. And I complained about this during
the episode we did on the second 1.
First 1 pre the podcast. I'm almost positive.
And I was annoyed at the second 1
because Jim died in the first movie,
John P presents
and I figured all girl. I died. I
died to.
III brought him back in using Frankenstein and
s and, you know, shock doctor
magic.
And
so III figured okay, based on the way
the first movie ended, the second 1 is
gonna be all about Emily Blunt being mama
bear. Not so, Kill and Murphy gets kind
of becomes
pushed on.
Exactly. And they just kind of pick up
where they left off with the whole pate
internal debt.
And it's a little bit more
kind of classically heroic,
and I hesitate to say conservative. But, you
know, just to just it's got old fashioned
values.
And this new 1 is closer to Clerk.
You know, it's more a sur a little
bit closer to pig even with the even
the pizza thing is a little bit pig
coated. Yeah. You know, Like that that scene
where Nicholas cage
absolutely e the guy who's operating that in
inseparable.
You wanted to make burgers.
Exactly. He's got he's got this soul list
Michelin and star Eater when actually, he wants
to be running a greasy spoon. So the
pizza quest is very in line with that,
I think. And that's all to the good.
So Sam Elect to remain in the city.
Well, there's a massive evacuation happening. Oh, rubin
dies. Almost forgot before they even make it
out of the theater. He's fuss with a
generator. If I remember right? Yeah. A a
generator
kicks on once the power cuts.
And it's making a shit load of noise
because that's how generators work. I guess it
can be excused
as a dumbass
in universe character mistake because they're not all
accustomed to
the rules of operating in this new horrible
world they're living in.
Maybe at day 20 and beyond Ruben would
have known that the right thing to do
was, okay. Let's just get as far away
from the generator as possible, and we'll probably
be fine. But instead, he goes and he
has to scramble
and reach behind the thing and hit a
shutoff off valve, and he successfully does this,
and somehow that has not yet attracted the
creatures,
but then he rather loudly tears his shirt,
pulling himself out from behind this thing. And
there's the sort of panic and hope against
hope, 5 or 6 seconds, and then he
gets pounce on in a wide. Yeah. I
I found the circumstances
a bit con, although just as a scripting
choice, a storytelling choice, I do like that
they kill Reuben relatively early on because based
on their coworker banter at the very beginning
of the movie, I thought they were gonna
have more of an odd couple
relationship, you know, because it's framed as, you
know, like, I'm a very mean person. Oh,
I need to coax you out into the
city where we're gonna get you out among
the people
and you think that he's gonna be a
kind of the person who she her to
this realization that life is still worth living.
Instead he gets absolutely wrecked.
So then she's on her own for a
good long while, and she winds up a
good shot of of her a series of
shots that are quite striking.
Of her swimming upstream, walking against the grain
of this
massive exodus of people silently shuffling.
Out of the city, which I liked. It
strange a little bit just because it is
New York, and I have to believe
somebody in that crowd would make a racket.
And maybe then would just be beaten to
death by, you know, everyone to their left
and right. But I I just don't
and may expect at least 1 person to
go.
Oh.
Like like spider man. You mess with 1
of you mess with all of us.
Except in reverse with everybody else like no
fuck you shut up we wanna live. Yeah.
Right. And I could have done with a
little bit more of that, a little more
of a sense of anarchy. Now maybe the
aliens have been ramp for long enough that
people have been called.
All, that the the herd has been thin
to the point where everyone on the street
is able to get with the fucking program.
Maybe that's for the best just so the
movie can get a move on. It is
a a very brisk thing. It's a little
lang just because it's so quiet, but it
is short. It's like sub 90 minutes if
I'm not mistaken. Oh, I think it's just
over, but either way, it's in that ballpark.
The same I believe as the other 2.
I think they're all about this length. On
the 92
93 minute range,
which is I agree something that's in all
their favor. You know, they don't Yeah. Overs
stay their welcome. So somehow, III was just
complaining about, like, oh, someone in this crowd
would make a noise.
Someone must, I don't remember who or how
because aliens descend upon them.
Well, it's just 1 of those things where...
And this is not a brag because this
didn't require wizard on my part, but I'm
just watching this I'm like, and I I
saw it coming And was like, okay, there
are so many people. This is not gonna
end well. There there's too many bunched together.
I mean, they're literally
wedged shoulder to shoulder from 1 side of
the street to you. Which is also very
aware of the world. This is kind of
the peak world of the world sequence. Everyone
it has a fine coat of ash on
their head and shoulder. They're and there is...
There's a scene in that movie that gives
me kind of the crowd crush, like,
you know, kinda hyper
when the when the... You know, they're all
they're they're all packed in on the the
bridge and then they get attacked by a
tripod, but it's almost a relief when the
tripod shows up and, you know, syncs the
bridge. Because it alleviate the anxiety of all
of them being hemmed in like that. Yeah.
This scene, I thought of you
watching this because of like, oh boy crowd
disaster here we go.
Yeah. I have a morbid
fascination. But and... It it's sort of ever
since that, I think it was a Travis
Scott concert, 2 or 3 or maybe more
at this point years ago. I think it's
broken into the popular
consciousness
a little bit more. Although you never know.
I mean, everyone... It's... They're always mis reported
as Stampede. That... That's what would so aggravating
because it's anything, but a stampede it is
not possible under those conditions. No. But it's
a stampede does sort of into here after
or the aliens start slice and dyson and
doing their thing? And what sets it off?
What does the inc
sound? Well, so I was I was getting
this. I don't really think there is 1
as such. I think it's just that many
people even if they're all trying to be
pretty quiet. They're all walking down the street.
Eventually, there's a certain ambient level of noise
that that's gonna make. Yeah.
And that's kinda how this scene plays out
because there's no point where somebody goes
again, like, oh,
or or for whatever.
I was just gonna keep doing that. Yeah.
I go the fucking funds or whoever. But
even even if it's not, you know, that,
like, some New York, any any big city
doesn't have to be like a New Yorker
car sure. But I mean, although It's more
fun for me that which it's more fun
that way. Yeah. I agree. But, you know,
if someone
would have just been off their meds
or just out of their head or just
wanted to end at all. And well and,
you know,
we allow it for everyone.
Before Sam leaves
the theater.
There's this guy, G Hon and Reuben and
Sam are all on
the roof,
and they're watching the military presumably
blowing up all of the bridges
from Right. Manhattan to the mainland.
And around this time, we also get shoppers
loudly announcing that you should flee to the
water if you can because the of course
they can't swim. They always bring the stampede
with them. Yeah. But anyway, so when they
see all the bridges go down,
this guy, just some random guy who's 1
of the people hiding in the theater is
walking up the final stairs
through the door to the roof.
And he sees the cities like, we're trapped...
We're all gonna die here. And you know,
trapped click rats. Yeah. And they're they're trying
to keep him from just screaming and eventually
J on Han just bash his brains against
the... That's right. Against the wall because the
guy won't shut the fuck up. Yeah. You
can tell that it's escalating in that direction.
I thought that he was just gonna, like,
clasp a hand over his nose and mouth
which is what happens to The when she
comes to. Yeah. When when all of this
kicks off. But and and, like, accidentally sm
him to death, But, no. It's it's a
much more swift.
Yeah.
So, yeah, you would expect that to have
happened in the giant crowd thing instead, nobody
trying to be quiet as church mice and
there's just too many of them. Know. There's
too many, and we see the creatures like,
they're kind of
lying in wait,
scrambling quietly up some walls of buildings around
the block. And this is... I like this
too because
this is kind of the antidote
to what you always complain about with how
these monsters
operate, namely the they're so fucking sensitive to
sound that they themselves make deafening noises
pounding around. They're just like they should move,
like Spiders not, like ramp elephants. I mean,
that's always my... The go to example for
me is always she lob in return of
the king, kind of silently spider around and
emerging from
cra in the side of that horrible cop
Webb Mountain. And and that's pretty much exactly
what they're showing in this scene. So that's
all the good. Are we gonna assume Michael
Ser is a a devoted listener and... Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We're worse maybe been following me
on on an alt on Twitter
where where were our tickets to the premier?
IIII
would like to know.
Yeah. Checks in the mail. I have to
assume.
Why is Lu Neo not a guest on
this episode of the podcast.
And Michael Ser. I mean, you're dead. And
so it would be
be a to decided upgrade. No offense, you
know, but it's been getting done
matt starting taken,
trying to keep blood pumping through your cold
gray veins.
Yeah. 1 of my ears fell off the
other day. It's
it's rough going.
But... Yeah. So eventually, the crowd in spite
of itself. It's just... There's too many of
them. There's too much noise.
All, hell breaks loose.
There's complete chaos.
It's a good scene overall. There's 1 moment.
I didn't care for. It's in the trailer
quite prominently
where Lap Ny
is hiding under a car, and a guy
comes scrambling in after her grabs her ankle
and goes, help me help me. And it's
like, III saw that in the trailer and
thought for sure that would be from, like,
the opening seconds of the first alien attack.
Right. Not you know, later that same day
when mere moments prior, everyone was silently shuffling
along like church might
you know, because they had figured it out.
They were they've gotten with the program. This
guy... I mean, you know, what panic can
make us to do anything.
It just seems awfully
strange that it it was to the point
where like? Also, what could he possibly be
expecting her to do to help? Right. Right.
It's nonsensical, and it you know, it helped
me get under the car, I guess, but
even still, it's it's a moment. What when
it didn't show up in the first attack
sequence. I just figured they'd cut it from
the movie or it maybe it had only
been shot for the trailer.
Or something.
Some suit decided that the movie was too
muted. So they had to throw in this
hap less fuck wit. Going like, help healthy.
Like it's like independence day or something.
You know. But no. He shows up and
does that whole s way later than he
had any right to. So that was sort
of strange.
Yeah. So it's around this time
when we cut away for a little while
from,
only, like, a couple of minutes, and we
find our secondary protagonist,
whose name is Eric, played by Joseph Quinn,
who I think has only ever been in
season 4 of stranger your things. That's probably
a little bit red productive, but that's what
99.9
percent of the world might know him from.
It's the only time I've ever seen him
before.
His introduction is kind of interesting. He bursts
out of the water at the top of
a flooded subway entrance and spots
Sam's cat taking a drink of this presumably
filthy water.
And he kind of follows the cat to
Sam after he catches his breath and even
though he does a bunch of gasping. Apparently,
it is not quite sufficient in the midst
of some ongoing chaos to draw the attention
of the creatures. So lucky, yep.
Yeah. They can hear a pin drop when
the screen writer wants them too, but that's,
you know, that's movies for you. Right.
So at first, Sam doesn't really want anything
to do with him doesn't want company and
is trying to get him to go to
wherever the escape point
the helicopters have been talking about is heading
in the opposite direction, going downtown
to the southern tip of the island, whereas
she's headed
north uptown to Harlem where her favorite pizza
place is,
right. Try and get the pizza.
My impression of him at this point. He's
just kind of in a day is he's,
like following her around, like, a lost dog.
Mh. And my impression was that he would
probably
be cat tonic even if they weren't
in this survival scenario we're speaking could mean
death, you know, that he just wouldn't he'd
be rendered to mute either way, which is
convenient enough. If you need a shell shocked
traveling companion, you know, better that than a
guy
flipping shit and, you know, fl around and
making a bunch of ru.
So they pull up somewhere and there's a
dialogue sequence, and there's not, you know, obviously,
given the circumstances.
There's not a ton of dialogue in this
movie, but I I could've have maybe done
with even less than there is.
I don't know
end they're... Again, there's not a lot. There's
not too much,
but, I don't know. I might have modulate
it just a little differently, because they wind
up having this heart to heart they hole
up somewhere where they have enough privacy that
they can whisper to each other. And I
think it's even... I think it's her apartment.
And even engage in some primal screen therapy.
During a thunderstorm. Right seemed needlessly risky to
me, but then again, she's terminal. I don't
know what his excuse is. He's in shock,
I guess. Yes.
So they just timed their screams, these cath
screams to win the peels of thunder. Or
masking them. Yeah. I think, you know, if
the aliens have even a rudimentary
ability to triangulate
sound It's not like they would have been...
They're not winged, you know, they wouldn't have
been pursuing the thunder into the sky. If
they could do that, then those helicopters would
have been fucking done for. Yeah. But anyway,
they're fine. The the characters always find a
way to to cheat the central can see
somehow in in the first quiet place. They
live that bunker, of course, and then they
can also take refuge behind a nearby waterfall
to have a father son bonding moment if
I remember right.
Yeah. So there's there's always little outs like
that, which is fine.
There is a rather tense sequence in a
flooded tunnel
that I was expecting
to take issue with because
there's a big to do in the second
movie, And again, in this 1, about how
the aliens
don't mix with water,
and I'm gonna have more to say about
that. I reckon after the break. But, yeah.
Is a little bit of an annoying achilles
heel
to give them, I think because in that
first movie, maybe the suspense highlight,
is Emily blunt.
There there's a bit where they just do
jaws in a flooded basement. Basically. 1 of
the aliens is completely submerged.
And
she's looking at the surface of the water
trying to figure out where it is. And
whether it's, you know, about to get the
jump on her, And it's quite odd. There's
a lot about these movies that feels video
gaming to me,
another dia that I'm gonna launch into after
the break, but part of it in terms
of the creatures that they're up against is
just this notion that it can be completely
below the water
and be fine,
but it can't
swim. You know? It's not... So it's not
like a water allergy, like the aliens and
signs.
It's just... It's the sort of video gaming
me thing where it's, like, you're okay up
to a certain depth, but like, once it
hits your shoulders
you just immediately drown, you know. It's like...
Yeah. It's like the sort of thing that
would happen in an old Grand theft auto
game. Not the best example. But I, you
know, just
a weird drowning death where, like, the animation
just doesn't look right. You know, it happens
at a depth that just feels kind of
arbitrary. I don't I mean, you gotta give
yourself some kind of a silver bullet, I
guess. If you've got noise on your side,
of course, as the characters be blatantly figure
out in the first movie they've got those
giant gnarly,
exposed eardrum, g, do you suppose,
it may be
anyway. But this scene in the flooded tunnel
is rather good because what happens, and it's
like something straight out of a resident evil
game, the thing sham along the ceiling. After
them. It stays out of the water for
the most part and is obviously able to
close the distance between them because it's running,
and you can know, these fucker can run
as you'll know. If you've seen these these
movies and they're swimming or waiting. So that's
quite scary and did not give me something
to... I mean, I found a way to
bitch about it anyway because that's just how
I'm wired.
But I was bitch pitching, I, about a
hypothetical in the case of this latest entry,
the scene did not actually give me something
to complain about. Yeah. And they get away
because once they get underwater and swim a
little ways, the creature basically
drown
almost immediately.
Right. But presumably if its feet could touch
the ground. It would have been a
you know, if that flooded basement seen in
the first movie is any indication. I'm not
even getting hung up on it because it's
like
inconsistent lore or world building or what have
you? Because I don't tend to care about
that or at least it's not priority numero
uno, but I just... I think that there
are better and more interesting ways that you
could have h these creatures. Obviously, Michael Ser
and his collaborators
I don't know who wrote the script or
saddle with it because it was very firmly
established in the second movie that this island
community is safe. The 1 where Jim Hu
winds up because it's an island, you know,
and and these things can't swim. I just...
I don't remember that being an element of
the first movie at all, and just have
to assume
that they hadn't decided that yet. But, you
know, oftentimes franchises like this, accumulate that kind
of
Re con baggage as they go along.
It's in no way unique. Yeah.
There's a sequence, and this I kind of
did like speaking of Lore and world building.
This feels like a a valid contribution to
me. There's a scene where they watch
the aliens
tending to these strange
flesh, slimy, meteor right eggs
as they're hatching.
And I think that this has a certain
utility. It feels old school to me. This...
It's like a meeting the queen alien in
aliens
where you... You're kind of given a more
expanded view of the life cycle.
Of the creature.
This is something that this this is 1
of the functions of a sequel, and, you
know, of a Sci f fantasy sequel. Is
that you can zoom out a little further
and give us
that more expanded view. So I thought that
was kind of neat. They do ultimately make
it to the pizza place
and
Gets a bite of that sweet sweet saw.
And it's not... No. It's a it's a
compromise
Yeah. It's, yeah. They get to her pizza
place, and it is a burned out wreck.
And she nearly
breaks down and then Eric, asks her. Where
did your dad
play the piano? Because there's this whole
running backstory thing where her dad who's
dead and not on account of aliens,
potentially implied that he also died of cancer,
in any case he used to be a
jazz Pianist, and he and Sam would go
to 1 of his gigs basically and she'd
hear play, and then they would go to
this pizza joint afterwards. And so that's why
it's her favorite place. Her favorite. And that's
why she's embarked on this pilgrimage,
you, because Right a little bit a little
bit p.
Yeah. So
instead, they just go to this jazz club,
and it's empty.
I forget why
Eric goes out and about, but not far
away. Finds just 1 of those regular 99
cents slice
places.
Yeah. That's pizza in New York. You know,
just like the place right across the street.
Right.
And he brings the 2, 3, however many
day old pizza
back with him. And it looks like it
was nothing to write home about to begin
with. It looks like chuck cheese, pizza is
just plain cheese, nothing too exciting going on
there. Yeah. But he he scribble
Pat is the name of her favorite place,
and he scribble that on the plain white
box lid. And then Tada, and they have
some of this pizza, so does the cat?
Yeah. Cat drags off a slice. There's not
a lot of, like, cat cut away gag
in this movie. I think there's... It it's
it's very surgical. I think that it would
have been a shame to not see the
at, get some of the pizza because it's
been dragged along on this
adventure. Didn't have any say in the matter.
So it should get to reap the reward
at the... You know, the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow as it
were.
Yeah.
Just the right amount of cat antics, which
is to say not much.
But some.
But some. Not done.
So, Eric
at this point spots a deck of cards
takes it upon himself to do a pant
card trick, which
ends up somewhat impress
Sam because he pulls it off. Yeah. It's
kinda... It's a tall order to get us
to expect that this S character
is dazzled by
magicians and puppet tears.
It's like it's like surely. Either 1
independently would be stretch, but both in a
90 minute movie. It's a testament I think
to Lap Ny that she can go starry
eyed
and not just make you go. Okay. Come
on.
It's normally dragging your a ce cynical main
character to a puppet show in the first
act would be an opportunity to have them
rolling their eyes and getting antsy and acting
like, like when Paul Gia ama gets dragged
to revenge of the nerds in American splendor,
you know, and just really
just real against. The nerds
The way his bloody says that title will
be burned on my brain forever.
The the line of his...
What what is that actor name your Fried
something? I... Am I thinking about the right
guy? I think he's on 30 rock. Yeah.
Or, you know, was a million years ago.
The the line of his that I always
think of is... It might cheer you up.
Almost sounds like droop.
Right.
What do I seem depressed?
Judith to fight But she doesn't it. She's
very taken with the puppets and with the
magic,
and the movie gets away with I think
mainly because
Can almost do no wrong.
Right.
So we're at the game here more or
less. They're walking... They they go outside. And
they see a boat leaving
a nearby pier, and they also see some
of the creatures
kind of lumber along
the edge of the coasts. Yes. And their
usual frustrating elephant mind fashion.
They themselves, the creatures appear frustrated
because they can see all of these things
out there making noise the they would be
trying to kill if there weren't a bunch
of water in the way. It's not a
hundred percent clear why Sam believes that she
needs to serve as a distraction in order
to give Eric his opening.
I feel like they probably both could have
made it to shore and then swim for
the barge
but that's not how it goes down. Yeah.
It's a decision that she seems to arrive
at and that the movie kind of arrives
at
fairly abruptly,
which I sort of liked because John K
death in the first 1 is very be.
Know, I mean, they they milk it for
all it's worth, and that's appropriate because there's
some pay those there. And and the these
these movies all have kind of a mod
streak. I think that's something that this 1
inherit
from the first 2. It's just part of
the genetic code of this franchise, but they
don't be labor the point this time. She
kind of just flies into action. She grabs
a tire iron and starts smashing windows of
parked cars in their vicinity.
Well, I mean, there's a brief sort of
goodbye where she trades his jacket for her
sweater and hands off. That's right. And says...
That's... Yeah. That's right. Take care of the
cat. Okay. Now run. But then, yeah.
She grabs the tire iron starts setting off
a bunch of noise makers, basically.
Yeah. There's a ceiling on how
yous your tearful goodbye can be in a
situation like this, which I think is something
the movies have going for them, given that
they do have that mod streak, you know,
the water works can't get. Yeah. Yeah. It
doesn't go doesn't go from mod to,
mock
per... Yeah. Right. Right.
Meanwhile, he's heading in the other direction, and
he makes it out to the pier, but
he
accidentally kicks an empty aluminum can or something.
So
it's a race to the end of the
pier, and, of course,
as you might expect,
the creatures and he reached the end of
the pier basically at the same time before
finish. Yeah. They're swiping after him as he
leaps into the water just out of reach.
Which it's 1 of their it's 1 of
their patented
flying tackle that they've been doing ever since
they've mir John K
son in the opening pro log of the
first movie. You know, it seems they always...
They have a tendency to want to get
airborne right before they kill. You know, Yes.
It's...
Don't I don't know why.
But it narrowly misses him. They're both airborne,
and then he
sp into the water. With the cat. Yes.
As we said, cat makes it all the
way. Mh. So he swims to the barge
gets helped board by Jim Hon. As we
said, he does come back. Very briefly. He's
the 1 who's who spots something happening on
the dock and is like, stop the boat.
Yeah.
Exactly. And then... Yeah. So the the cat
and Eric both make it, and
Sam
monologue a little bit and is walking down
a deserted street somewhere in New York, listening
to her ipod.
Crucially, it's mounted into some kind of speaker
apparatus, and then the headphones are jacked into
that.
And so when I guess she's picked her
moment.
She yank the
headphone jack and the music just starts playing
in the open, and it's feeling good, the...
Simone. Yeah. Version. Alberto
Alberto.
Yeah. They timed it just right. I was
curious as to how
a cut to black was inevitable. Yeah.
And I didn't know
where exactly the creature was gonna land at
what point in the music it was gonna
happen. And I
I was
I mean, not super concerned, but I I
was wondering, like, is this gonna hit, like,
just wrong?
Right just, you know, like, like Johnny Depp
says in secret window of movie that I
invoke more than it deserves and the only
for thing Right? The only thing that matters
is the ending. You don't wanna trip at
the finish line. So I I agree. I'm
with you. Yeah. And, ultimately,
they time a creature hitting the ground
a moderate distance behind her to go with
a boom cut to black all at once,
and then the song keeps playing over the
credit. So they did
successfully time that there at the end. And
the fact that they sustain the song into
the credits
makes it less of a gut punch because
it kind of leaves you with a feeling
that Sam has triumph
in some way. Yeah. Because she's picked her
moment.
Yeah. Died on her own terms. And she
successfully
saved both this dude that she just met.
And also her cat.
So that's as much of a win as
a terminal cancer patient in the midst of
an apocalypse is going to get.
Really Yeah.
More after the break.
Hello listeners. It's Jim. Here is always during
the break to tell you some stuff you
probably already know.
Please follow us on Twitter at shock doctors
pod on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash
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gmail dot com.
And now back to the show.
And we're back.
Matt, how about you get things going here?
Well, I like
Michael Ser.
I like what I've been calling his indie
sen.
You know, you can point to clerk. You
can point to all all sorts of things.
You can obviously point the pig.
There were points in this movie,
you know, the fact that it's about pizza,
the fact that it's about her cat.
There were times when I thought, you know,
this is what you'd get if
I am legend was also inside Lu Davis,
You know? It's just... There there's a shot
of her near the beginning of the movie
on a bus, obviously before everything goes to
hell in a hand basket,
you know, sort of resting her head against
the glass window,
cats in her lap,
and it is very blue and Davis, but
then it also gets very... I am legend.
And all of that is good. I don't
think that it totally gets away
from
some of the hang ups of the previous
2 installments that I didn't care for. I
don't think that it fully redeem the creatures,
although I like some of the little course
corrections that it does, and the way that
they sort of crash around, like,
enraged rhino
didn't...
Either the Apex of that problem for me
was in quiet place part 2. Bothered me
a little in the first movie, but not
as much as it did in the second
1. In this movie, I was mostly okay
with it just because this being set in
New York, it's bound to be fucking bed,
You know know. And so that amount of
noise
is less. It just blends in better.
That said, it did bother me
right at the tail end of the movie
when they're chasing Eric over the docks.
1 of them just
smash into a big wooden crate and just
fucking obliterate that splinter go flying, and I'm
just thinking what I thought all through quite
place part 2, and probably once or twice
in the first movie if I had to
guess, would they not just constantly be attacking
1 another? You know, I mean, they are
blind
Yeah. You know, if if they produce that
much noise, it would just be like, cha
in their in their radar, You know, it
would just be like, impossible for them to
triangulate
anything.
Yeah obviously, if they're communicating with their horrible
sq s voices,
then they know. Okay. That's not That's 1
of ours. And they do do a little
more of that in this movie. There's a
scene. I think it's the egg hatching scene
where they kind of talk to each other,
like
you know, that almost, like, spraying noise that
the raptors do in the jurassic park movies
where they kinda crane their head back and,
you know, when they've got something to say.
Yeah. Exactly. Rural.
And that I liked. I don't remember them
doing that in the previous 2 movies, but
they they might have
So that's exempt, they can make as much
of those noises as they want. But when
they're just getting crash smash in the environment.
That's what I take on bridge with, and
there's not that much of that in this
movie,
but what is there is just as arc
to me as it's always been?
Yeah. I guess you could potentially make the
argument that they could also know what each
other making t t noises
sounds like and they can filter that out,
but that seems like a reach, and I
I think it at best that would only
be even kind of convincing
when they are just
tram along the ground and not when as
you point out in this particular moment,
they're
smashing through and shattering
objects. Yeah. Because the the object shattering noise
is not necessarily a familiar default noise that
they know they can ignore. It wouldn't be,
you know, on their home planet presumably wouldn't
create Yeah. I mean, who knows, what kind
of genetic memories they have or how many
other planets they've conquered or whether they're at
all intelligent just seem like, kinda Apex predators.
Well almost like they've been weaponized by some
different species. I don't know if this series
is ever gonna zoom that far out.
But, you know, it just seems... I just
don't know what brought them here or who,
whether it was just
cosmic
unfortunate
for the human race or whether it's a
deliberate conquest
because they don't seem
smarter than say, a panther by way of
a rhino offs, you know?
You talk about zooming out a vaguely interesting
thought is occurring to me kind of in
the other direction, which would
get around
the problem of the monsters just
distracting each other with their own noises. I
feel like it might be kind of interesting.
If some future installment depending on how many
fucking entries this series can sustain or people
think it can sustain how many spin offs
they might wanna do, but it might be
kind of interesting if they just took, like,
1 of these creatures
and put it in some kind of enclosed
space with 1 human protagonist or like, a
couple. And then... Yeah. Yeah. Like, like, a
rip alien. Yeah. More more of an alien.
Would be sick.
Except the x morph can only
here that presents its own various challenges. Right.
And rather than having acid to blood, it
is just generally
bulletproof unless it's horrible
flesh flower face kind of pedals open. Right,
which we don't see a lot of in
this movie. There's not really any gun play
to speak of in this movie. The first
2 were more video gaming in that respect
and that the characters had to get them
monsters to reveal their flesh p saving weak
point. You know, they had to take, you
know, was in classic, like, resident evil fashion.
Almost
more fundamental than that, I'd call it almost
a a house of the dead
thing. Yeah as an evil thing. House of
the dead Or, like, you you sell the
bosses
you know, Yeah. Exactly. It's it's it is
as as elementary as it gets. Yeah. And
there's there's none of that this time around.
But it does not completely escape the shackles
of video game, logic and language. I don't
think it's just rather than putting them in
in mind of something like the last of
us. Because the the problem that these movies
run into pretty chronically
is that
not being able to make noise. That feels
like a video game predicament to me. Obviously,
the essence of suspense is, like, I don't
want the bad thing to hear me. I
want to get away from the bad thing.
I'm gonna tip toe around my apartment and
get away from Michael Myers
or whoever the fuck. That... That that's fine.
But usually,
you don't sustain that for 90 minutes and
when you do, it feels video gaming, I
think because that predicament
is not dramatically interesting for a character or
so much as it is mechanically interesting for
a player. You know, it's just it's a
problem to be solved. You wanna use, like,
a distract an object to lure the creature
away from yourself, and then you want to
stick to certain surfaces that you don't produce
any undue noise and you know, you you
start thinking about it, like, if I were
in that situation, what would I be doing
differently? And that's a good thing in a
suspense thriller, but it also
activates
the gamer nodes in my brain and make
me feel like I ought to have my
hand on the controller, and I don't.
So that is still at play here, but
it is a different flavor of video game,
I think rather than putting me in mind
of, say, like, the last of us, like
a more kind of Oscar beatty aaa
kind of post apocalyptic
weep. It feels more like like a like
like an indie thing, like a side scrolling
a survival horror
thing with a name like Pizza quest.
But it have, like, like, chip tune music,
you know, it'd be, like, deliberately low thigh
or maybe, like Ps s 1 graphics or
something like that. Not knocking the look of
the movie. It looks better than fine. But
I think that it's funny that it turned
out that way. My... I don't know if
I'm talking since you know Michael Michael Ser
brings that kind of ind indie street cr
to it. And it's it's I don't know.
I would I would play I would play
these games, but in particular, I would play
this game. This 1 that's mostly about taking
care of your cat.
And and hunting down a slice of pizza
in the midst of
civilization collapsing around your ears. I mean, I
like the last of us too. I'm not
in that either, But III like... There's something
about the way the drama is pitched here,
put me in mind of. The kind of
game that would like steam is doing its
summer sail right now. Maybe that's why I
have video games on the brain. But it's...
It just feels like rather than a aaa
thing it feels like the kind of game
that would retail for, like, 2 99
discounted. It'd be over in a matter of
hours and there'd be a good ending and
a bad ending that would hinge entirely on
whether you were able to save the cat.
In any case, the video game thing appears
to be sort of in a capable at
least for me, but obviously, different directors can
make it feel like a different kind of
video. Okay. So that's
something to be said for that. I guys
If it feels fresh. I think that if
you were to have had limited it to
just the 1 monster and just do an
alien past
or it's either pitted against 1 person or
it's picking off a group of people 1
at the time, a lot the first alien,
that might
be what you need in order to
snip the thread that's binding this to. That
might be what you need to escape the
gravitational pull
of
video games for my money, at least because
I don't know. I think it's something to
do with having to traverse
an environment that's overrun with these things.
You know, if it were just 1 of
them. I mean, some video games do do
that alien isolation did that or is just
the 1 by and large. But that's plus
a couple of, you know, malfunctioning
robots. Right. And that that... But that's an
outlier. Usually video games pit you against a
small army.
And because that's always the setup in these
movies are always outnumbered. It just in invariably
kind of feels like I I ought to
be playing it rather than watching it. Yeah.
1 thing
that I found myself missing
about the first quiet place as I was
watching this. It's something that made that first
movie fun that I don't think I really
appreciated it until I watched day 1. Because
I have no great love for that first
movie here. I think it's okay, but I
wound up retroactively
appreciating this aspect of it more, which is,
it has that sort of... I don't know
what to like in it too other than
maybe Swiss family Robinson
kind of thing going for it where you
see
the family
imposing normalcy
upon chaos.
They've made they've made sense of things in
their own limited way. And and it it
gives it that kind of... And I it's
it's kind of satisfying
to watch...
I don't know. Maybe there's just a part
of us that pines for the frontier or
like there's something for us that wants to
put our stamp on the wilderness, but, like,
they it is it is satisfying.
To watch them,
figure out a workable system for having a
normal ish life, all the little rules that
they have to abide by. That's fun.
And you don't get that at all in
this movie because there is no time jump,
or, you know I mean, in there's no
time jump in the original movie either. I'm
thinking of part 2, which does open with
the initial meteor right shower. But the... You,
this is not... This is in the immediate
aftermath.
Of the
monsters making planet at fall. So you don't
get any of that Swiss family Robinson and
fun, and I did find myself missing that.
That's the 1 area. I think we're... I
would say that day 1 definitely comes up
short compared to its predecessor.
Yeah. Yeah. I'd say it's fair. On the
other hand, I am a fan of what
we've kind of classified
as this movie's
more indie sensibilities
I mean. You know, I've I've already cited
Clerk.
I am, yeah.
I'm a a fairly big fan of
Kevin Smith's work, perhaps more than I ought
to be, but that's just 1 of those
things. I like Ta movies, and I like
movies about Do, and so ta movies about
Do.
Right. Pin at length about their Do interests
Yeah. That's kind of I clerk a lot.
I don't think I haven't... I still haven't
seen dogma mice. I still haven't seen a
couple of canonical nineties, you know, Kevin smith.
Haven't seen chasing Amy or Jersey girl for
that matter, but that's supposed to be a
low point. Yeah.
Although I think our our our sense of
what a... Kevin smith low point is has
to be
reevaluate. Fully reevaluate in the wake of yoga
hose and it's il.
Yoga hose was truly painful. But... Yeah, it...
It's the.
The core
view
Right. Kevin Smith films, I think mostly hold
up. And I also liked pig very much.
You know, that's the have in common. It's
just really good. And I wouldn't say that
this film and pig are super similar because
they're not.
But...
Well, the pig does not survive pigs. So
that's 1 crucial difference. Yeah. This movie 1
good deal gentle with animal companion. But I
can see a through line. I'm not going
to
necessarily claim that if I hadn't come into
this movie knowing
that it was directed by the same guy
who directed pig. I would have just come
to that conclusion. Like, oh, yeah.
Definitely the director of pig because among other
reasons, pig is the only other film of
his. I've seen. I just checked. These are
the only 2 feature he's directed thus far,
but
knowing that it's the same director and having
enjoyed pig very much. I can see the
shared Dna there, and I do appreciate it
for that reason. Yes. It is recognizable
un film d sa, which I liked.
And I had forgotten this, but Alex Wolf,
the actor who plays Ruben, the nurse who
gets killed early.
Is, I guess, for lack of a better
term, Nick Cage side kick in pig. Oh,
yeah. The younger guy, he kinda takes under
his arm and shows him around the weird
under belly of is it Portland? I don't
recall. I think so. Portland
the the culinary around world. Food scene. Yeah.
It's it's like John Wick, but for foodie,
it's very
very funny.
Premise.
You know, the played straight and surprisingly credible.
Yes.
Everyone went thought that it was gonna be
much more of a John wick thing that
it was gonna be about nick cage. A
pig. You cute
heads to ave his slain pig. Yeah. You
know, it is not. I'm thinking I'm back.
You, not quite.
And also, he's the kid from hereditary.
Right.
That's the... Yeah, first thing I always think
of. Sure.
I think this movie is doing quite well
from what I hear, what I'm given to
understand and
box the office of the series thus far,
at least That's while. The the opening.
Well, just just shows that the hook was
not the John K and his deaf kid,
you know, Emily Blunt and and the family
unit that people were not
invested in them, particularly, they're invested in the
overall scenario. Right. And the peril and the
monsters. And so I think that it would
be behave, whoever is responsible for the next
outing
to work on those months a little bit
because they do appear to be the star
of the show if this new 1 with
none of the returning actors other than Jim
In a supporting role, which was not really
advertised at all. I don't think he put
that many asses in seats, you know, a
treasure though he may be almost a cameo,
really? Yeah. So if the monsters are the
main draw, you wanna refine them. Without reinventing
the wheel because obviously, if it ain't broke
don't fix it, and in terms of box
office. It is not broke. Right. But if
you wanna cater to my sensibilities,
do please make them quieter.
And maybe reduce their number somewhat. I think
it's
the raptor attacks in the 2 Spielberg, jurassic
Park movies. Oh it always feels like you're
dealing with a finite number of them. And
granted, occasionally, 1 of them will be neutralized
in a pretty stupid fashion, like, with gymnastics.
Right. But at but at least that feels
very consequential.
But then again, maybe not because the difference
between 4 raptors and 3 raptors is you're
probably still guaranteed to die. But
but it... Nevertheless... So it it it feels
at once like a like a great victory
and like, not much of a victory at
all. But I I like how in those
movies, you can count the raptors on the
fingers of 1 hand,
and it makes you feel
like... I don't know. It feels less video
game because it it feels less like they're
fucking koopa. It feels less like it feels
less like the level is just swarming with
them. If that makes sense, Sure. Know, or
or the the clicker and last of us
or, you know, or zombies and any number
of video games. Mh. And I think that
if if you're gonna get away from that
video gaming me flavor that I keep harp
on about thin the number of aliens
calling the herd would be 1 way to
do it. Another way would be to just
set it inland like the first movie and
just get rid of this whole
water business
entirely because it just does not sit right
with me that they're fine in it until
they're not if they get in over their
heads literally, then they s like a kid
without his water wings on, getting thrown in
at the deep end of the pool and
they fl around intently.
And it just...
Again, it feels like a very video game
me demise. It's, like Europe against a boss.
That you have no means of harming. So
you have to lure it into a body
of water, and then it t around, and
and you see its health bar deplete, and
then it drown.
I just... I think that the next movie
should have fewer monsters,
quieter monsters,
and it should be set... I don't know.
Minnesota.
Or you know something or... Well, the Matt
that is allegedly the land of 10000 lakes.
I I think you you picked the wrong
state
you're trying I with the water. Yeah. My...
The ro wheel in my brain came up
short twice, and I just had it because
I originally, I was gonna say Ohio, and
I like, well, no. You got 1 or
more great lakes kicking around
in, in Ohio. So... Iowa. Yeah. Iowa. Thank
you.
A quiet
a quiet place, Iowa. You can just do
it state by state now,
like,
in Iowa place.
And I... Yeah. Right. Exactly. Just do it
like that never realized Su Stevens project,
just proceed through the whole the whole union,
save the coasts for last. What did he
get through 2 states?
Yeah. Just 2 2 Midwestern states that I
happen to live in.
It's like, alright. If you wanna... If you
wanna quit there, I won't complain, You covered
the basis for me for me. Exactly. You
checked all my box. This
Well, in terms of
recommendations,
obviously, we've been singing pigs praises
throughout
not at all a horror film, but very
good,
Nick cage
operating at a a less opera register,
which Mh. Is very enjoyable. I mean, don't
get me wrong. I enjoy cage rage as
much as the next guy, but him doing
the lower key stuff is always good. As
he still brings that intensity to it. It's
just very finely calibrated like when he chew
out the guy who's running the pre eater
with the fucking fancy
fake food when you what's, you know, edible
foam
or whatever Yeah right? There's volcanic rage in
that scene, but it's muted, and it's it's
it's it's held in check, which is scarier
than when someone is just flying off the
handle. Yeah.
I am going to recommend Clover field because
that's the movie that comes to mind other
than this 1 with an alien ramp through
New York.
Obviously, not the first 1
Because I know the clover field
franchise, if you can even call it that
is so fucking diffuse
at this point, but it's more of just
a vague umbrella for a bunch of unrelated
movies to hud beneath. Yeah. I think that
the original quiet place. I don't know if
this rumor is true, but I remember the
rumor being. That it was going to be
Clover feel branded until it wasn't.
And This because familiar. Yeah. Because Clover field
is so diffuse. It you it it it
still could be. I mean, there's no reason
It couldn't be.
Right. It's because not none of those movies
are really incompatible with 1 another. Clover field...
I mean, I mean, scratch that reverse it.
They're all incompatible with 1 another. There none
of them are about the same thing. I
seem to remember Clover field period bucks trying
to iron out those wrinkles, but that movie
is
impossible to remember in any detail. So, yes,
who can say.
Right. But, yeah, as I was saying not
really a deep cut, but then again, it's
been better part of 15 years now since
that movie came out, director Matt Reeves has
gone on to bigger, and some would say
better things. And on that score, maybe they're
right, Although, again, I'm recommending it. I happen
to think Clover fields very good. I like
Clover field well enough. I I believe that's
the first horror movie you and I ever
saw in theaters.
Yes. I believe so. I remember, we were
going to see there will be blood and
it was not playing.
Yeah. I believe it was on the evening
of parent your conferences,
and we walked from school into downtown Burbank.
I. I know we walked there. Yeah. And
I remember, I watched there will be blood
on some kind of Crap ass pirate site
later that year, which was not very. But
I I was team no country that year.
That was the awesome or heavyweight prize fight
for the ages. Right. Since I hold them
in basically equal regard. Now. Anyway, Clover field
kind of incidental to that title fight. But
Right.
Good movie. Not sorry. I saw it in
theaters, and it it holds a special place
in the
chronology of the, you know, the evolution of
the shock docs
for sure. So, yeah, Clover field. Check it
out.
I don't know
who boy,
what to recommend. Which episode was it? It
was within the last 2 episodes
you were tying yourself in knots, trying to
remember
you were in agony, trying to remember,
like, like, another version of a trope. Oh,
it was the watchers. The whole thing, like,
is the person on the other side of
the door the dapper hanger. Thing. Yeah. So
you were, like, I I feel certain I've
seen that trope over and over again, but
I can't think of a single example.
That's how I feel about the basic premise
and the basic peril of these movies. I
feel like I've seen countless movies
where the creatures
have very developed senses of hearing and you
have to be quiet,
but I can't think of a single 1
off the top of my head.
There was a... I... I've never even watched
Buff the Vampire slayer, but I happened to
know there's a Buff, the Vampire slayer episode
about that. I just only know that because
in high school, speaking of which when friends
of mine who worked into the show would
try to sell me on it, they would
invoke the same 2 episodes over and over
again, and it was that 1 and the
1 that was a musical.
Right. But and that 1, it's not that
you can't... I mean, in that 1, it's
literally that you can't make any sound. They're
basically living a silent movie. They've been... I
think prevented from speaking by some sinister supernatural
something or other.
So not totally relevant in any way, I
can't give it my seal of of approval
having not seen it. I'm just thinking about
being a teenager now, I guess,
sure. What have I seen?
This is... Yeah, I'm just... I'm just... I've
gone into my mind palace and and and
come out with
is it the twilight zone? I think it's
the twilight zone I I don't know if
it's twilight zone or Alfred Hitchcock presents. III
wanna say that it's... It is an episode
of the twilight zone, but it is the
sort of thing that you would find more
often.
On Alfred Hitchcock presents. I think it's 1
of the rare twilight on episodes that has
no paranormal
element whatsoever.
Mh It's about a guy
who is a bla mouth and is just
constantly po authenticating, and somebody bets him. Yeah.
I bet you can't stay silent for an
entire year, and he agrees to this bet
having some debts that he needs to pay
off. And so then he spends a year,
not only climbing up, but under observation, You
know, so they know that he doesn't start
welsh. Flap his lips. So he lives in
this 10 by 10 room with glass walls
where use under constant supervision. It turns into
this very elaborate thing. And there is a
twist ending
that is fairly harrowing.
And It's ta. I mean, it's not it's
not Kevin Smith, but there is a a
good amount of chatter, just not from the
main guy,
obviously, because he's trying to win the bet.
Which drags on for a whole year and
fills out half an hour for our purposes.
And the ending, which I champs spoil is
really what makes the whole thing, and that's
a twilight on specialty, of course. It's not
really anything like a quiet place because the
other characters can talk as much as they
want, but there is nevertheless
a sense of kind of the willpower required
of the main guy to defy his nature
for that long. That kind of impose a
sort of feeling of graveyard
stillness
over the whole episode. The other characters can
chatter as much as they want, but there
is still a pervasive feeling of quiet that
makes the whole thing kind of creepy just
because the 1 guy
at the center of the whole thing doesn't
crack.
And
I think in that sense, it's evo of
the same kind of feeling of creepy unnatural
silence
that these movies are going for 1 of
the most successful, I think. Step that and
media that I've have seen There has to
be a better example
out there somewhere, but I have come up
a little bit short. So that's what I'm
gonna
recommend I don't even remember the name of
it. But they found it. It's called silence.
So swell there there you have it. A
silent play.
So I do check that 1 out. Apparently
based in part on the short story the
bet by Anton check.
Okay.
Alright. Well, given as we pointed out, this
is at least in the early going, the
most
financial lease successful installment in the quiet place
franchise to date. This is probably not the
last time. 1 of these films is going
to come out and therefore probably not the
last time we'll be doing 1. But for
now, we leave the cauliflower headed
creatures behind
Until next time, I'm Jim Smith. I'm matt
Cher Daisy. And we are the shock doctors.
We'll see later.
Apologies to Russell Crowe fans, we were not
both able to get access to the ex
and time to release an episode last week.
We'll try and feed it back into the
schedule in the coming months as it becomes
available.
As always, we have some acknowledgment.
Our music was composed by Will Connor.
Audio for the bumper was taken from a
quiet place, day 1 official trailer 20 24
movie, Lap,
Joseph Quinn,
uploaded by paramount pictures. So
all rights reserved.
Our next episode will be up on Sunday,
July fourteenth,
and we will be discussing the last install
in Ty west's ex trilogy
maxine.
See you then.