Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October thirty Firth Halloween.
Speaker 1: We made it to the top of our list. Are
Speaker 1: number one on our horror hit list of movies we
Speaker 1: love that maybe you don't know about. And this one,
Speaker 1: number one on our list comes to us from none
Speaker 1: other than M Night Shamalan, but you probably never heard
Speaker 1: of it. And with that, welcome to this episode of
Speaker 1: Amy and TJ. Deep Cuts, wrapping it up with a
Speaker 1: number one here. Everybody thinks they know every M. Night
Speaker 1: Shamalan movie for the most part, don't they.
Speaker 2: That's right. But when you say this word, or at
Speaker 2: least it's a one word title, a lot of folks
Speaker 2: will say, huh, what never saw that one?
Speaker 1: If you even give people an opportunity to start naming
Speaker 1: his movies, how long before they come up with this one?
Speaker 2: I think it would be a while. If ever so.
Speaker 2: The movie our number one movie on our Halloween Horror
Speaker 2: hit list is Devil from twoenty ten. People are going, huh,
Speaker 2: it's just an hour twenty minutes and oh my goodness,
Speaker 2: it's rated PG thirteen.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say, folks. I I yes,
Speaker 1: I very early in the countdown, I railed against PG
Speaker 1: thirteen horror movies. I just I usually just don't watch them.
Speaker 1: I don't stop.
Speaker 2: Two in our top five and three in the top
Speaker 2: ten are PG thirteen two.
Speaker 1: I mean, so I got an egg on my face.
Speaker 1: I completely in real time. That just went out the window.
Speaker 1: But this is a PG thirteen thriller.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is pretty much what it is. It is
Speaker 2: a we have gone like, can we be fully honest
Speaker 2: here and talk about our We have gone back and
Speaker 2: forth because when we started making this list, we hadn't
Speaker 2: looked at any of the critical reviews. We didn't consider
Speaker 2: any of that when we made this list, and we
Speaker 2: came up with our top five pretty quickly, and we
Speaker 2: agreed on our number one without any debate. Then when
Speaker 2: we started to research the movies, we actually question whether
Speaker 2: or not we should move this from the number one spot.
Speaker 1: Because it wasn't that well reviewed. People didn't know a
Speaker 1: whole lot about it, and it just seemed to be
Speaker 1: a dud of an m Night Shyamalan movie. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we're standing by it. I asked you.
Speaker 2: You said nope, Because when we came up with this
Speaker 2: list just based on our feelings and our reactions to
Speaker 2: movies that we watch a lot of. We felt like
Speaker 2: both of us this was the number one movie. We
Speaker 2: have questioned that now that we've read what other people
Speaker 2: think of this movie, so you know, but we're gonna
Speaker 2: stand by what our original decision was, which was to
Speaker 2: make Devil number one. Even my oldest Eva, who loves
Speaker 2: horror movies, when she found out what our number one was,
Speaker 2: she said, really.
Speaker 1: Hey, it was before it's time. Okay, this is a
Speaker 1: wonderful little film, and we will explain why it's so wonderful.
Speaker 1: And one more tease here. The whole thing takes place
Speaker 1: in an elevator.
Speaker 2: Yes, there's very little other action. I mean, they do
Speaker 2: have some scenes they cut back and forth from, but
Speaker 2: mostly all the horror is happening in an elevator. So
Speaker 2: here's the synopsis. Five Strangers Day begins with an elevator
Speaker 2: ride in a Philadelphia office tower, but what happens next
Speaker 2: is anything but ordinary. The elevator gets stuck, and the
Speaker 2: trapped passengers, who expected to be together for just a
Speaker 2: few minutes, now face the revelation of their secrets and transgressions.
Speaker 2: Frightening events turn annoyance into terror as they begin to
Speaker 2: realize that one of their number is Lucifer himself.
Speaker 1: Wow. They I appreciate that they that that was the
Speaker 1: snap they gave that out. So that is what we're
Speaker 1: dealing with. How many in the elevator was five?
Speaker 2: There was five strangers? Yes, and I you know, a
Speaker 2: lot of the complaints that I saw from folks and
Speaker 2: critics was that there wasn't enough character development. But I
Speaker 2: actually really was invested in who which one was the devil,
Speaker 2: what their past transgressions were that got them in this elevator,
Speaker 2: because you realized that they were all there by design.
Speaker 1: Character development is what they had issue with. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: reacted to everybody, so did I.
Speaker 2: And look the box office. It did better than I thought,
Speaker 2: sixty two point six million internationally. But M Night Shyamalan
Speaker 2: has a draw. When you see his name attached to
Speaker 2: a movie, a lot of folks will go check it
Speaker 2: out just because it's M Night Shyamalan and the cast
Speaker 2: Chris Messina, you know his face, you might not know
Speaker 2: his name. He was in Boogeyman, most recently a Big
Speaker 2: Lawn Order guy. He was an argo. Ben Affleck loves
Speaker 2: to put him in his movies and then Jenny O'Hara
Speaker 2: is also in the elevator. Again, these are folks. When
Speaker 2: you see their faces, you know them. You just don't
Speaker 2: necessarily know their names.
Speaker 1: You know, there's an act. I never knew his name
Speaker 1: for sure, Bokeem would bind. Okay, he you will immediately
Speaker 1: recognize him. He was being in a lot of black movies,
Speaker 1: frankly Jason's lyric Dead Presidents, and he played in Life
Speaker 1: with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy. He has been all
Speaker 1: over the place.
Speaker 2: Another really familiar face.
Speaker 1: Oh you knew him as soon as you saw his face.
Speaker 2: Yes, security guard.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he was great. But you had an emotional
Speaker 1: reaction to him. The old lady I had a reaction to,
Speaker 1: the young girl was annoying to me. And the guy
Speaker 1: in the suit, like everybody in there. In a very
Speaker 1: short amount of time. As far as character development goes,
Speaker 1: you get them.
Speaker 2: You have a feeling towards them, Yes, immediately, and it's visceral.
Speaker 2: So I yes, I disagree with that. Produced and written
Speaker 2: by M Mike Shamalan. The director was John Eric Dowdell.
Speaker 2: But get this. The Rotten Tomatoes score there are forty
Speaker 2: nine percent. Wow, I haven't seen it from the critics,
Speaker 2: and the audience score is even lower at forty three percent.
Speaker 1: Come on, folks, we got to get these numbers.
Speaker 2: Up all right now. The critics consensus actually was pretty
Speaker 2: good when you consider what that Rotten Tomato score just was.
Speaker 2: It's better than many of the other films M Night
Speaker 2: Shyamalan has been associated with. But Devil never gets more
Speaker 2: than a few low budget thrills out of its fingdishly
Speaker 2: promising premise.
Speaker 1: It is a promising premise. I am never going to
Speaker 1: say I wish they had done this or wish they
Speaker 1: had done that. I can maybe understand why someone might
Speaker 1: say that, but this thing works still perfectly to me.
Speaker 2: I actually loved the fact that it was low budget
Speaker 2: in the sense that there weren't huge special effects. There
Speaker 2: wasn't some big dramatic action scene. This actually the tension
Speaker 2: and the fear and the horror slowly and creepily develops
Speaker 2: in a way that I thought was so good. The
Speaker 2: subtlety of it.
Speaker 1: It so brilliant tension throughout. I mean, you start with that, right,
Speaker 1: just start with it was what was the other movie?
Speaker 1: I said, just by the fact just the setup itself,
Speaker 1: the scent, Yes, in the cave like this, just the
Speaker 1: scenario adds or the terror. What don't we every time
Speaker 1: we go in an elevator, don't we fear two things?
Speaker 1: One it getting stuck, two getting stuck with a couple
Speaker 1: of assholes in.
Speaker 2: Here or the devil.
Speaker 1: Well, they usually don't have to worry about that, but
Speaker 1: it does. It plays on those fears. Even if the
Speaker 1: elevator doesn't get stuck, you worry about who might get
Speaker 1: on with you. And it is even that for me
Speaker 1: set a stage.
Speaker 2: And maybe because we live in New York and we're
Speaker 2: in elevators every single day of our lives, it struck
Speaker 2: a higher horror level for us because think about it,
Speaker 2: maybe a lot of people who live in suburbia or
Speaker 2: whatever don't ever or rarely get into an elevator if
Speaker 2: maybe they're in a hotel or a high rise. But
Speaker 2: some people probably aren't in elevators very often.
Speaker 1: Well, it is a horrible sceni we have to face
Speaker 1: and make decisions about every single day of exactly.
Speaker 2: So, yes, we are very hyper aware of elevator issues.
Speaker 2: Some critic reviews here for you, and I did find
Speaker 2: some good ones that I put in here, and I
Speaker 2: did put a bad one in as well. If most
Speaker 2: of Shyamalan's films take a long time to get laughable punchlines,
Speaker 2: Devil is quite the opposite, rushing headlong through all manner
Speaker 2: of crazy plot points and red herring characters, an ideal
Speaker 2: streaming time passer, short and packed with twists.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1: We're not trying to say this should have been nominated
Speaker 1: for an Oscar. We're trying to say this is an intelligent, tense,
Speaker 1: feel little nugget of a film.
Speaker 2: Yes, here's another one. A taut, expert and engrossing thriller
Speaker 2: with a sense of visual restraint that is refreshing in
Speaker 2: this age of a borrent overexposure.
Speaker 1: You know what, and m Nighthemalan has done some creative
Speaker 1: things with cinematography before, this ain't one of them. Ye,
Speaker 1: he was confined in an area in putting this film together.
Speaker 1: I didn't think about it that way. That's a good so.
Speaker 2: I actually love yes, what some of these critics said,
Speaker 2: because it made they articulated why we loved it better
Speaker 2: than I could. Here's another one. The dialogue is terse
Speaker 2: and convincing given the premise and doubtell who's the director,
Speaker 2: ratchets up the suspense with economical efficiency. The final twist,
Speaker 2: while a stretch, is highly satisfying.
Speaker 1: It is you're like, okay, okay, they got me kind
Speaker 1: of a thing. Would you still like it? Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, And I would urge anybody who hasn't seen this
Speaker 2: don't google it because pretty quickly they give it away.
Speaker 2: It's really annoying. And my Shamalan's twists are the best
Speaker 2: part about his movie. So please, please, please, if you
Speaker 2: haven't heard of this movie, if you haven't read anything
Speaker 2: about it, don't do it. Now. Watch the movie first.
Speaker 1: Okay, we should. We will make sure we should put
Speaker 1: that in the description of this episode that do not
Speaker 1: look this film up. For this thing to work, you
Speaker 1: have to go into it not knowing how it's going
Speaker 1: to end.
Speaker 2: Yes, if you already know the final twist, it's okay.
Speaker 2: Obviously we've rewatched this movie multiple times, so we love it.
Speaker 2: But it's so much better if you don't know the twist.
Speaker 2: Here's a negative review. Devil features nothing new, exciting, or suspenseful. Instead,
Speaker 2: it gives us shallow, we developed characters and an ultimately
Speaker 2: forgettable story.
Speaker 1: Couldn't disagree more, Okay, fine, shallow we developed it's five
Speaker 1: people who have an hour and twenty minutes. Yes, you
Speaker 1: can't go to everybody's.
Speaker 2: I thought it was really cool how we learned about
Speaker 2: how each of those people, each of those characters ends
Speaker 2: up in the elevator, because you'll learn this isn't giving
Speaker 2: away too much that they were chosen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, by the devil.
Speaker 2: Here's some audience reviews, one of the best. And by
Speaker 2: the way, even though the audience review scores were lower
Speaker 2: than the critics review, I found so many more positive reviews,
Speaker 2: and a lot of them recent. So this was out
Speaker 2: in twenty ten. What I love about Rotten Tomatoes is
Speaker 2: that obviously people watch it streaming or they purchase it,
Speaker 2: and then they put new reviews in which are I
Speaker 2: think viewed through the lens of perhaps the perspective that
Speaker 2: when you initially saw the movie you might not have.
Speaker 2: So I think some of them are really interesting. One
Speaker 2: of the best stories of m Night, A little bit
Speaker 2: like Stephen King's style, low budget but very intriguing. Only
Speaker 2: the ending could be different, in my honest opinion, very
Speaker 2: good anyway, I but I the ending was perfect.
Speaker 1: Still, the whole thing was intriguing. That was a mystery
Speaker 1: in there that I love it, guessing couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 2: Help. Here's another one. A total underrated movie.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Great cast, amazing soundtrack, and wonderful direction make this a
Speaker 2: must see.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Don't believe the ratings. Just watch it and decide for yourself.
Speaker 2: You will thank me later. We could have written that.
Speaker 2: Here's another one. This movie is severely underrated. It has
Speaker 2: pretty decent acting, a good plot, lots of love and care,
Speaker 2: and a very good twist ending with many good kills
Speaker 2: and jump scares.
Speaker 1: Yeah there's no bad acting as well. Yeah, there's no
Speaker 1: bad acting in this movie.
Speaker 2: Agreed. Okay, here's an fun another good one. It's fun,
Speaker 2: honestly a fun movie, very nice idea, and even though
Speaker 2: it could have been developed more, it makes for a
Speaker 2: cute thriller. The ending is isn't the poetic justice we expect,
Speaker 2: but a more realistic take on forgiveness and moving forward.
Speaker 2: There were larger themes. Am I is pretty good with that.
Speaker 2: Yes you have horror, Yes you have thrills in a twist,
Speaker 2: but he usually does have heart and a reason for
Speaker 2: why he's writing this story and selling it.
Speaker 1: And you do have a moment that you do stop
Speaker 1: and think and reflect. There is a moment that they
Speaker 1: built into the again, the bigger moral It does have
Speaker 1: a bigger moral thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I liked that because there was real storytelling involved.
Speaker 2: Sometimes horror movies are just slashers. This isn't about the kills.
Speaker 2: This is about the story, and that's what I think
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why we loved it. Now here's
Speaker 2: a bad review from an audience member. Devil has to
Speaker 2: be one of the most stupidest, which I thought was
Speaker 2: ironic that that was the phrase used. Devil has to
Speaker 2: be one of the most stupidest but funniest movies I've
Speaker 2: ever watched. The movie tries so hard to be scary,
Speaker 2: but it ends up being too funny. And there are
Speaker 2: also so too many characters throughout which aren't that interest
Speaker 2: interesting and they are pretty pointless characters. Overall, Devil is
Speaker 2: a movie that tries too hard to be scary but
Speaker 2: ends up being hilariously stupid.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's it's okay, fine if you have that opinion,
Speaker 1: but if going into it, I just heads up, homie,
Speaker 1: it's PG. Thirteen. It's trying to be scary, No it's not.
Speaker 1: If it were, it was, it would be a great
Speaker 1: r It's not trying to be scary.
Speaker 2: It's such a good point. You have to go into
Speaker 2: it with the right mindset. All right. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we're gonna talk about why this is our number one,
Speaker 2: not just that it made our list, but why we
Speaker 2: chose this movie to be number one, Who it's for,
Speaker 2: who it's not for, what to pair it with, and
Speaker 2: where to watch it. Continuing now with our number one
Speaker 2: movie on our Halloween Horror hit list, we have been
Speaker 2: counting down all month long to our number one movie, Devil.
Speaker 2: Why was this your number one movie?
Speaker 1: Babe? It was a surprise. It was a surprising film
Speaker 1: when I first saw it and then left an impression.
Speaker 1: I don't know what my expectations were going into it,
Speaker 1: but generally speaking, I mean, I respect m Night Sheemalan,
Speaker 1: but I'm not running to see an Night Shremalan movie.
Speaker 1: Usually signs I loved Village, I get and it all
Speaker 1: of his movies. I've appreciate it, but I'm not some
Speaker 1: hardcore m Night fan, and so seeing this one, I
Speaker 1: this made me a big time m Night Cemalan fan.
Speaker 1: I don't think I saw it when it first first
Speaker 1: came out. I think I was a couple of years late,
Speaker 1: but I think this turned the corner for me as
Speaker 1: for M Night C. Shemalan, because it's just these are
Speaker 1: the types of things when you consider a scenario and
Speaker 1: you can't figure it out, like, how are they going
Speaker 1: to reveal this thing? There are five characters, somebody is
Speaker 1: in control of this thing, how are we going to
Speaker 1: figure it out? And then members start falling off into
Speaker 1: still you can't figure it out. I love that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff.
Speaker 2: I agree this. I remembered this movie because of how
Speaker 2: it made me feel. I was absolutely in a movie
Speaker 2: that had very little action, on the edge of my
Speaker 2: seat trying to figure out where the evil was coming
Speaker 2: from and not being able to do so. I appreciated
Speaker 2: that so much. I have been an M Night fan.
Speaker 2: I love the sixth Sense, I love the Village, I
Speaker 2: love Signs, all of those movies. The visit, I will
Speaker 2: go out and see M Night. Oh well, yeah, that
Speaker 2: was the most disappointing of them all. But I will
Speaker 2: go out to see an M Night movie if I
Speaker 2: see it's in the theaters, I will go. They're not
Speaker 2: all great.
Speaker 1: We went to that one we saw trap and everything
Speaker 1: that happened in that arena. It was classic m night.
Speaker 1: We were on the edge of ours so good.
Speaker 2: The first half of it was amazing. I do think
Speaker 2: that's where oftentimes his stories sometimes fall apart, is the
Speaker 2: twist isn't that grade or it's kind of an annoying twist,
Speaker 2: Like I remember in Signs it was that the aliens
Speaker 2: couldn't turn a doorknob and water destroyed them. I'm like, really,
Speaker 2: they're going to go to a planet that's three quarters
Speaker 2: water when that's their kryptonite. Anyway, I've had issues with
Speaker 2: even movies that I like about his twist. This twist
Speaker 2: was awesome, and I think I loved this twist the
Speaker 2: most out of any twist I've seen, or at least
Speaker 2: it got me. And I always just think this is
Speaker 2: a fun movie to watch and to introduce to people.
Speaker 1: I think that's it. This was a twist maybe that
Speaker 1: I like. I didn't mind the twists and Signs about
Speaker 1: the water and the can't turn a doorknob and all that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had a problem with that, but you
Speaker 1: do realize that aliens were coming and making crop circles. Yes,
Speaker 1: that part you had no problem with it.
Speaker 2: They were communicating to the mother ships. That made total
Speaker 2: sense to me, but no I do. And so this
Speaker 2: movie is fun because I have recommended this movie. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you have to to folks who have
Speaker 2: never seen an m Night movie, who don't really like
Speaker 2: horror movies. I just think this has a universal appeal
Speaker 2: because again, it's more of a thriller. It's still a
Speaker 2: horror movie for sure. You've got supernatural, you've got deaths,
Speaker 2: you've got mystery entury, but there's a thriller element to this.
Speaker 2: Like even my parents that don't like horror movies, they
Speaker 2: love this movie. It's that good. So who was it for?
Speaker 2: It's for everyone.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you say, there's no one. I wouldn't recommend this
Speaker 1: movie to hardcore horror movie fans. There's something there for you.
Speaker 1: If you hate horror movies, there's something in here for you.
Speaker 1: I just I can't even give my heads up to
Speaker 1: people who don't like blood and gore. And it's not
Speaker 1: going to be a problem. Anybody can watch this movie
Speaker 1: and it's PG.
Speaker 2: Thirteen, So it's fun for the whole family. Who is
Speaker 2: it not for? I guess anyone who's going to be
Speaker 2: critical and go into it with some sort of expectation
Speaker 2: that it has to be this, that and the other,
Speaker 2: and really other than that, I can't I can't imagine.
Speaker 2: I was shocked reading people's reaction to it, saying it
Speaker 2: was stupid. I just didn't think it was stupid at all.
Speaker 2: I thought it was super smart.
Speaker 1: Of course, to pull that off is in the writing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I appreciate a good story, but yeah, some people. I
Speaker 1: think some people are going to have to take issue
Speaker 1: with this or go what or I didn't see that,
Speaker 1: or I don't know. People to be critical, it's what
Speaker 1: people do.
Speaker 2: It's fine, that's fine, it's fine, that's okay. We stand
Speaker 2: by our number one and in terms of I love
Speaker 2: this about the movie, to food, drink, and how to
Speaker 2: watch it, where to watch it. You can watch this alone,
Speaker 2: You can watch this in the day or at night.
Speaker 2: To me, this can be watched anywhere, anytime, with anyone
Speaker 2: or no one.
Speaker 1: Yes, and then again we always note this, but it
Speaker 1: can be watched in the day for a reason because
Speaker 1: it happens in a lit elevator the whole movie, so
Speaker 1: you can see without the glare of the sun if
Speaker 1: you're watching.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so in terms of what to pair with,
Speaker 2: you know what, go lean in hard with the devil theme.
Speaker 2: You know, it's Halloween, so just like be all in
Speaker 2: deviled eggs, red velvet cake, fireball shots. Those are my suggestions.
Speaker 1: Jesus crime Ay, well, at my party, we're gonna serve
Speaker 1: healthy snacks. No, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It might be a hell of a morning the next
Speaker 2: day after your deviled eggs, red velvet cake and fireball shots.
Speaker 2: I didn't even think about that. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: a hell of a good time enjoying the movie, so
Speaker 2: have fun.
Speaker 1: Where do you find this didn't we have a hard time.
Speaker 2: We could not find it, and so we went ahead
Speaker 2: and purchased it on Apple TV. I think Fandango at
Speaker 2: Home you can also purchase it. So for me, this
Speaker 2: one was so good that this is when we'll go
Speaker 2: back to. We've gone back to enough times so we
Speaker 2: didn't even want to wait. Look, it's great when you
Speaker 2: can get it on Netflix or something that most people
Speaker 2: have a streaming service. But I think this one costs.
Speaker 2: You can run it for three ninety nine or you
Speaker 2: can buy it for fourteen ninety nine, which we chose
Speaker 2: to purchase it you.
Speaker 1: Use the word cute earlier in somebody's review. I think
Speaker 1: that's a it's a weird I've never thought about it
Speaker 1: that way. This is a cute little movie. This is
Speaker 1: a cute little packaged film for you to like. It's
Speaker 1: so digestible, So yes, even for Halloween. If you're not
Speaker 1: looking for ghosts and ghouls and sl and girls running
Speaker 1: through the forest and scantily clad type of thing you
Speaker 1: want to get away from that, this is a good
Speaker 1: one that can as an absolutely digestible movie for everybody
Speaker 1: at night.
Speaker 2: I agree, So everyone check out Devil and thank you
Speaker 2: for listening along with us here for these thirty one
Speaker 2: days listing our top thirty one not so well known
Speaker 2: Halloween horror movies. But you know, we could probably put
Speaker 2: a list like this together once a year and still
Speaker 2: be able to fill it with movies that aren't that well.
Speaker 2: There are so many horror movies to consume, so we
Speaker 2: hope you guys, if you have been into them, great,
Speaker 2: keep watching them. But maybe this brought some more people
Speaker 2: onto our favorite genre we are recruiting.
Speaker 1: We want everybody to be a horror movie fan. Been
Speaker 1: a huge year for horror movies, and here We are
Speaker 1: wrapping it up all around horror movie time, so enjoy
Speaker 1: your movies. Hope you all take in If you don't
Speaker 1: like Devil, maybe you can take in another one of
Speaker 1: the others that are on the list. There are thirty there.
Speaker 2: For you to choose, all right, And with that everyone,
Speaker 2: thanks for listening. Hope you all have a happy Halloween.
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
Speaker 1: Holmes.
Speaker 2: We will talk to you soon.