Ep.#435 - Night Swim

[0:00] On this episode we discuss night swim

[0:09] No, nope, that's that's not that's the wrong theme

[0:30] Oh

[0:42] Man did you hear the spooky wind whistling through the

[0:46] Trees the leaves are fallen the cackle of a witch in the distance change rattling change every key doors

[0:52] Don't oil that door up wait till November to do that. Oh, yeah, you got to keep it creepy and creaky

[0:58] The season

[1:01] Crawling underfoot

[1:05] Along with all those crunchy leaves on the ground. Yeah various colors creepier than a crunchy leaf

[1:14] Zombies and tremors and shit

[1:20] Why do you man ever I'm gonna get roasted in the comments

[1:24] Yeah, as you can tell obviously from everything you just said

[1:28] Yeah, we're in Shocktober the part of the Flophouse calendar year where we talk horror movies

[1:34] In the old days, we'd sort of did it all the time

[1:36] But now it's been sequestered to its own month as when Stewart got to pick the movies more

[1:41] Yeah, well, it's when we did a lot more picking the movie. We're gonna talk about the night that we were recording

[1:46] This seems good. Why not this? Yeah, this little movie poster looks terrible

[1:52] This is worth our time sorority house row. Yeah, sure. Mm-hmm

[1:56] but for this first Shocktober

[2:00] Surprise, we watched

[2:03] This I mean this feels like a blast from the past and that it does feel like the kind of movie we would settle on

[2:08] Just by seeing what's available on a streamer

[2:12] Department about the haunted pool guys. Yeah

[2:15] I mean it wasn't surprised to me about a month ago when I

[2:18] Texted you guys that I was on the treadmill and I was watching Night Swim and Dan's like we're gonna have to do that for

[2:23] flop

[2:24] Shocktober. Well, you might as well. I hope you like it. I'm like shit. Here's the thing. I do like it or

[2:32] Horror in general has been

[2:35] Better lately than it was for a while. I was looking at

[2:39] recent horror movies that we could do for

[2:43] October and

[2:44] This was kind of the most major one that got a lot of bad reviews in in recent memory

[2:52] So normally I would have been like, yeah, that's fine

[2:54] But I kind of had my sights on this one

[2:57] Although I don't know it sort of turned out to not have a lot of electricity. No

[3:03] Spoiler alert for our final judgments this this turned out to be again a blast from the flophouse past and this is a

[3:09] Real filler of a movie in a lot of ways like a real time filler

[3:13] Our boys over a bloom house are cooking up some bland stuff for us

[3:18] But it's a but we will talk about it, you know, but it's funny that Dan was like, oh boy

[3:22] We better get better dive into Night Swim and while I was watching I was like, yeah, this feels like you know, it's a movie

[3:28] Yeah, yeah, there's movie stuff. Technically. Yeah, it was one of these movies that I saw the trailer and

[3:34] There's a lot of like chuckling in the theater because people were like, oh boy a haunted pool. No, thank you

[3:39] What what are those ad whizzers in Hollywood kicking up for us today, you know

[3:44] Like and I actually watched the trailer being like I don't know like if approached with the right spirit

[3:49] This could be fun. Like I like that sort of

[3:52] Silliness in a premise. Yeah, it's gonna be scary, dude

[3:56] What if you do a stick-ass cannonball in your underpants fall off?

[3:59] Yeah, fools are scary like people die in them

[4:01] It is that yeah, it is the it is the most dangerous thing you can have in your house after a gun

[4:08] Basically, yeah, which is why you have both

[4:11] Well, that's why I have a pool with that. I shoot a gun into it. Yeah. Yeah

[4:15] I feel like yeah, they just each other in check is what you're saying

[4:17] Every now and then the guns acting up I throw it in the pool

[4:20] And if the pool looks like it's gotten some ideas on its mind to shoot it a few times

[4:23] Yeah, when you throw the gun in the pool, do you imagine you're the guy from the Irishman?

[4:27] I always

[4:30] Irishman okay

[4:32] Yeah, yeah the one who paints the one who the one who's an incredibly old young man. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, oh Joe Pesci

[4:39] I'll paint your house for you. Yeah, but for having sort of like red blood

[4:45] Black bullets green. Oh, if you don't leave me alone, I'll chop me fucking fingers off

[4:52] What if that was the Irishman I mean, I mean Terry Condon who's in this movie and is in that is in the band

[4:59] Criminally wasted in this movie. Let's say under underutilized. That's true. Certainly is not given as much

[5:05] To tear into as she is work with Martin McDonough, that's for sure. Yeah, I don't want to get

[5:11] I figure I might not put the pool in the back

[5:18] Yeah, I don't want to get out over our skis too much and like make a judgment too early in the show

[5:25] But I change your mind. Yeah. Well then I do think that like part of the thing was like my

[5:31] Anticipation that maybe this would be fun was based on the idea of like

[5:35] Leaning into the silliness a little bit more like I feel like the movie could use a bit more of a grindhouse

[5:41] He's spirit. Maybe yes

[5:43] I will say this about it in a movie about a haunted pool

[5:46] The haunted pool was the least interesting part of the movie for me

[5:50] And I found myself wishing this was a story about a family that's dealing with a major

[5:54] Transition in in their in their lives and that there was not a haunted pool in it

[5:58] And it's it has more pool stuff than the movie Ponty pool, which has a pool in it. So you got to give it that

[6:08] There's also a 0% Pontius really it showed up with fucking receipts against Ponty pool

[6:13] Okay, let's uh, let's dig into this. Let's dive in. Yeah. Yep. Okay

[6:20] Just get out my notes, okay

[6:22] Super put on his reading glasses and it's like he's wait. He like it sounded like he was funfairing so that we would comment on it

[6:30] I'm a very good physical performer. Okay

[6:34] So the movie opens we have its night. We have a house. There's a pool in back. That's right

[6:40] The haunted pool is in the back of this house

[6:43] Inside the home there is a sick kid hooked up to some machines his little sister or big sister

[6:49] But oh, it's a little girl named who we will find out is named Rebecca

[6:53] Goes outside because she thinks there's something going on with the pool. She sees his like toy floating in the pool

[7:01] Yeah, which is a super important detail and she gets

[7:06] Multiple times throughout the movie so you might as well describe it now

[7:08] Which is which is weird because like if you're gonna if you're gonna have a toy that is inexplicably in a pool

[7:14] Put something that doesn't normally go in water, right?

[7:17] well, what's strange to me about it is it becomes the

[7:20] Thing that the spirit in the pool is using to lure people in and it's like why did it grab onto this one toy boat?

[7:27] It's like it's thing if this in in theory this thing has been around since time immemorial and it had many victims

[7:32] How come it's always that boat but it's because it's what they established in the beginning of the movie

[7:36] No, like Georgie was chasing when Pennywise ripped it. Well, it was a it was a origami boat and

[7:42] It's like it was like a paper boat like you'd make out of a newspaper, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I

[7:48] our friend our friend Kurt's

[7:51] daughter was like

[7:53] savage about

[7:55] Georgie and it but I thought it was so hilarious like she was like, thank you

[8:00] Like why are you gonna like believe in a like? Why are you gonna do what a clown in a sewer?

[8:05] Well, these these city kids are built different. Yeah, that's true. Then those kids in Terry

[8:09] I mean, but it is all I mean

[8:11] It's all a real they're tied to the fact that they have to fulfill what the audience expects from the first version of that story

[8:17] Georgie girl with its famous theme song. Hey there

[8:21] Georgie girl listen to the clown inside the sewer

[8:26] Yeah, I remember that song okay, so as I said, I tell you what you should do her

[8:32] Hey there Georgie girl, so

[8:35] It's it's a they were like the fans are gonna understand after having seen Georgie girl that

[8:41] Is gonna is gonna listen to this clown. Yeah

[8:45] So back to night swim Rebecca gets pushed into the pool by a ghost and then she the pool like spins her around and drowns her

[8:53] Okay years less classic haunted pool classic. I mean, you know, I'm not actually someone who's like sensitive to

[9:01] Child death in movies as I love it. Yeah, you know, I just know that like

[9:07] Dance who could kill a child me in a movie. Yeah parents love to talk about Manchester by the sea

[9:14] I wish more kids have burned up in that house

[9:17] I'm just like parents, especially new parents love to talk about like, oh, I can't do it anymore

[9:22] I can't do it anymore and as someone who is not

[9:26] Do it anymore, but it's because the kid keeps you from yeah

[9:31] But I

[9:32] Certainly as I grow older like this this bothered me more than most because it was sort of

[9:38] Realistic in this situation. Like I know how dangerous like pools can be for kids and and you know

[9:44] So I'm like say assault on precinct 13 where the death of a child is sort of like almost a shocking

[9:51] Dark joke like it's very rare that it's very rare that someone just drives up to a kid on the street randomly and shoots them

[9:57] in the face

[9:59] Yeah

[10:00] Yeah, it's I would go as far as to say zero times guys that movie's a wild movie, but

[10:07] you're right that there is something much more realistic about a kid drowning in a pool.

[10:10] I mean, that's the number one type of person that that is killed by pools is children,

[10:14] you know, but it's but the strange thing is, even though knowing that that is a danger

[10:19] that my own children occasionally face, and I'm glad and I'm always worried about them.

[10:24] Every time one of my kids goes underwater to swim, I get very nervous just for a moment

[10:27] before they come up again.

[10:28] It didn't affect me that much maybe because like, I don't know this movie is um, I think

[10:33] if it made sure that your pool isn't on it.

[10:36] Well, the one thing is, there's a fence around that pool.

[10:39] This pool in this movie did not have a fence around it pool owners, you got to put a fence

[10:42] around it.

[10:43] That's the most important thing.

[10:44] Put a ring on it.

[10:45] If you want to keep her and put a fence around that pool if you want your kids to stay safe,

[10:48] man.

[10:49] These are important.

[10:50] Very quiet.

[10:51] But I think the movie was trying so hard to feel serious.

[10:55] I think that it kind of went around the bend for me.

[10:57] Yeah.

[10:58] In some ways.

[10:59] Yeah.

[11:00] So we get the title.

[11:01] Oh, yeah.

[11:02] Oh, yeah.

[11:03] The title.

[11:04] Years later, we meet a new family who is house hunting in a little suburb in near the Twin

[11:09] Cities from what we're told, which again, I do want to point out that seems like a weird

[11:14] location for a house with a haunted pool.

[11:18] Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that's not you're not going to get to use that pool that

[11:21] much of the year.

[11:22] No, you're not going to get to use that pool that much of the year, especially no.

[11:25] In winter.

[11:26] It's done in autumn.

[11:27] It gets really cold.

[11:28] But yes, we'll find it's the pool was more built there because of the presence of a of

[11:31] a magical.

[11:32] OK.

[11:33] I thought you were arguing that, you know, the water is more haunted down south than

[11:38] it is around the Twin Cities.

[11:41] You better believe it is.

[11:42] That's for sure.

[11:43] Yeah, that's true.

[11:44] So that voodoo floating around in there for a swamp thing lives.

[11:47] Yeah, you know it.

[11:48] OK, so we meet this family.

[11:50] We have the down here.

[11:51] We got some haunted water.

[11:53] It's not like your safe water up north when I move.

[11:58] That's that's cry daddy.

[11:59] Because when I moved to Connecticut from Louisiana, I think I miss the po boys.

[12:04] I miss the beignets.

[12:06] And I miss my haunted water.

[12:08] Wow.

[12:09] That was a plus for him.

[12:10] Yeah.

[12:11] I don't know.

[12:12] He missed it.

[12:13] Long awaited return of Crawdaddy.

[12:14] Yeah.

[12:15] Yeah.

[12:16] The haunted water is a plus.

[12:17] Yeah.

[12:18] Yeah.

[12:19] Yeah.

[12:20] So you go swam.

[12:21] You don't know what you're going to get.

[12:22] You're going to get wet.

[12:23] Yeah.

[12:24] Yeah.

[12:25] You know, when I was in the underworld, that risk made it worthwhile.

[12:26] Yeah.

[12:27] But I'll be in Connecticut.

[12:28] Yeah.

[12:29] This cement pool.

[12:30] Just nice.

[12:31] Never, never tries to drag you down.

[12:33] Yeah.

[12:34] Yeah.

[12:35] That's weird.

[12:36] The things you miss, you know.

[12:37] Yeah.

[12:38] We all know up.

[12:39] Crawdaddy.

[12:40] So much of my life wishing I didn't have to worry about the water spirits pulling me down

[12:43] to the underworld.

[12:44] That's true.

[12:45] I kind of miss it.

[12:46] Like that's not.

[12:47] I didn't want not like that song.

[12:49] Stay by Lisa Loeb.

[12:51] I'm a fan of it when I was young, but now it hits me with the nostalgia.

[12:56] Really, really wild pronunciation, but yeah, that's how they say it right there.

[13:03] Yeah.

[13:04] Yeah.

[13:05] It's like it's like he's pronouncing clear.

[13:08] I once brought Lisa Loeb some cheese, but I just wanted to mention that legally.

[13:15] Our friend Sarah Schaefer had her on her live.

[13:19] Oh, yeah.

[13:20] I operated one of the cameras for that, for the recording of that show.

[13:23] And we were like, we've got a big we've got a big guest for once.

[13:26] We've got to bring her some cheese.

[13:27] Did she complain that she had nerd sweat all over the cheese when he delivered it?

[13:33] I was.

[13:34] Yeah, I was.

[13:35] I was starstruck.

[13:36] She was just sitting in the back doing crosswords, so she seemed to enjoy the cheese.

[13:40] That's all I got to say about that.

[13:41] All right.

[13:42] Well, what a story.

[13:43] Yeah.

[13:44] OK, so we meet this family.

[13:46] The father is Ray, played by what's his name?

[13:50] Wyatt Russell.

[13:51] Yeah, Wyatt Russell.

[13:52] Kurt Russell's kid.

[13:53] Third generation Russell.

[13:54] Yeah.

[13:55] He is a recently retired or on leave baseball player.

[14:01] He was he is he is experiencing medical problems, and so he is so he has had to go into early

[14:07] retirement.

[14:08] We will learn later.

[14:09] Yeah, we'll learn later that he is suffering from what they describe as a secondary progressive

[14:16] MS, and it seems to be getting worse.

[14:19] But baseball is his life.

[14:20] He loves baseball.

[14:21] All he wants is more baseball.

[14:22] His wife, Eve, played by Kerry Condon, is a Academy Award nominee.

[14:27] Academy Award nominee is a what a school administrator.

[14:32] And she is excited.

[14:34] One thing she's excited about is the prospect of settling down a little bit, because I guess

[14:37] they've traveled a lot for Ray's work.

[14:41] And though she loves him, she you know, she also she wants to make sure he understands

[14:45] he's not just baseball.

[14:46] He's also a father.

[14:47] But he's Mr. Baseball.

[14:48] He's Mr. Baseball.

[14:49] Oh, wait.

[14:50] No, that's Tom Selleck.

[14:51] That is Tom Selleck.

[14:52] Yeah.

[14:53] And he's not Mr. 3000.

[14:54] That was right back.

[14:55] Yeah.

[14:56] And he's not and he's not he's not Mr. Clean.

[14:57] That, of course, is a is a is a bald mascot for a cleaning or Mr. Mr., which is a band.

[14:58] He's not Mr. Wonderful.

[14:59] The famous shark that Dan is always trying to pitch ideas to.

[15:00] And yeah.

[15:01] Yeah.

[15:02] That's a shark.

[15:03] Yeah.

[15:04] Yeah.

[15:05] Yeah.

[15:06] Yeah.

[15:07] Yeah.

[15:08] Yeah.

[15:09] Yeah.

[15:10] Yeah.

[15:11] Yeah.

[15:13] Yeah.

[15:14] Yeah.

[15:15] Yeah.

[15:16] Yeah.

[15:17] Yeah.

[15:18] I think we're not one of the Mr. Men, you know, the series of children's books where

[15:21] they are.

[15:22] They have little characters with different.

[15:23] Oh, yeah.

[15:24] Yeah.

[15:25] Like Little Miss.

[15:26] And yeah.

[15:27] Yeah, yeah.

[15:28] Exactly.

[15:29] Yeah.

[15:30] Littleness.

[15:31] So can't be wrong.

[15:32] No, legally.

[15:33] Yeah.

[15:34] Legally.

[15:35] By Act of Congress.

[15:36] So their elder daughter is Izzy.

[15:37] We know that she likes to swim or she develops a crush on this kid who's in the J.V. Christian

[15:46] swim team.

[15:47] Yeah.

[15:48] She's the more athletic.

[15:49] Which just seems like a lot of additional things there.

[15:52] There's a lot of adjectives.

[15:54] She's the more athletic of the two siblings.

[15:55] More outgoing.

[15:56] More outgoing.

[15:57] Yeah.

[15:58] And then they have a younger son who seems like a little nerd, kind of a turd.

[16:03] And what do they name him?

[16:04] Elliot.

[16:05] Yeah.

[16:06] His name is Elliot.

[16:07] Spelled wrong.

[16:08] Spelled right.

[16:09] You're in the clear now, I guess.

[16:12] And you know, he's a little kid.

[16:13] He's like, he worships his dad.

[16:15] He's small for his age.

[16:17] He just wants to spend time with his dad.

[16:18] But his dad is very focused on initially having MS and then recovering.

[16:22] Yeah.

[16:23] And there's this vibe that they can't relate.

[16:27] He can't relate as well to his son because his son isn't athletic.

[16:30] His son wants to be good at baseball so he can get his dad's love and approval.

[16:34] But he is not.

[16:35] He just doesn't have it.

[16:37] He's not good at it.

[16:38] It's just like the Kaelin household.

[16:39] I mean, I want my son to be so good at baseball because it's all I care about.

[16:42] It's the only thing that I care about.

[16:45] And I mean, it's so the opposite of the Kaelin household because my older son, all he cares

[16:48] about is baseball.

[16:49] It's all he wants to do all the time.

[16:51] And I'm like, can we talk about anything else?

[16:53] And he's constantly pushing you down, being like, get out of my way, nerd.

[16:58] He does get up in my face a lot.

[17:00] And he gets up in my face and starts beatboxing a lot, which I don't like.

[17:03] I do kind of like that.

[17:05] That's like a Conor O'Malley bit.

[17:07] Yeah, but I will say, so this is what I started watching this movie and I'm like, it made

[17:11] me really miss it was like there is a time when Hollywood would make a movie that was

[17:16] about a former professional baseball player dealing with MS.

[17:20] His family is having trouble adjusting to the fact that his life feels empty because

[17:25] the one thing he cared about is not there.

[17:27] He's having trouble relating to his son because his son just does not have the same skill

[17:30] and talent that he has for this one thing.

[17:33] And the wife is kind of trying to figure out how to navigate these emotions.

[17:36] And I was like, I kind of just want to see that movie.

[17:39] I just want to see like the ordinary people or whatever about that family.

[17:43] And so every moment before The Haunted Pool, I was like, can I just can we just just be

[17:48] a movie about like a family and they don't have to have a haunted pool?

[17:51] You want to you want to watch Night Swim based on a novel by John Irving.

[17:56] I mean, kind of.

[17:57] I mean, not quite as quirky, you know, but like if you think about like the movie The

[18:01] Great Santini, which I don't love, but like The Great Santini until it starts getting

[18:06] into like movie plot territory.

[18:08] It's like you just you're seeing a family and you're seeing how they interact.

[18:11] And like there's a there's an entertainment value and a dramatic value to that.

[18:14] So it just made me sad for, oh, yeah, there was a period where Hollywood made a lot of

[18:17] movies that were just about like people, you know, but now they got to have haunted pools.

[18:21] What are you going to do?

[18:22] You know.

[18:23] So they're house shopping.

[18:24] They find this house that has a pool.

[18:26] It's the same house as the opening.

[18:28] Ray.

[18:29] At one point they see the pool.

[18:30] Ray's kind of obsessed with it.

[18:33] And he sees that there's a baseball sitting on the pool cover and he reaches for it.

[18:38] I don't know if you guys understand symbolism.

[18:41] He reaches for it and he slips and falls into the pool.

[18:44] And he has this like series of visions of himself playing baseball.

[18:50] And that before he manages to drag himself out and and they're like, well, we're buying

[18:54] this pool.

[18:56] So they buy it.

[18:59] You use the pool.

[19:00] You got to buy it now.

[19:01] Yeah.

[19:02] Yeah.

[19:03] Maybe we bought a zoo.

[19:04] It's because he wanders into a zoo.

[19:05] You got to buy it now.

[19:06] Yeah.

[19:07] We'll just sleep on the pool.

[19:08] No.

[19:09] The pool comes with the house.

[19:10] You got to buy the house.

[19:11] You have to.

[19:12] OK.

[19:13] We can't just get get just the pool.

[19:14] What if I like the pool in like one of the rooms in the house?

[19:16] Yeah.

[19:17] No, it's a set.

[19:18] You got to buy the whole thing.

[19:19] What if we do sort of a pool share with whoever owns the house?

[19:21] Yeah.

[19:22] Where we get the pool and we share it with them sometimes.

[19:24] No.

[19:25] Yeah.

[19:26] What if it's like a pool share type thing where if share wants to use the pool, we'll

[19:29] let her use it?

[19:30] I mean, that's an outstanding rule.

[19:31] If that's going to happen, then sure.

[19:32] I want to use your pool.

[19:33] I don't know why you would say no.

[19:34] Yeah.

[19:35] I've never showed up to use your pool.

[19:36] Elliott, would you be like, no, thank you.

[19:37] I'd be like, turn back time to before you asked me that question.

[19:38] The answer is no.

[19:39] OK.

[19:40] So part of the reason the pool.

[19:41] Yeah.

[19:42] Is that again, Ray is like his doctor suggests some low impact.

[19:43] And he's like, hey, I got pool therapy again.

[20:00] maybe two months a year again.

[20:02] I don't know about, I don't know if it's that short.

[20:04] I don't know if it's that, if it's just two months.

[20:05] What the swimming season in the Twin Cities is?

[20:08] It's at least nine weeks, let's say.

[20:09] So they move in very quickly.

[20:11] We get almost no footage.

[20:11] That's what that movie, Nine and a Half Weeks,

[20:13] was about, right?

[20:13] It was about how long you can use a pool

[20:15] in the Twin Cities.

[20:16] Yeah, yeah.

[20:17] Or you legally have to dispose of it.

[20:18] Yeah, that's what I told my parents

[20:20] when I rented it from the video store.

[20:22] I thought it was about pool use in the upper Midwest.

[20:25] Like, rent it for me, mommy.

[20:27] Okay, so they move in very quickly.

[20:31] We see almost no footage of that.

[20:33] Their home looks immediately lived in.

[20:35] I don't know that we need to see the move.

[20:37] Stuart's like, how do I know that they moved in

[20:40] if I don't see it?

[20:41] Yep.

[20:42] And then we are introduced, this is one of-

[20:43] Dan Backstory McCoy took over Stuart's brain

[20:45] for a moment there.

[20:46] Stuart has, takes some issue with the movie

[20:50] because we are introduced to Cider the cat.

[20:54] And I'm like, as soon as that cat shows up,

[20:55] I'm like, evil pool, there's a cat,

[20:57] they're gonna kill this fucking cat.

[20:58] You know that cat's not gonna outlast it.

[21:00] Okay, so-

[21:01] Unless they're gonna do an alien thing

[21:02] and it's just the cat and one other person that survives.

[21:04] That would have been really cool.

[21:06] Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case.

[21:07] If the pool saved the cat,

[21:08] then the pool would be our hero.

[21:10] Yes, good point.

[21:13] That's what that book, Save the Cat, is all about.

[21:15] When pools are good and when they're evil.

[21:18] When pools are evil on Fox.

[21:22] Okay, so-

[21:23] We talked to Glenn Danzig about his pool.

[21:26] Yeah, pretty sure it's evil.

[21:30] That's just because he hasn't cleaned it in a while.

[21:31] It's filled with Glenn Danzig back there.

[21:34] Can I go out and swim tonight?

[21:35] That's his song.

[21:36] Oh yeah, that's true.

[21:37] And he keeps swimming with makeup on.

[21:38] That's a bad idea.

[21:39] He clogs the filter.

[21:40] That's pretty bad, yeah.

[21:41] So they're starting to get situated in their various,

[21:45] at school, and they're starting to make friends, yada yada.

[21:48] They're cleaning out the pool to get it all set up.

[21:51] They-

[21:52] They are by hand as a family.

[21:54] They have drained the pool and they're scrubbing it by hand.

[21:57] Have you ever done that, Ellen?

[21:58] I have not ever done that, no.

[22:00] It seems very silly to me.

[22:02] In the process-

[22:02] Partly also because a pool ladder doesn't go

[22:05] all the way to the bottom of the pool,

[22:06] so I don't know how they're all gonna get up

[22:08] out of the pool when it's done.

[22:09] Maybe the shallow area is shallow enough

[22:11] that you can just climb out.

[22:12] Probably skateboard out.

[22:14] Yes, if I understand how these things work.

[22:16] Hire a couple of Z-Boys or whatever.

[22:19] Well, yeah, that's what skate or die means,

[22:21] is because if you can't skate your way out,

[22:22] you die in the bottom of the pool.

[22:25] Okay, so they bring, at one point,

[22:27] Ray cuts his hand while fishing through the drain.

[22:30] That's gross.

[22:30] That was dumb.

[22:31] Don't reach into any kind of drain with your bare hand.

[22:33] Don't do that.

[22:35] And then they bring a pool guy in

[22:36] who explains that this pool is not connected

[22:39] to the sewage system.

[22:41] It's instead connected to an aquifer under the ground,

[22:44] so it's super natural,

[22:45] and people believe it has healing properties.

[22:48] I like this pool guy.

[22:49] I like this guy.

[22:50] He had a lot of personality.

[22:52] This is a character that, for a second,

[22:54] I looked away from the screen,

[22:56] and for a second, hearing the voice,

[22:58] I thought maybe it was Paul Scheer,

[22:59] because it had sort of that vibe

[23:00] of, we brought in Paul Scheer to do this character.

[23:03] I believe this is-

[23:04] He would've crushed it.

[23:05] He would've crushed it.

[23:06] If this was a sillier movie that would impose,

[23:07] I believe this is Ben Sinclair from High Maintenance.

[23:10] Oh, right, okay.

[23:12] Yeah, no shade to him.

[23:14] Okay, so we get a little scene

[23:15] of the family swimming in the pool,

[23:17] which is important because there's a sequence

[23:18] where they're fishing for quarters.

[23:21] Have you ever played this game, Elliot,

[23:22] where you chuck quarters?

[23:23] No.

[23:24] Just because we're Jewish, Stuart,

[23:25] doesn't mean that all our games are about money

[23:27] and my children racing after money.

[23:29] That's, man, you gotta be fair.

[23:31] No, as a Gentile, I've definitely done this.

[23:34] I have, yes, swum to try and find an item

[23:37] that has been chucked to the bottom of the pool.

[23:39] We've certainly done that.

[23:40] We certainly throw a toy that's meant

[23:42] to go down to the bottom to pick it up,

[23:43] but not money, because, frankly, it's a waste of money.

[23:47] We need that money, Stuart.

[23:48] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah.

[23:49] We're hungry for it.

[23:50] For our gumballs.

[23:51] Okay.

[23:52] For our gumballs.

[23:53] They find an old magic camcorder.

[23:56] Every once in a while, we'll have TVs flicker on

[23:59] and show us weird flashbacks that may have happened

[24:02] or may not have happened, might be a fantasy.

[24:04] It feels like the magic of the pool extends

[24:06] far beyond the borders of that concrete pond.

[24:10] There's a variety of different pool shenanigans

[24:12] that make us believe that the pool

[24:14] is not all it's cracked up to be.

[24:15] At one point, Eve is swimming at night,

[24:17] and basically, it messes with her.

[24:21] She feels like somebody's right behind her,

[24:23] or whenever you go underwater,

[24:25] you see somebody at the edge of the pool,

[24:27] then when you come up, they're not there,

[24:29] that kind of stuff.

[24:30] Cider goes, the cat Cider goes missing almost immediately.

[24:34] So they find its collar, but that's it.

[24:38] So they get a pool cover, which'll kinda matter later.

[24:41] Ray is oddly recovering super well.

[24:46] It's like the pool is the pool from Cocoon,

[24:49] but instead of aliens, it's ghosts.

[24:51] It is like the Cocoon pool.

[24:53] So his hand heals miraculously fast,

[24:56] and then his MS is regressing considerably.

[25:00] Yeah, he's doing great.

[25:01] He's even set up a little gym in the garage

[25:04] where he's watching either real home movies he's made

[25:07] or fantasy movies, I don't know.

[25:10] And he's pushing 185, and that's not nothing, man.

[25:13] That's some serious weight.

[25:16] I'll let the character know that you approve.

[25:19] Yeah, yeah, if he's repping those out,

[25:20] that's pretty good, bud.

[25:22] Okay, and at this point, he is so preoccupied

[25:26] with pushing that 185, which I get it, man.

[25:29] Games don't sleep for no one.

[25:31] But he's-

[25:32] Games don't sleep for no one, that's what I'm saying.

[25:36] So he's-

[25:39] But they don't do it for no one.

[25:41] No, no, you can't let him rest.

[25:45] You gotta work on him.

[25:47] Okay, so he's so busy pushing plate

[25:51] that he can't go swimming with his son,

[25:53] who just wants to connect with him.

[25:55] And so he's like, just stay in the shallow end, bud.

[25:58] And I'm like, this feels very irresponsible.

[26:00] This is very irresponsible.

[26:01] This is bad.

[26:01] You should always have an adult

[26:03] at least watching a child in a pool.

[26:07] And so, of course, the ghost pool messes with him.

[26:11] It throws quarters in there somehow.

[26:13] It makes him believe that there's somebody

[26:15] at the edge of the pool or on the diving board.

[26:17] And then there's a little ghost girl

[26:20] hiding in the, what the-

[26:22] In the filter.

[26:24] And it's got like hair and crap.

[26:25] It's really gross and it scares him.

[26:27] And it also shares a name.

[26:29] The name is Rebecca.

[26:32] So of course, Elliot is-

[26:33] From Sunnybrook Farm.

[26:34] Yeah, Elliot is-

[26:35] Rebecca is the winter.

[26:36] Well, when she said her name was Rebecca Summers,

[26:39] I'm like, wait, is that, that's not Phoenix's name.

[26:41] No, that's Rachel Summers.

[26:42] That's Rachel Summers, yeah.

[26:43] Yeah, no, I messed that one up.

[26:45] So of course, Elliot immediately goes running

[26:47] to his mom to cry about the whole thing,

[26:49] getting Ray in trouble.

[26:50] To be fair, to be fair, he's a sensitive lad

[26:53] and he also saw a ghost.

[26:54] Yeah.

[26:55] Yep.

[26:57] Okay, so-

[26:58] Paddling on that ghost.

[26:59] Yeah, so Ray at this point-

[27:02] That was always the worst.

[27:03] When I was a kid,

[27:04] I don't think kids get this as much now.

[27:05] When I was a kid and I was being bullied

[27:07] and I would go to a teacher or someone

[27:08] and they'd go, don't be a tattletale.

[27:10] And I was like, what the fuck is this?

[27:11] That's insane.

[27:12] No, it, yeah, this is a thing that we all-

[27:13] I got told that so many times from adults.

[27:15] Crazy.

[27:16] Grew up with a bad attitude that I'm glad is gone.

[27:19] But I can only assume-

[27:20] Look, do you want to be a snitch kid?

[27:21] Are you a snitch?

[27:22] Is that it?

[27:23] Are you guys thanking the terrorists

[27:24] for making us, turning us into

[27:25] a see something, say something culture?

[27:27] I didn't say that.

[27:30] I think I'm thanking-

[27:31] Damn lazy.

[27:32] Psychiatrists and like-

[27:34] I think a better understanding of bullying

[27:36] not being like a fun thing.

[27:37] Yeah.

[27:38] Of course.

[27:39] I think we now live in a culture

[27:41] that I think no longer heroicizes the bully

[27:44] the way they once did.

[27:46] Well, also like you got to believe

[27:47] that was just teachers being lazy, right?

[27:49] That's like, I don't want to deal with this shit.

[27:50] I think that was half of it.

[27:51] I think half of it was teachers being lazy

[27:53] and half of it, I mean,

[27:54] I think a third of it was teachers being lazy.

[27:56] A third of it was them looking at me

[27:57] and being like, I would bully you if I could.

[27:59] I don't like you either, weakling.

[28:01] And a third of it was this idea of like,

[28:03] come on, it's all in good fun.

[28:04] Toughen up, you know?

[28:06] Yeah.

[28:06] Yeah, and I feel like the narrative is-

[28:07] There's only so many times you can be walking

[28:08] down a hallway and someone punches you in the side

[28:11] that it stops being fun, so.

[28:12] Well, you said the idea of like society

[28:14] heroicizing the bully and I think that's not,

[28:16] you're close to it.

[28:17] I think the idea is that like pop culture

[28:20] has really focused on the idea of the bullied kid

[28:23] turning around and like defeating the bully

[28:26] in some kind of show of strength or wit.

[28:28] In a way that, exactly, is on the same wavelength

[28:32] as the original bully challenge.

[28:33] Yes.

[28:34] That like, oh, if you're bullied,

[28:35] you should probably bully back, you know?

[28:36] Yeah, exactly, yeah.

[28:37] Like, yeah, turn this into your crucible

[28:41] for which your strength is forged.

[28:43] Okay, so he complains to his mom

[28:45] and his mom's like, listen to him, she's concerned.

[28:48] It did, you're right, it did work for Conan.

[28:50] When he's strapped to the wheel of pain.

[28:52] I would also say that Conan,

[28:53] let's just taking it at face value,

[28:55] he also lives in hyperborea, a time before time

[28:59] and a history before history, you know?

[29:01] When only the strong survive

[29:02] and the only law is the sword.

[29:04] So we don't live in that world anymore, you know?

[29:07] I mean, I feel like Conan really could have

[29:10] done with some therapy, you know?

[29:12] Yeah.

[29:13] I mean, everyone can, but especially guys

[29:14] who've been strapped to the wheel of pain

[29:15] for his entire childhood, yeah.

[29:17] Now, Conan, this thing about wanting to hear

[29:20] the lamentations of their women,

[29:21] that seems something we should unpack.

[29:24] It's true.

[29:25] I think he's just telling his audience

[29:26] what they want to hear though, at that point.

[29:27] At that, yeah, he is, that's true.

[29:29] Okay, so Ray-

[29:30] He's playing for the crowd and the crowd is warlord.

[29:32] Yeah, so.

[29:33] So Elliot has a baseball practice

[29:35] and Ray gets invited because of course he's a-

[29:37] I gotta go, sorry guys.

[29:38] I didn't mean to double book like this.

[29:40] Don't forget your short pants and long socks.

[29:43] No, you don't wear short pants when you play baseball.

[29:45] You don't wear short pants and long socks?

[29:47] No.

[29:48] You gotta slide into bases,

[29:49] you can't do that in short pants.

[29:49] No, but I mean those pants that like,

[29:51] they don't go all the way-

[29:52] That go to mid-calf.

[29:53] That's what I mean.

[29:54] Okay.

[29:54] They're like tight capris, right?

[29:57] Yeah, but they don't really wear those anymore.

[29:59] They don't?

[30:00] They drink Capri Suns.

[30:02] I mean, that they do, yeah, yeah.

[30:04] That they do, young Daniel. That they do.

[30:06] They Big League Chew.

[30:08] They just chomp it down by the fistful.

[30:10] They're trying to teach kids

[30:12] not to use a starter pack

[30:14] on their way to chewing tobacco.

[30:16] So I think Big League Chew is no longer the hit it once was.

[30:18] You know Big League Chew?

[30:20] If I'm remembering this correctly,

[30:22] one of the creators of it was Todd Phillips,

[30:24] the director.

[30:26] And then he got cut out of it.

[30:28] Basically.

[30:30] Yes, Todd Phillips.

[30:32] No, not Todd Phillips, Todd Field.

[30:34] Todd Field, yes.

[30:36] That's what I mean.

[30:38] Yes, that is a true thing.

[30:40] Or at least something that I've read.

[30:42] Todd Field, thank you.

[30:44] Of the two Todds, the one who's

[30:46] in the bedroom.

[30:48] I like a little more.

[30:50] Well, that's wonderful.

[30:52] Although Tartar and Joker are kind of the same movie

[30:54] in a way, right?

[30:56] There's that moment

[30:58] when Lydia Tartar gets Joker-fied.

[31:02] She's one step away.

[31:04] If there's any other fictional character who's going to be Joker-fied,

[31:06] I imagine it's Lydia Tartar.

[31:10] Ray tags along

[31:12] to baseball practice because he's a

[31:14] former famous professional baseball player.

[31:16] And after

[31:18] doing some coaching, they're like,

[31:20] Hey Ray, why don't you give it a shot?

[31:22] He takes a couple swings and you're like,

[31:24] That's probably a bad idea.

[31:26] And then he channels the

[31:28] power of the pool and he gets

[31:30] super baseball skills and strength.

[31:32] He sees visions of himself being a badass

[31:34] baseball dude and he just dings

[31:36] that thing right into the fucking lights, baby.

[31:38] It's crazy.

[31:40] Breaks the lights, tears

[31:42] part of the hide off that ball.

[31:44] He's the natural.

[31:46] I mean, he's the supernatural.

[31:50] Alex, delete what I just said

[31:52] and just make what Elliot said

[31:54] sound like I said it or inspired it.

[31:56] Mine doesn't make any sense without yours.

[31:58] Oh yeah, that makes sense too.

[32:00] Back home, Ray is

[32:02] kind of obsessed with the pool and he's like staring

[32:04] at the TV of baseball highlights or whatever.

[32:06] He and his wife go out,

[32:08] leaving the kids home alone.

[32:10] Elliot, of course, is... Ah, burglars!

[32:12] Yeah, Elliot is customizing action

[32:14] figures, which

[32:16] is pretty cool.

[32:18] And then Izzy has her Christian swimming

[32:20] boy over. They play

[32:22] romantic Marco Polo

[32:24] in the pool for a little while and then the ghost

[32:26] does some shenanigans. Christian swimming boy sounds like

[32:28] a poorly translated foreign

[32:30] romance novel. Yeah, it does.

[32:32] Yeah.

[32:34] So the ghost is like...

[32:36] They were playing Marco Polo, so the ghost is now like

[32:38] Polo, which seems silly

[32:40] to me.

[32:42] We're led to believe later that this is

[32:44] kind of ancient force that's always been around

[32:46] and the idea that it likes to toy with its

[32:48] victims seems silly to me.

[32:50] Well, you know, it's hung around long enough.

[32:52] It's picked up a few things.

[32:54] Unless this is like a Tom Mombadil type

[32:56] ancient evil force, which is very silly.

[32:58] Is this the part where she like sort of

[33:00] swims down and then she's in sort of a void

[33:02] beneath the pool and you can see

[33:04] just like the one window of light

[33:06] up at the... I thought it was pretty neat. I think so. That happens here

[33:08] and it happens later too, but it is neat.

[33:10] It's a cool image. Impossibly deep. It's like she's

[33:12] traveling down into Aurelia where Cthulhu

[33:14] lies dead and is dreaming.

[33:16] Is Cthulhu live streaming or wait streaming?

[33:18] Is he waiting or is he just lying

[33:20] or is he waiting? He's waiting.

[33:22] Okay.

[33:24] Because the waiting is the hardest part

[33:26] when you're Cthulhu

[33:28] and the stars aren't right.

[33:30] Yeah. I think we should just

[33:32] take a boat out there and check.

[33:34] I don't think that's caused any problems.

[33:38] No one's ever had an issue doing that.

[33:40] No. I got this idol

[33:42] that I bought at a store and it

[33:44] gives me a headache when I look at it

[33:46] but I think we should still check.

[33:48] Sounds legit.

[33:50] So afterwards

[33:52] Izzy

[33:54] wants to keep it quiet that the pool

[33:56] attacked her and she and

[33:58] Ellie get into an argument and at one point Izzy's

[34:00] like, what makes more sense?

[34:02] That the pool is helping us or that it's

[34:04] haunted? Like neither of them

[34:06] make sense technically.

[34:08] Technically it shouldn't be either.

[34:10] She also doesn't want to get into trouble

[34:12] for having a boy over.

[34:14] She doesn't want to get into trouble and also

[34:16] that in general

[34:18] aside from pool attacks

[34:20] their life seems to be better.

[34:22] They haven't had to move as much. Their father

[34:24] seems to be recovering.

[34:26] They are hostages to his mood

[34:28] in a way that the movie

[34:30] doesn't really get into.

[34:32] But again, we'll make a better movie.

[34:34] You mean a movie called The Shining?

[34:36] I mean, yeah.

[34:38] In a lot of ways, yeah. But when he's

[34:40] feeling physically strong, the family

[34:42] is doing better because he is feeling

[34:44] confident and powerful.

[34:46] So the family seems to be doing better. Why rock

[34:48] the boat just because this pool seems to have a little bit

[34:50] of a haunted problem?

[34:52] Speaking of rocking, it's time for a pool party.

[34:54] You don't make a movie about a haunted pool

[34:56] without a badass pool party.

[34:58] And everybody shows up. You have a big

[35:00] hairless guy who's really

[35:02] weirdly muscular. I really wondered who that guy

[35:04] was and why they invited him because nobody seems

[35:06] to like him and

[35:08] the dad doesn't know his name.

[35:10] He just calls him, what, a bald Shrek or

[35:12] something like that? Hairless Shrek. And I'm like,

[35:14] Shrek's already hairless, I think.

[35:16] I haven't checked downstairs.

[35:18] Yeah, you haven't checked all the way.

[35:20] But what if

[35:22] the fact is that he's hairless everywhere except

[35:24] downstairs and it's just a thick,

[35:26] tangled, thatching thicket.

[35:28] Terrifying.

[35:30] Around his gnarled

[35:32] ogre penis as crooked as

[35:34] a wizard's staff.

[35:36] I like this idea, Stuart,

[35:38] that I feel like you were sort of getting into that

[35:40] a pool party has certain required

[35:42] characters and one

[35:44] of them is a big hairless man.

[35:46] He throws the kids around and always

[35:48] wants to play chicken and stuff.

[35:50] And their realtor

[35:52] shows up with a super

[35:54] boozy cake and talks about her husband's famous

[35:56] g-string

[35:58] as if that's some kind of threat.

[36:00] Yeah, it's really fun.

[36:02] While

[36:04] the party's going on,

[36:06] Eve is cutting some watermelon

[36:08] and learning the tragic backstory of the house.

[36:10] Of course, any time a character's cutting

[36:12] something in a somewhat horror movie, I'm like,

[36:14] don't cut your finger off, please.

[36:16] That stresses me out too much.

[36:18] But yeah, she learns that the previous

[36:20] owners' children had gone missing

[36:22] and there were some terrifying things.

[36:24] Meanwhile,

[36:26] in the pool, Ray takes

[36:28] a young baseball prodigy onto his shoulders

[36:30] to play chicken.

[36:32] They get deep into the water.

[36:34] This is the son of Elliot's baseball coach

[36:36] who Ray connects with

[36:38] so easily because they're both

[36:40] into baseball. And you can tell Elliot is left out of this.

[36:44] So they're wrestling,

[36:46] Ray and the kid win,

[36:48] but they end up getting too deep

[36:50] in the pool and then some black water

[36:52] goes up Ray's nose

[36:54] and then he gets ax-possessed

[36:56] and he drags the kid even deeper

[36:58] into the water and

[37:00] it's almost like he's trying to drown the

[37:02] kid. Yes. And after

[37:04] this,

[37:06] they get the kid out.

[37:08] Elliot sees this from a distance, raises

[37:10] the alarm, they get the kid out. Elliot is

[37:12] videotaping the party from his

[37:14] room, which is creepy.

[37:16] It's creepy.

[37:18] I don't think he's doing it for

[37:20] creepy reasons. No, I don't think so.

[37:22] He can only live through a screen

[37:24] like so many of us.

[37:26] The movie briefly turns into

[37:28] The Fablemans, I guess.

[37:30] He saves the kid

[37:32] and his dad is also almost

[37:34] drowned. They bring him back

[37:36] and the parents of the kid

[37:38] are like, look, I get that you're going

[37:40] to be mad that this happened. This is terrifying.

[37:42] Your child almost died.

[37:44] But the degree to which they're like,

[37:46] you stay away from our family!

[37:48] I'm like, well, there is an explanation here that

[37:50] this man has a disease

[37:52] that maybe made him clamp onto this kid

[37:54] and he almost drowned too.

[37:56] It felt like such a

[37:58] horror movie thing of

[38:00] not just like, I am angry and shaken

[38:02] but like, stay away

[38:04] from us.

[38:06] I can understand it to some extent

[38:08] but it's also like, I think the first part

[38:10] is correct. I feel like people

[38:12] when presented with something that even

[38:14] in a rational moment

[38:16] they'd be like, oh, he is suffering from

[38:18] an illness. It wasn't

[38:20] his fault. But in the heat of the moment, you're like

[38:22] stay away from us.

[38:24] I've seen parents react that way

[38:26] to things. I think it is a

[38:28] heat of the moment thing. Their son did

[38:30] almost drown.

[38:32] The party's over. It was

[38:34] kind of a hit but it had a bummer ending.

[38:36] It did not have a great ending.

[38:40] And though the parents aren't going to press charges

[38:42] I made all this jello

[38:44] and everybody left before they ate it.

[38:46] What am I going to do with this?

[38:48] On the plus side, there was watermelon. On the minus

[38:50] side, there were two near drownings.

[38:54] They're kind of shunned by the parents

[38:56] in the local community. Eve's

[38:58] first decision is like, we need to

[39:00] get the fuck out of here. There's something wrong with this pool.

[39:02] Ray's like, I don't think so. We shouldn't.

[39:04] I love the pool. But they get in the car

[39:06] and they try and leave. But then Ray starts

[39:08] choking on water. What? What's

[39:10] happening? So they got to stick his ass

[39:12] in bed and Eve starts to do some

[39:14] detective work. She does a little

[39:16] bit of Google work.

[39:18] It's the kind of research that, and I know

[39:20] they were in a rush to buy this house, the kind of research

[39:22] most people would do before buying a house

[39:24] is looking up whatever you can online

[39:26] about the past history of it. I certainly did that before I

[39:28] bought my house.

[39:30] Was there any terrifying backstory?

[39:32] Sadly, no.

[39:34] Just a regular house.

[39:36] I was kind of hoping it would be

[39:38] like a murder house or maybe like a

[39:40] mysterious, you know, like,

[39:42] a gangster lived here and maybe he buried

[39:44] some gold in the basement and he's going to want it back.

[39:46] There's not even a basement. A TV sucked

[39:48] a child into it in this house.

[39:50] Yeah, exactly. Nothing like that.

[39:52] Didn't have a black dolly or anything?

[39:54] No, nothing. Not a dolly of any color whatsoever.

[39:56] Okay, that's too bad.

[39:58] A purple dolly?

[40:00] So, her Google work leads her to a very lovely home owned by Lucy, an older woman, that we

[40:08] learned was the mother of Rebecca, the little girl we saw in the beginning of the movie.

[40:12] Former psychiatrist, unlicensed, used to pull a football away from another kid.

[40:17] Yeah, same Lucy.

[40:21] Yeah, I mean, it was after that that she got that drug that let her use 100% of her brain,

[40:27] right?

[40:28] Yes, yeah, exactly.

[40:29] That's how she ended up in the sky with all the diamonds, yeah.

[40:32] Okay, so.

[40:33] Is the Lucy from the movie, she's supposed to have gone back in time and met Lucy, the

[40:38] hominid, is that part of that movie or no?

[40:42] Because she does meet like a pre-human, like hominid, right?

[40:46] I think so, yeah, yeah.

[40:47] I wonder if that's supposed to be the famous Lucy that was dug up in the 60s, you know.

[40:52] Yeah, you might be right, actually.

[40:54] Man, that's trippy stuff, right, if you think about it.

[40:58] What a ridiculous movie.

[41:00] Is Morgan Freeman just lecturing made-up nonsense, where he's like, oh yeah, at 50% of the brain's

[41:08] use you can travel through time, and his audience is like, uh-huh, yes.

[41:13] What science is this?

[41:14] I mean, this is an audience that has been doped down by like explaining YouTube videos

[41:19] that are like, check out this crazy conspiracy.

[41:22] Yeah, it's true.

[41:23] Okay, so she has a conversation with this woman.

[41:27] You learn that her son is a huge success.

[41:30] What is he, a senator or something?

[41:31] He's like a diplomat.

[41:32] Yeah, he's a big deal.

[41:33] He's like involved in some kind of international aid work or something.

[41:36] And he had a horrible illness when he was a kid that he miraculously recovered from.

[41:41] This conversation happens inside a dimly lit parlor that has a very noticeable water feature

[41:48] that is also very loud.

[41:50] At one point-

[41:51] It's a weird indoor water feature.

[41:53] Yeah.

[41:54] And she's explaining the history of the region and the water of the region, and basically

[42:00] explaining the mystery of how this ancient aquifer heals people but requires a sacrifice

[42:07] in return.

[42:08] And she explains this while she's pouring herself a glass of water and spilling water

[42:11] all over the place.

[42:12] When she is pouring the water, it is kind of funny.

[42:15] She is so overflowing.

[42:16] It's supposed to be spooky, but it just comes off as like, she's so distracted she's not

[42:21] paying attention to what she's doing.

[42:22] This scene definitely puts a lot of weight on the idea that we're just going to find

[42:26] any water scary.

[42:28] And I'm like, is this, I don't know, is this the same water?

[42:31] I'm led to believe that this pool is scary, but why am I led to believe that all water

[42:35] is just a pool of evil?

[42:36] You're supposed to be in the audience being like, there's water.

[42:39] It's so frightening.

[42:40] My own body.

[42:41] 80% of my own body.

[42:42] I can't escape it.

[42:43] Hacking cells away.

[42:44] Yeah, exactly.

[42:45] Get the water out of me.

[42:46] Yeah.

[42:47] The audience is the aliens from Signs.

[42:50] Spoiler, if you haven't seen Signs yet.

[42:53] Okay, so Eve, you know, Eve is concerned.

[42:58] She's like, that's not, that's not a real, like a sacrifice isn't like in this situation,

[43:03] you're, you're doing something for benefit.

[43:06] You're trading.

[43:07] You traded your daughter's life for your son's life.

[43:09] And then Lucy starts to act weird and then black stuff starts oozing out of her eyes

[43:15] and mouth.

[43:16] She speaks with the voice of the water.

[43:20] And she's like, you know what I thought, you know what I thought this was, I thought she

[43:23] seemed familiar.

[43:24] Sorry guys.

[43:25] I'm gonna have to break into a little episode of Elliot in the aisles.

[43:28] That's right.

[43:29] Lucy is played by Jody Long, who among her other roles, she's an Emmy award winner.

[43:33] I saw her last year in A Little Night Music at the Pasadena Playhouse.

[43:39] She was playing the older, the older former actress who's kind of reminiscing about her,

[43:43] the lovers that she had.

[43:44] She was really good in it.

[43:45] She was really, really good.

[43:46] Did she have black water oozing from her eyes and don't explain it.

[43:50] No, she didn't.

[43:51] Strangely enough, in this performance of A Little Night Music, the Stephen Sondheim's

[43:56] musical about kind of like love and how love kind of runs its course or, or returns and

[44:01] the foolish ways that love makes us act.

[44:04] She did not have black water pouring out of her eyes at any point.

[44:07] You didn't go see A Little Night Swim music.

[44:11] I think it would have been a strong choice, Elliot.

[44:14] I talked to the directors.

[44:16] I mean, I didn't produce this, this production.

[44:17] I didn't put it up.

[44:18] I just went and saw it.

[44:19] I thought Elliot was going to say, talk to the hand because he's lifting his hand up.

[44:23] But it was, it was a great production.

[44:24] Anyone gets a chance to go back in time to the production of A Little Night Music at

[44:28] the Pasadena Playhouse.

[44:29] Once I use 50% of my brain, I can do that.

[44:31] Okay.

[44:32] She was really good and she was really good in it.

[44:33] So Eve flees the evil woman possessed by the water.

[44:37] Meanwhile, Ray's at home taking a shower and guess what?

[44:39] He gets possessed by the water too.

[44:43] The pool then lures Elliot out to the pool using the sound of the cat.

[44:49] And he thinks he's helping the cat and then it is, I'm guessing a ghost cat or something.

[44:54] And it drags him into the water.

[44:56] And then the magic evil pool starts closing the pool cover to trap Elliot in the water.

[45:03] Eve runs out, Eve and Izzy try and stop the pool cover and they, I guess they stop at

[45:08] about halfway.

[45:10] She dives in after her son while Izzy runs inside to go get help.

[45:13] She slips on water.

[45:14] Oh no.

[45:15] Oh no.

[45:16] She can't get away from it.

[45:18] Gets a handful of broken glass for her trouble.

[45:21] Meanwhile her dad starts chasing her around shining style saying Marco Polo and shit.

[45:27] And also he has like, the water seems to be leaking out of him like he's Hydro Man.

[45:33] Meanwhile underwater, the pool is impossibly deep.

[45:36] She swims deeper and deeper until she finds her son floating down there.

[45:40] They're beset by ghosts and spirits.

[45:43] Uh, they, they like, she's dragging her son out and they, uh, they find the ghost of Rebecca

[45:51] who gives them a magical quarter and that gives them the idea to swim in which direction

[45:57] to escape.

[45:58] They can put that in the machine from big so that they can get a wish.

[46:00] Yeah.

[46:01] Zoltar?

[46:02] Zoltar?

[46:03] Yeah, yeah, something like that.

[46:04] Zoltar or Zoltan?

[46:07] It's Zoltar, but I'm not sure.

[46:08] Oh, like the movie Tar.

[46:09] You got it.

[46:10] What if, what if the movie Tar was about she turned into that machine or she got a wish

[46:13] from it?

[46:14] What?

[46:15] Yeah.

[46:16] Yeah, yeah.

[46:17] Well, if that was her defense for her behavior, she's like, I'm just a little kid who got

[46:19] big.

[46:20] I didn't know better.

[46:24] My moral sense isn't developed.

[46:26] Yeah.

[46:27] Uh, okay.

[46:28] So, uh, Izzy, uh, so they like, they, they get out of the water and then Ray shows up

[46:35] and then Izzy starts hitting him with a bat.

[46:38] So she beats him with a bat because he's being a brat and he, uh, he starts having like visions

[46:44] of like the good times they had and then the water starts pouring out of him and he's back

[46:49] to normal.

[46:50] Um, but, uh, Elliot is still, Elliot is still not recovering the waters.

[46:56] The pool won't let him go.

[46:58] So Ray knows what he has to do.

[47:00] He goes swimming into the water and, uh, yep, he sacrifices himself and his son recovers.

[47:08] Uh, yep.

[47:10] It's really great.

[47:11] That's it.

[47:12] That's the end of the movie.

[47:13] Well, no, no, no.

[47:14] There's one, and there's one last little bit at the end, they're like, uh, they talk about

[47:18] how like they could move and the daughter's like, but then it'll just happen to another

[47:23] family.

[47:24] Dad wouldn't want that.

[47:25] So this is while the pool is being filled in, which is like what I was saying, like

[47:29] just fill in the pool.

[47:30] Like, I don't know why they can't fill in the pool and then move.

[47:33] No, that's true.

[47:34] But also what I like is they're all, they're watching the pool being filled in.

[47:36] They are feet away from the pool as this bulldozer is about to dump a bunch of stuff into it.

[47:43] It's just like, there's no way to let him stand that close to this construction site.

[47:45] Like you got to step back a little bit, but yes, they are.

[47:48] They're filling in the pool and they will be the guardians, I guess, for eternity passed

[47:52] down from generation to generation of this evil demonic freshwater spring.

[47:57] To invoke Poltergeist again, it's like when Craig T. Nelson pushes the TV out of the hotel

[48:02] room at the end.

[48:03] This is, uh, you know, we're filling in the pool.

[48:05] Yeah.

[48:06] Similar level of a joke.

[48:09] Um, okay.

[48:11] Well the Shocktober category, what are they?

[48:18] Was this totally scarifying?

[48:21] Was it totally snorifying or was it frighteningly funny?

[48:26] Um, and of course, uh, totally scarifying is the equivalent to kind of liked it.

[48:33] Um, here's the thing.

[48:36] I didn't like this movie, but if there was a category that's like, yeah, I don't know.

[48:40] I don't mind this.

[48:41] Well, you would kind of fall in there with our special October categories.

[48:46] We still have the same problem we always have, which is the categories don't adequately explain

[48:50] demon art.

[48:51] Yeah.

[48:52] They don't, they don't encompass all of existence.

[48:53] If you're going to pin me down, I'd go mild snorifying.

[48:57] But the thing is like, actually there's some stuff in this movie I liked.

[49:01] Okay.

[49:02] Like I think, you know, Kerry Condon and White Russell, both actors I like, I think they

[49:05] do a good job in the movie.

[49:07] I think the movie actually looks pretty stylish during a lot of it.

[49:12] Yeah.

[49:13] It's a good looking movie.

[49:14] Yeah.

[49:15] I think it's a good idea to sustain a whole film, even at a relatively short length.

[49:19] It feels like the fun of a movie about a haunted pool, the fun would be the different ways

[49:24] you force characters to have to be in the pool or go to the pool.

[49:29] And instead of the characters just kind of keep going swimming.

[49:32] Like there's no, it's not, there's no, the fun of like why these characters have to be

[49:36] dragged to a pool.

[49:37] It feels like there's such a commitment to the, like the, the real story of it.

[49:43] Like the family, the family drama element of it.

[49:46] And as, as you said, like that's in many ways more interesting than the kind of mishmash

[49:52] of kind of overdone haunted stuff ideas.

[49:57] But it also makes it less of an effective horror.

[50:00] movie because I'm like well I want to be fun and scary I don't want to yeah if it was more drama

[50:05] it would be better if it was a silly or horror movie it would be better probably yeah but it's

[50:09] yeah it's trying to be both and it succeeds not at all yeah I would say it's snorifying

[50:14] I would also call it snorifying again I would if they I'd rather see like I said I'd rather

[50:18] see this movie without the pool and just have it be a family movie but as it is I agree it falls

[50:23] between uh between two stools yeah so I mean it could still be about a like they have a pool like

[50:29] you still have a pool in the movie it still could be called night swim but it's a yeah it's kind of

[50:34] not not silly enough to be a pool horror movie and it's not deep enough it's not shallow enough

[50:39] to be a good horror movie and it's not deep enough to be a good drama but they're trying

[50:43] you know what give them give them give them credit for trying you know sure yeah everybody had fun

[50:49] yeah participation trophy for night swim yeah um hey all episodes of the flop house are supported

[50:58] largely by listeners like you but also we have a few um businesses that support us and this week

[51:06] we are sponsored in part by squarespace uh it's a service that lets you build a beautiful website

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[51:24] your audience and sell anything you like from products to content to time in your terms you

[51:30] can start a completely personalized website with their uh squarespace blueprint that's their guided

[51:37] design system where you can choose from professionally curated styling options and uh

[51:43] make your online presence from the ground up that's tailored to your specific business and

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[52:22] for a free trial and when you are ready to launch go to squarespace.com flop to save 10%

[52:30] off your first purchase of a website or domain that's squarespace guys i told you about it you

[52:39] nailed it you did you did tell us about it you told us you're going to tell us about it you told

[52:43] us about it and then you told us he told us about it it's true job and now i'm going to tell the

[52:47] listeners about something hey everybody it's not just october it's not just spooky season it's

[52:52] flop tv season that's right tv season two the one hour televised online version of the flop house

[53:00] where we broadcast live the first saturday of every month and then that episode is available

[53:06] to watch at your leisure afterwards it's going on right now each episode is packed with entertainment

[53:11] there's a new presentation by one of us a video segment from one of us we take questions from the

[53:16] viewers and we give the flop house treatment to a movie we've never covered on the podcast before

[53:20] and this season dan what's it all about sequels that's right number two we're talking about movies

[53:26] that are real number twos sequels that is we already had our robocop 2 episode uh this episode

[53:32] will be coming out after we do our break into episode uh that's the electric boogaloo of course

[53:37] and our next episode coming up will be on yes famously our next episode will be on saturday

[53:42] november 2nd at 9 p.m eastern 6 p.m pacific we'll be talking caddyshack 2 it's all number two movies

[53:49] and then later on in the season we'll be doing ski school 2 highlander 2 ninja turtles 2 secret of

[53:53] the ooze lots of twos we love the number two stewart's eyes lit up as soon as ski school 2

[53:58] was mentioned oh finally some good something for stewart yeah something for me and for the audience

[54:05] so just go to theflophouse.simpletix.com and you can buy individual tickets for each show

[54:11] or a season pass which has a discounted rate it's like getting one free show if you buy the season

[54:17] pass if you miss the first couple episodes of the season don't worry the season pass it lets you

[54:22] watch the video of those and they'll be up online through the end of february through the end of

[54:27] this series so we started in uh september and we're going to go through february one episode

[54:33] a month six episodes in total the first saturday of every month at 9 p.m eastern 6 p.m pacific

[54:39] go to theflophouse.simpletix.com and i've been having a lot of fun with flop tv this season i

[54:44] think like we have taken we took the first season was fun and now we're really pushing it even more

[54:49] we're doing more video we're having more fun we're joking more laughing more living more

[54:54] loving more learning more twice of everything the my doctor just told me i'm not allowed to love

[55:00] anymore i'm already loving too much guys okay your heart's too big my heart is too big also

[55:07] i'd like to make a little plug here guys i think it's my time to shine um my wife charlene is

[55:13] opening a studio gym in sunset park brooklyn uh it's called jiggle studio it is a body positive

[55:22] uh studio gym that is focused on moving the body you have uh the kickstarter just went up

[55:29] because we are hoping to get some help uh opening this uh cool little space um you can find us on

[55:35] instagram at jiggle underscore studio bk you can find us on kickstarter we're already doing

[55:42] really well uh but every little bit helps to help us get over that finish line uh there's

[55:47] some cool rewards including shirts water bottles etc there's some uh and there's some cool art done

[55:53] by some local artists and uh friends of the show um and every little bit uh helps so you can go

[55:59] check that out uh she's worked very hard on this and i'm very proud of her so please check that out

[56:06] um hey and you know while we're talking about stuff uh i want to say if you haven't subscribed

[56:13] to the flop house newsletter flop secrets if you go to flophousepodcast.com uh there's a field where

[56:19] you can put your email in there and uh it lets you know about what we're all up to but also

[56:25] there's some extra stuff in there it occurred to me that you know i should let people know

[56:30] the kind of thing that you can get in that newsletter uh early in small timber for instance

[56:36] i listed some smaller good bad movies uh some recommendations if you wanted to have your own

[56:42] at home uh small timber fun uh i've done a couple of last chance mailbags where you know we can't

[56:49] get to all the letters on the podcast itself so answer some of the lord knows we try you know

[56:55] uh you know just some silly comedy stuff is in there um so you know why not if you're interested

[57:02] why not that's my slogan it's a cool way to make sure you don't miss any of the

[57:06] various things that we are doing yes and it's literally free it's free it's true

[57:15] hey there it's kt at max fun have you listened to the flop house's bonus content

[57:21] they've done commentary tracks for all kinds of movies they got the country bears brats and yes

[57:27] even cats it's like watching a movie right alongside dan stewart and elliot you can go

[57:32] listen to those right now if you're already a maximum fun member but if you're not any time

[57:37] of year is a good time to support the show by joining max fun starting at just five bucks a

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[57:54] thank you so much for your support

[57:58] let's move on to letters from listeners this first letter open up that spooky

[58:04] halloween mailbag are those are those letters are those the the is that the hair of the dead witch

[58:14] these are her eyeballs these are her letters

[58:23] we've just received this from the ghost office oh i mean honestly that's pretty fucked up that

[58:29] she'd just be like have a bunch of spaghetti like cooked spaghetti and like peeled grapes

[58:33] yeah what kind of meal is that that's crazy um this is i guess the opposite of the atkins diet

[58:39] a lot of carbs yeah yeah this is from ben last name withheld who writes ben 10.

[58:45] hi peaches my wife and i love each other immensely and we have a lot of the same

[58:50] tastes and things sounds like it's working out yep well no problem here we can move on

[58:56] uh taste and things food humor vacations books etc all golden but not in a creepy way the only

[59:02] major i'm sure etc encompasses a a startling range of sexual peccadillo's as well yeah

[59:08] yeah the only major sticking point we have is film choices she's got more of an art house taste

[59:15] and i have a more flop house palette she loves your podcast by the way we can sometimes meet

[59:21] on certain ground like h24 films edgar wright west anderson sorry not sorry and such however

[59:29] i think that was directed at stewart since you should know i think west anderson is a

[59:33] film artiste of the high school um yeah yeah no we uh there's only one third of the podcast

[59:38] that's directed uh however a lot of the time he's not listening guys

[59:44] be our friend however a lot of the time we end up sitting on the couch lobbing titles at one another

[59:49] then eventually settling on taskmaster which is great but we're running out of episode

[59:55] episodes any advice thank you and godspeed ben last name

[1:00:00] withheld.

[1:00:01] I mean, it seems like the first thing is you could alternate.

[1:00:05] That's the first thing.

[1:00:06] Yeah.

[1:00:07] Honestly, that was also where I was like, I feel like I have this problem too with Audrey

[1:00:12] where it's not like we don't like the thing that the other person wants to watch.

[1:00:16] Most of the time we do, but we also want to be in control.

[1:00:19] We want to be the one saying like, this is the thing that I'm interested in tonight.

[1:00:22] And the best thing we've found to do is to just alternate choices.

[1:00:26] Yeah.

[1:00:27] Oh, yeah.

[1:00:28] And if you want any, I'm sure that they also want like some, um, some, uh, middle ground

[1:00:34] movie, middle set suggestions, you know, I mean, like, uh, although the first one comes

[1:00:38] off the top of my head is sorry to bother you is a movie that I feel like it's a, it's

[1:00:42] an somewhat of an artsy movie, but it's also somewhat of a bonkers movie.

[1:00:46] So maybe, and I think it's a great movie.

[1:00:48] I think it's really great.

[1:00:49] So that could be one that, that does something, you know, um, but there are plenty of artsy

[1:00:54] movies that are also on the stranger end of things, you know, possessions.

[1:00:58] That's another one.

[1:00:59] How's house?

[1:01:00] That's another, that's another, you know, um, I guess house and the American house.

[1:01:07] It's very artsy.

[1:01:08] Yeah.

[1:01:09] I think maybe like, uh, like George Wentz in it, dude, like take it, take a stroll the

[1:01:14] to you through that psychotronic video guide, maybe make a kind of a love game out of it.

[1:01:18] You know?

[1:01:19] I would say we have recommended a lot of movies on this podcast and you can, uh, you

[1:01:25] can do, I'm sure we've recommended some artsy ones.

[1:01:28] We've recommended some fartsy ones.

[1:01:30] Oh, you beat me to it.

[1:01:32] Uh, so yeah, I would, uh, yeah, you know, I thought you were saying like, just like

[1:01:37] alternating back and forth between Elliot and Stuart pics and then occasionally meet

[1:01:41] in the middle of the Dan pick.

[1:01:43] Yeah.

[1:01:44] Um, I'm not allowed to send Dan pics anymore.

[1:01:47] Uh huh.

[1:01:48] Yeah.

[1:01:49] I mean, you never should have.

[1:01:50] He's used too many megabytes of, uh, data as, uh, the family plans fucked up because

[1:01:57] of Dan.

[1:01:58] So then you can't send them.

[1:01:59] He's way more than his fair share.

[1:02:00] Yeah.

[1:02:01] The flop house family plan.

[1:02:02] Yeah.

[1:02:03] Like dude, you've used up all our data.

[1:02:05] Uh, this is from Andrew last name withheld, even used up, even used up all my data action

[1:02:10] figures from my SDTNG collection.

[1:02:16] Andrew last name withheld writes, Hey guys, well, yeah, you did have an exclamation point.

[1:02:22] I get it.

[1:02:23] So, okay.

[1:02:24] Fair, fair.

[1:02:25] Your roadhouse episode.

[1:02:26] Real quick guys.

[1:02:27] When you guys communicate with people digitally, do you use a lot of exclamation points or

[1:02:31] do I, do I use too many?

[1:02:33] No, no.

[1:02:34] I feel like there's such a presumption of passive aggressive anger in digital communication.

[1:02:39] You need to use exclamation points more than you actually mean to.

[1:02:41] Yeah.

[1:02:42] Real talk.

[1:02:43] Like, do I use too many emojis guys?

[1:02:44] Uh, no, I don't think so.

[1:02:47] I feel like he used to, you guys both used to use too many gifts and stickers and things

[1:02:52] and I would have to go in and delete them because I'm taking up too much space on my

[1:02:56] phone.

[1:02:57] Okay.

[1:02:58] You need to upgrade your phone.

[1:02:59] I think it's the problem.

[1:03:00] Or I can delete all these gifts that I don't need.

[1:03:02] I guess so.

[1:03:03] Those gifts are hilarious.

[1:03:04] My Paul Koryo isn't running as fast as it should.

[1:03:07] All my beautiful gifts are being thrown in the garbage.

[1:03:11] It's hard to get those gifts these days.

[1:03:13] Have you?

[1:03:15] This is the dumbest thing, but I was like, when I was trying to make a PowerPoint, I

[1:03:19] was trying to find gifts and I feel like there's a couple of websites that have like locked

[1:03:24] them down so you can't just easily save those things.

[1:03:27] Yeah.

[1:03:28] Interesting.

[1:03:29] I mean, the internet, it's harder to find things in general than it used to be.

[1:03:31] Yeah.

[1:03:32] Yeah.

[1:03:33] It's almost like tech companies are bad and don't have the user's interests in mind.

[1:03:36] It's almost like that, but I know that's not the case.

[1:03:39] They love us.

[1:03:40] In shitification.

[1:03:41] Hey, guys, your roadhouse episode reminded me of something I've been thinking about.

[1:03:45] Roadhouse.

[1:03:46] Opening a roadhouse.

[1:03:47] Yeah.

[1:03:48] Advice.

[1:03:49] Why do you think?

[1:03:50] Yeah.

[1:03:51] Like, where could I get a fencing person who can fence in my band?

[1:03:57] Yeah.

[1:03:58] I mean, any any person who builds fences can probably do that.

[1:04:01] I've seen I've seen chain link fences for outside the building.

[1:04:04] But where do you find those ones that go inside the building?

[1:04:08] Good fences make good bands.

[1:04:09] That's Robert Frost said.

[1:04:12] Why do you think they used to make so many TV shows about a hero who goes from town to

[1:04:16] town meeting new people and solving their problems before driving off into the sunset?

[1:04:21] And crucially, why did they mostly stop making these?

[1:04:25] The example I know best is the 18.

[1:04:27] The craziest example I can think of is the Canadian show The Littlest Hobo.

[1:04:31] Yeah.

[1:04:32] It was the hero.

[1:04:33] It was a kid.

[1:04:34] Yeah.

[1:04:35] The hero was a dog.

[1:04:36] Oh, dogs.

[1:04:37] Yeah.

[1:04:38] I think a lot of cowboy shows were like this.

[1:04:39] Yeah.

[1:04:40] And now I can only think of Jack Reacher.

[1:04:41] Were we more trusting of armed strangers in the past?

[1:04:44] Did we want to become armed travelers or did writers used to enjoy writing these stories

[1:04:50] and then they got tired of it?

[1:04:51] Thanks a bunch.

[1:04:52] Andrew, last name withheld.

[1:04:53] I mean, I feel like there's a couple like I'm for shows that are currently still like

[1:04:58] that.

[1:04:59] I mean, Poker Face, the Natasha Lyonne, Ryan Johnson show is exactly that roaming Colombo.

[1:05:06] And and also there's there's that show track Colombo's high school reunion.

[1:05:10] Yeah.

[1:05:11] Yeah.

[1:05:12] Tracker is like that.

[1:05:13] Tracker is exactly that.

[1:05:14] And the thing is, his name isn't even fucking tracker.

[1:05:16] It's something else.

[1:05:17] It's like super cool.

[1:05:18] It is.

[1:05:19] He does have a ridiculous name, but his name should be like Zack Tracker.

[1:05:21] Yeah.

[1:05:22] Yeah.

[1:05:23] Yeah.

[1:05:24] There's a tracker.

[1:05:25] We'll get your man backer.

[1:05:26] Yeah.

[1:05:27] There's two reasons.

[1:05:28] There's two reasons why they used to make these shows and they don't make it anymore.

[1:05:30] One is episodic versus serialization.

[1:05:34] TV shows used to always be episodic because under the understanding is once they air the

[1:05:39] first time, they will never air in that order ever again.

[1:05:42] If they go into syndication, they will air in random order.

[1:05:45] You don't want a viewer to feel like they had to see all the episodes leading up to

[1:05:48] this one in order to start watching because you may be in the third season of a show and

[1:05:52] you want new viewers to try it.

[1:05:54] So shows back then were serialized.

[1:05:56] Oh, sorry.

[1:05:57] We're episodic, not serialized.

[1:05:58] And a way that you could do that more easily is if it's almost an anthology of stories

[1:06:02] where the same main character interacts with new people each time, you don't have it going

[1:06:08] over from one episode to the next.

[1:06:09] You don't have to worry about it.

[1:06:10] They're easier to make that way, easier to distribute that way.

[1:06:13] It's just the way that people watch television back then is different than the way they watch

[1:06:16] it.

[1:06:17] If you back then, if you might miss an episode, you may never see it.

[1:06:21] So you can't have big story points that are necessary for an episode.

[1:06:25] The other is economically.

[1:06:26] It used to be a lot cheaper to make shows like that.

[1:06:29] You could pay the actors less because they were cycling through in and out.

[1:06:33] There were a lot more kind of standing sets.

[1:06:35] You could just rent.

[1:06:36] There were a lot more locations you could just go to to shoot things cheaply.

[1:06:39] And now a lot of that stuff is just much more expensive.

[1:06:42] It's cheaper now to have like a few places that you shoot and not be kind of just going

[1:06:48] out to some valley somewhere and shooting a bunch of stuff and then coming back.

[1:06:53] And it's just a different economics in the way that industry works.

[1:06:57] So those are two very valid, very real reasons.

[1:07:00] But the main one is I think that unfortunately, except for network television, everyone decided

[1:07:05] that they liked serialized storytelling the best.

[1:07:07] And I would argue that this was a bad move for television.

[1:07:12] It was at first when things moved to serialization, it seemed like it was having an enriching

[1:07:16] effect on television.

[1:07:17] It was making it more sophisticated.

[1:07:18] You could tell deeper stories.

[1:07:20] But I kind of feel like it's time for us to swerve back in the other direction because

[1:07:24] when I watch it, when I try a new TV show, I don't want to always have to start with

[1:07:27] the first episode and I don't want to always have to jump into the middle of the series

[1:07:31] and have to pick up what the story is.

[1:07:33] Whereas if you wanted to watch a new episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, Columbo, Incredible

[1:07:38] Hulk, A-Team, any of those, you could literally just be like, OK, I'll watch the episode that

[1:07:42] is on tonight and I'll see if I like it.

[1:07:44] There should definitely be more of a healthy mix like everything in moderation.

[1:07:49] You know, let's have the serialized stuff.

[1:07:51] Let's have the ones you can just dip in and out.

[1:07:54] Those are also a delight.

[1:07:56] And you know, I think you answer this much better than I could.

[1:07:59] So no problem, dude.

[1:08:00] I would also this is just my personal bailiwick right now, but I would argue that serialization

[1:08:05] has hurt comedy shows especially because it is hard for characters to remain funny if

[1:08:10] they are accumulating the trauma of previous episodes over multiple seasons.

[1:08:15] And it's like Barry in the beginning could be like a dark comedy.

[1:08:19] And then at a certain point, it was just like it just became a dark show with minimal

[1:08:24] comedy because at that point, the characters had been through so much horror that you can't

[1:08:28] get enough fun anymore.

[1:08:29] That is a tough example because I feel like that show is exactly what the creators wanted

[1:08:33] it to be.

[1:08:34] Maybe.

[1:08:35] Maybe it is.

[1:08:36] And then I'll I'll try to think of some other ones.

[1:08:37] But I feel like there is a I feel like serialization fights the kind of like the kind of fun of

[1:08:43] comedy.

[1:08:44] I do think that there's something to be said in comedy for like, you know, on the one hand,

[1:08:51] you want to get to know these characters like comedies are always going to be funny, funnier

[1:08:54] once you know the characters.

[1:08:56] It's why, you know, like the first season of sitcoms is rarely the best season of a

[1:09:00] sitcom.

[1:09:01] But on the other hand, there is something where you want a reset.

[1:09:05] You kind of want it to be like a newspaper comic strip where it's like no one ages, no

[1:09:09] one changes like it.

[1:09:10] No one learns from their mistakes.

[1:09:13] One of the setting aside the all the racism in it, Seinfeld is such a funny show to me,

[1:09:18] partly because the characters accumulate cast members like they remember things that happened

[1:09:22] before, but they're not emotionally affected by it.

[1:09:25] So it is not a it's not a matter of like, oh, I'm still carrying all the feelings that

[1:09:30] I had from when this thing happened, you know, because that that that fights comedy for me.

[1:09:35] Yeah.

[1:09:36] Let's move on to recommendations.

[1:09:37] I'm going to put Stewart up first because I think I know.

[1:09:41] Yeah.

[1:09:42] You know, I I just sent away from my kit and I injected the activator into my veins, baby.

[1:09:49] I've been substance pilled, man.

[1:09:53] I fucking love the substance.

[1:09:57] If you haven't heard about it, it is a like a.

[1:10:00] horror, gonzo, feminist movie starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, yeah, it's great.

[1:10:08] It's like super intense, super in your face, directed by Coraline Farragut, is that her

[1:10:13] name, who directed that movie Revenge, which is also very good.

[1:10:17] And it's, yeah, it's like, to me, I've heard it compared to a David Cronenberg movie, and

[1:10:22] I feel like that's a little bit false.

[1:10:24] I feel like the closest thing it makes me think of is like a very stylish, very focused

[1:10:31] Brian Eusknoe movie.

[1:10:34] And it is a little bit long, but I feel like I'll cut it some slack, because I think everything

[1:10:39] along that movie makes sense, every step makes sense, and it gets wilder and crazier, and

[1:10:46] it's really fun.

[1:10:47] I loved it.

[1:10:48] It's super intense and fun, and yeah.

[1:10:50] To me, it reminded me of the biggest, most stylish Tales from the Crypt episode, because

[1:10:55] it has such a very focused morality tale plotline, and the same sort of cruel, gonzo comedy,

[1:11:05] too.

[1:11:06] Yeah, and I mean, Demi Moore gives such, the physicality of her performance is so incredible,

[1:11:11] like she is all in on this, and it's really, really great, yeah.

[1:11:16] Well, also part of the reason I wanted to set Stewart up first is that my movie recommendation

[1:11:23] is in a weird way on sort of similar themes.

[1:11:27] I recently saw A Different Man, which is also kind of about a person going through a dramatic

[1:11:35] physical transformation and the emotional effects.

[1:11:38] I can't believe I walked into this.

[1:11:39] Yeah, it was a trap.

[1:11:40] He used to.

[1:11:41] He used to.

[1:11:42] Oh, man, wait.

[1:11:43] I'm the butcher, and I'm trapped in...

[1:11:47] And The Substance is sort of a wild, gross horror movie.

[1:11:51] A Different Man is sort of more a emotionally painful, wry comedy.

[1:12:00] It starts out sort of grounded in semi-realism, even though absurd things happen, and then

[1:12:09] the twist that it takes as this character has a new face and changes, and then finds

[1:12:20] himself in situations where, like, it's hard to...

[1:12:25] I don't want to get into it while spoiling, because I think that's part of the pleasure

[1:12:28] to see it unfold.

[1:12:30] But he finds himself in these situations that he can't be totally honest about who he is,

[1:12:36] and because he's gone through these physical changes, he emotionally doesn't really know

[1:12:40] who he is.

[1:12:42] And the way it compiles and compounds upon itself just has a lot of just sort of knife-twisting,

[1:12:50] like awkward humor to it.

[1:12:53] And so I also enjoyed that a lot.

[1:12:55] Elliot.

[1:12:56] My recommendation is a fun movie.

[1:12:58] It's not one that I think is super amazing, but it's certainly an entertaining way to

[1:13:04] spend your time.

[1:13:06] And there's one thing in particular I really liked about it, and that's the movie The Verdict

[1:13:09] from 1946.

[1:13:11] Not The Verdict with Paul Newman, which is a great movie.

[1:13:13] This is The Verdict.

[1:13:14] This is the first movie that Don Siegel directed as a feature-length film.

[1:13:17] So the movie stars Sydney Greenstreet as a Scotland Yard superintendent who has accidentally

[1:13:22] sent the wrong man to the gallows, and now is living with the shame of that.

[1:13:26] And his best friend, who is Peter Lorre, who is kind of like a suave creep, and I really

[1:13:32] love Peter Lorre's performance in this movie.

[1:13:34] He comes off as such a, like, such a decadent, cool guy.

[1:13:37] Oh, you think that guy can be a creep?

[1:13:39] You think Peter Lorre can be a believable creep?

[1:13:42] But he doesn't come off as like a creep who's like creepy.

[1:13:46] Instead, he's just kind of like a guy who's always on the make.

[1:13:49] You know, he's always looking for girls and a good time.

[1:13:52] And Sydney Greenstreet now is, there's a friend of his, is accused of a murder, and he has

[1:13:59] to try to get him off the charges, and the replacement superintendent of Scotland Yard,

[1:14:04] George Caloris, from Citizen Kane and The Prisoner, is determined to prove that he knows

[1:14:12] what he's doing and Sydney Greenstreet is wrong.

[1:14:14] And just a fun little kind of like murderous mystery movie with a twist at the end, but

[1:14:18] I really love Peter Lorre's performance in it.

[1:14:20] It's great to see Peter Lorre playing a character who is not like a, who is not a momster in

[1:14:25] some way, but instead is just kind of like the ladies' man, you know?

[1:14:30] I went to my letterbox, I see it's already in my watch list.

[1:14:34] I think because Tarantino mentioned it in Cinema Speculation, his book, I believe.

[1:14:38] He might have.

[1:14:39] He may have mentioned it in that, yeah.

[1:14:40] Because it's a Don Siegel movie and he is a fan.

[1:14:44] And it's funny to see a Don Siegel movie that, in many ways, it has similar things with his

[1:14:49] other movies, but it's funny to watch him working in a like 1890s London milieu when

[1:14:55] I think of him as more of like an American action filmmaker, you know?

[1:14:59] While we're in recommendations, I just remembered, I wanted to say, if you live in New York,

[1:15:06] I just saw a friend of the show, Natalie Walker, who was on our Cats episode on the, with the

[1:15:12] Sharon Tate, Haunting of Sharon Tate episode.

[1:15:15] She was kind enough to do the reading of The Boy Next Door with us on YouTube.

[1:15:22] She is appearing in a show called Big Gay Jamboree, The Big Gay Jamboree, off Broadway

[1:15:28] downtown.

[1:15:30] That was the original title of the country, Bear Jamboree, right?

[1:15:33] Yeah.

[1:15:34] You know, look, it doesn't need our help.

[1:15:36] I think it's doing pretty well.

[1:15:38] There was a sellout crowd.

[1:15:39] But if you're in New York, it was really good.

[1:15:43] And she was really funny in it.

[1:15:44] And it was exciting to see her in a show that good.

[1:15:49] So check it out if you can.

[1:15:53] Yeah.

[1:15:54] And I guess that's the end of our first Shocktober episode.

[1:15:57] So spooky.

[1:15:58] For 2024.

[1:15:59] Boo-gins, as Stewart likes to say.

[1:16:06] Thank you to Maximum Fun, our podcast network over at MaximumFun.org.

[1:16:11] You can listen to a lot of other great podcasts, funny ones, ones that'll learn you something.

[1:16:19] Check it out.

[1:16:20] Thank you to Alex Smith, our producer.

[1:16:22] He goes by HowlDotty all over the internet.

[1:16:26] He does music.

[1:16:27] He does Twitch streams.

[1:16:29] Check his stuff out.

[1:16:31] But that's it for The Flophouse.

[1:16:32] I've been Dan McCoy.

[1:16:33] And I've been Stewart Wellington.

[1:16:35] I've been Ellie Kalen.

[1:16:38] Okay, bye!

[1:16:41] Bye!

[1:16:42] On this episode, we discuss night swim.

[1:16:54] Let me caution you.

[1:16:55] If you are a knight, do not go swimming.

[1:16:57] Your heavy armor will drag you to the bottom of the pool.

[1:16:59] You will drown.

[1:17:00] This is a safety update from The Flophouse.

[1:17:03] Very relevant to this movie.

[1:17:05] But what if there's a lady in that lake?

[1:17:07] Just let her throw you a sword from her own location.

[1:17:09] You stay on the shore.

[1:17:10] That makes sense.

[1:17:11] That makes sense.

[1:17:12] Maximum fun.

[1:17:13] A worker-owned network of artist-owned shows supported directly by you.

Ep.#435 - Night Swim

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