261: The Hitcher (1986)

What do you think? I think we're dead meat. Real dead meat. You're dead meat! Go ahead and laugh you guys. Find the final little glasses of business. At Dead Meat. Welcome to the Dead Meat Podcast, your horror safe haven. I'm Chelsea. I'm James. We're married and we've been hitched. Oh! And we like to get scared together. That just came up right there. There you go. I'm a noggin. Thanks for waiting for this episode. I was sick for a couple days. I thought I'd maybe gotten a cold or something, but Zorn's back here also. You can't see him. We're not acknowledging him. He doesn't have a microphone. I know. He's not mic'd up. He's just... Dude, oh, I'm here. He's here. Zorn said his allergies have been really bad the past couple days, so maybe that was it. Zorn is interning under Gressel. He's interning. He's shadowing and learning how to run a podcast. My really difficult job, he's learning how to do. There he is. There he is. But I slept for like three days through whatever the hell it was, and I feel much better, so thank you for your patience. And now we can talk about the Hitcher. The Hitcher. This was a big blind spot, I feel, for both of us in horror. Yes. Why were people... It was in the air. Like, why was everyone requesting this movie all of a sudden? Well, here's the thing is, I mentioned that we were doing this on, like, the Monday Morning Live Streams and the Patreon Live Stream Hangouts. And someone said that they were just watching an old episode and that we mentioned the Hitcher as a highly requested episode, like, back in the apartment. Weird, everyone, people have been craving... For the duration of this podcast. ...for the people that have been clamoring for the Hitcher. People have wanted the Hitcher. Okay, and now we're doing it. Yes, this is a big blind spot for me. The only thing I knew about this movie, and I suspect the thing that most people, if they know about this movie at all, is the scene... One of the deaths. One of the deaths, which we'll get to. It's The Death, which is amazing because I just assumed you see it from the way that people talk about it. And it's like a Texas Chainsaw massacre thing. I believe you see it in the sequel. I've read that you see it in the sequel. Do they, like, they return to it? Or is it like... Or, I'm sorry, not the sequel, the remake. The 2007... That makes sense. The remake. We're just gonna show it kind of thing. The post-saw. I mean, the remake of Texas Chainsaw. We're showing everything. I think it's a similar thing, where this movie has a reputation of being super crazy, ultra violent, but most of the violence is off-screen. Yes. It's implied we're seeing people's reactions to things, which is something I really liked about it. Not to say I don't like movies that are hyper-violent. We spent a whole movie talking about... Or a whole summer talking about Saw. But I think there's something really cool and something I find really impressive when a movie can get away with tricking an audience into thinking they've seen more than they've actually seen. Actually, the first Saw movie does that really well. But this movie is so effective, because I remember hearing about this movie as a kid from, like, maybe other kids describing the scene and going into watching this, I'm expecting to see blood, guts, everything. And it's like a fade to black. Yeah, it's literally a fade to black. We thought maybe we wound up with another edited version. We paused the movie to see if we were watching a weird made-for-TV edit or something. That's how it was. But that's how it is. So the hater, if you're not familiar, it follows a hitchhiker who gets picked up by C. Thomas Howell, Pony Boy, from The Outsiders. And then he just kind of, like, stalks him. It's a different movie than I expected. It's more of a psychological horror film, I think. A lot more teasing. It's not even really cat and mouse. It's a little bit, but it's just this guy, like, fucking with C. Thomas Howell. Yes. Because I had just assumed he would try to be killing him. But no, he has ample opportunities to kill this young man throughout the film, and he doesn't ever take it. That's what's scarier. It is. It is. And because I had no idea what it was going into it. The first half of the movie, I was like, Oh, this is, he's making some dumb decisions. The hitchhiker. And I wasn't sure how I felt about it. But the longer I've sat with this movie, the more I've appreciated just how weird and dark and fucked up it is. Rucker Hauer is incredible as the hitcher. The titular hitcher. The titular hitcher. He's the, the titular. Yeah. He's just very scary. A very casual evilness to him. Just very blasé as he is just fucking with C. Thomas Howell. Who does a fine job, but I will say, I hate this fucking character. Yeah. What is Jim? Jim Halsey? Yeah, I wish that they had names that sound different, although I think that might be on purpose. Jim and John? Yeah. Yeah, reflections of each other becoming one another. Yeah, Jim makes the dumbest decisions repeatedly throughout this movie. And I'm sure you can argue like that's the point. You know, I don't care. There are so many points in this movie. There's some frustrating choices made. I'm very mad and I'm just like, come on. We're just laughing it. There's some white privilege and action shown in this film. He's, he's, he's flinging guns around in front of cops. Yeah. He thinks it's a great idea when he hasn't done anything yet to like pull a gun on two cops. And make them drive him around as he gets in the back of their cop car for him to be like, I'm innocent. Okay. When your record is squeaky clean up until a point, the best idea is to draw a gun on a cop. Yeah. That'll do it. We'll get into all that, but I don't know. I mostly like this movie. There's a lot of really cool car explosions and vehicular action. You know what it kind of reminded me of is a Sugarland Express. It did. I thought of Sugarland Express too. Yes. Which is a, I mean, it doesn't compare to Sugarland Express. Totally. It's extremely different. Yeah. Sugarland Express is a. It was Stephen King's first theatrical film. Stephen Spielberg's. I'm sorry. Stephen Spielberg. Stephen King. It also, you know, speaking of a vehicular carnage, Stephen King's first and only theatrical feature, Maximum Overdress. Sure. But no, Stephen Spielberg's first theatrical feature was Sugarland Express. And it just follows. Who is it? It's Goldie Hawn. Goldie Hawn. Like young Goldie Hawn. And she breaks her, I think it's her, either her boyfriend or husband out of jail and they steal a cop car. Or no, they, they, they hold a cop hostage in a car. Yeah. And then it's just like this long drawn out chase scene. Yeah. Where there's just more and more cars. It's like Blues Brothers level. It is. I don't know which movie has more cars. That's a good question. Yeah. Sugarland or Blues Brothers. That's a good. I would love to do that math. I'm sure someone has. Oh yeah. Also great movie. We took my parents to go see that movie at the Academy Museum. Great movie for the dads out there who like cars. Sugarland Express. There's a lot of cars. There's some cars in here too. I wonder if your dad would like this. Probably. Yeah. I don't know. Cars getting like launched off of hillsides and rolling around. They're doing flips. We're blowing them up. Helicopters are being shot out of the sky with a handgun. Yeah. It's awesome. Some of it's dumb but in like a fun all the way. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. So. It gets like a little magical at some point. That's the thing is he's he's a little magical. He's almost like just an embodiment of evil more so than a actual human being because he's showing up in places where he really shouldn't be and he's knowing things that maybe he shouldn't know. He's just like just evil. Yeah. At one point and I wasn't unique in thinking this apparently judging by some Reddit threads I was reading about this movie. I thought is he a figment of are we doing a fight club thing but at a certain point that becomes very impossible when we have certain situations that happen in the latter half of the movie. Yeah. I thought it was going to be a two sides of man kind of thing but it's not. They're very distinct characters. Yeah. Other cast members include Jennifer Jason Lee. Very young Jennifer Jason Lee. Not as young as fast times. Oh yeah. There's like four years after fast times and Jeffrey DeMunn who we keep seeing we just watch newsies and pop out. Why is he in everything we watch? We just watch. Yeah. Newsies. But most of you probably know him from Walking Dead or a bunch of Daribot movies. He's in the mist. I think he's in Green Mile. He's in the hall of the Daribot. Yeah. Shawshank. Damn. Wow. He really gets around. Great actor. The role is of course the brother in Christmas Evil. Yes. Correct. But yeah. We can get into it. Yeah. I definitely recommend watching it. It's I ordered the recently released 4K. Oh there is a 4K. Okay. They just released it a couple of years ago off a new transfer and prior to a couple of years ago there were no good transfers as evident by any version you find on streaming. Very streaming version of this looks like shit. It's the crunchiest text. And for some reason I think we started it on Amazon through Cinemax. Yes. And it was like a tiny little image. Yes. Okay. The movie starts and it's very the image is small and we're like is this how it's supposed to look or is this just someone uploaded this and did not QC it. They like letterboxed it both ways. I really like this movie is tiny. And so I think we switched over to Apple TV. Yes. And it was still tiny but not as tiny. But less tiny. Yeah. It's like okay it's just supposed to be like this and it looked not as bad on Apple. Yeah. So beware the Cinemax upload. Yeah. I think that's. Amazon's uploads. It's been funk with us lately. It's been bad. Because House of Wax it had the weird German. House of Wax was bad and I remember over Christmas we watched that fly shirt animation of Rudolph. Oh and that was. And that upload looked terrible too. We found a better one on YouTube I think. There was like a 4k upload. You know who didn't love this movie. Siskel and Ebert infamously gave it zero stars. What do you mean zero thumbs? Well Ebert's review zero stars and they both gave it two thumbs down. They hated this movie. Hate hated it as they love to say. It's so funny because same year or just the year prior Henry Portrait of a serial killer came out Roger Ebert gave it two thumbs up. Yes. And I think his review of that might have been a four star. Yeah. If I'm remembering. He was like wow this movie is evil and disgusting but it's realistic. It's with a purpose. Yeah. I mean to be fair that movie is like a masterpiece. It's incredible. I haven't watched it since college. I would like to rewatch it. It left an impression on me. But it's interesting that he dislikes this because this feels not in the same vein but it doesn't feel like a dumb slasher like they hated. No. Like the Friday the 13th. I just wonder it can be kind of hard to go back so far and watch their reviews because you have to also think like what was coming out around the exact same time like contextually what other movies had they been inundated with leading up to watching The Hitcher. I don't know. So was it like we're sick of seeing stuff like this. My 86 slashes are long in the tooth. Yeah. So sick of them. Their objections to it were the violence down to the language used. They played the clip from the beginning where he talks about passing the other car and the car is empty and Rucker Howard is like yeah the other driver. He chopped off his legs and his arms so he couldn't have walked very far kind of thing and it's very graphic. But they talk about how much they hate that and just all of its very gratuitous and blah blah blah and of course they hate the infamous scene which is so funny because you don't see anything. But and then the funny thing that that Evert especially really dislikes is the gay thing. Yes. And this I kind of I see where he's coming from not because I agree with him necessarily but like I get I get the angle he's approaching this from. He really thinks and a lot of people do think this movie has a very gay or homoerotic subtext and he wishes the movie was just more honest about it or more upfront with it and that I could maybe see. I didn't pick up on that other than like in the that early scene when we compared it to Pee Wee and Mickey. Mickey getting stopped by the cops. Yes. And they pretend to be a couple a little cute couple. And the hacker puts his hand on his thigh so the cop sees it and is like all right. Yeah. They think they're cruising or something. But besides that I mean I guess that's enough. That and there's the scene. I was reading an analysis of the scene later in the movie where Jim our protagonist spits and John's face and then John kind of like like licks it. And you have to remember this is like peak AIDS crisis. And there's a fear of bodily fluids especially saliva still like that's very taboo and that like that's a display of a level of comfort and intimacy even eroticism between two men that is that's kind of like a flag for something or at least in some people that was like a hmm this means something deeper than just oh this guy's weird. I see where he's coming from there and I'm just thinking this movie needs to be rediscovered by Tumblr. What are we doing? Yeah. This is all you all you Adam Gordon shippers. Yes. This movie is like crying out for it. Yeah. I mean it's like Thomas. See Thomas how it was like a very pretty boy. This is the most toxic gay horror movie I've ever seen. Like older rough and tumble guy. And they're both very attractive. It's you know I already see the problematic discourse. It has everything. It has everything. It's just waiting to be to be rediscovered by Gen Z Gen Alpha like yes get out there make your yow yowee. This would be yowee yes yowee. Wow your fan art. Yes. Two boys need to be loved by. And then remake Johnny Birchtold. Johnny Birchtold. And who do we have who's the Rucker Hauer in the remake. Okay so there's gotta be it's gotta be age gap. Maybe Devin. That's it. Devin Sawa. Dude that'd be so good. Can we can we get the rights to the hitcher? Can we make this happen? We'll make it a little more gay. Yes. Oh my god. The neighbor doesn't call us out from the grave. I mean it's basically the passenger. It's basically the passenger. You're just making the passenger again. I'm sorry. Yeah. I just realized like wait it's Johnny. It's just the passenger again. Yeah. Alright so the hitcher let's get into it. So it starts off tiny. It starts a tiny movie. It's not a tiny movie. Crunchy text. Sleepy boy driving in the rain. Real wet. Just dark. Highway driving. Very good condition to fall asleep. Yep. Have you ever fallen asleep driving? Um I've come very close. I fell asleep at a stop. A red light driving to school one morning in high school because I had jazz band that started at 6.30 in the morning. I remember distinctly waking up and being like oh fuck. The one time I can think of was we were all driving to Florida in a van and we were all rotating shifts and it was like drive until you can't anymore and then someone else gets in the car and drives so I drove until I couldn't anymore. She sounds like it. Yeah don't do that. Don't do that. It's really stupid. Don't fall asleep driving but he almost does. He's like swerving out of the way of semis and stuff and so he decides when he sees a hitchhiker to pick him up because they'll just keep him awake. Yeah it'll be entertaining. Yeah that's like when you're driving through those areas of the country where you don't get any cell service or radio and you're like uh oh I gotta find something to entertain myself. You can always find a preacher on an AM station. Always a Christian radio station. You can always find that to keep you awake. Or the weather. Or the weather. So this guy says his name is John Ryder. Yeah. Likely story. Yeah so I'm John Q. Passinger. Yeah I'm Jeb Hitchhiker. But he doesn't say where he's going despite Jim asking him. He keeps asking like where should I be taking you. Where are you going to stop. And this is like well past the era of hitchhikers. Right. Yeah hitchhiking is like 60's and 70's. Like 70's had to be the end of that. Because then all those serial killers. Because 70's is like serial killer paradise. Even when he stops to pick him up he's like oh my mother always told me never to do this. She'll listen to your mom. But instead he picks him up and they're like driving by a car that's on the side of the road. And I guess Jim wants to make this a party. Because he's trying to slow down to pick up whoever's in that car. And John like presses on his thigh. To make him drive faster. And pass the car. And then they like run into some road work. And John takes a knife out and puts it to the guy's crotch. And he's like don't fucking say anything. We're you know. And so this is where. Yeah we're in this shit now. Yeah. So this is when he's like rubbing his thigh and the guy sees him. He's like alright lovebirds. Go ahead get going. Alright the road's clear now. Come on get going sweetheart. But John tells Jim that the person in that other car was someone he killed. And he describes it as you mentioned earlier. In a very graphic way. He says that he cut off his arms and legs and head. And that he's going to do the same to Jim. And so he puts the knife up to his throat and his eye. And he's like you ever see an eyeball get stabbed. You know how much of throat bleeds when you slit it. And Jim's just like peeing his pants basically. He has no idea what is going on. Why he's doing this. And he asks him what he wants. And John says I want you to stop me. And I feel like that. You know I kind of it just passed me in the first watching. But just thinking about it I feel like that is what he wants. Yeah I think John ultimately does want someone to kill him. Yeah and he selects Jim to do it. And you know maybe he will in most situations five minutes from then he's just going to kill Jim and that's going to be it. He's going to go find someone else to fuck with. But Jim you know he's like he has the knife up to Jim's throat and he's like repeat after me I want to die. And Jim is like reluctant to do it. He's like I want and then he notices that the passenger door is open and that John's not buckled in. So he's like I don't want to die and he fucking kicks that guy out the door and keeps driving and John I think in that moment John's like oh this guy. Yeah he's something special. Yeah this is my last meal kind of thing. Yeah oh and it's going to be a meal. I'm going to make a meal out of it. And you know this is I'm like fuck yeah dude you kick this guy out of the car great you're home free you're driving. I thought I tried not to look at too much of anything before he watches and I'm like this is the cold open. I thought it was maybe a long cold open. I thought he was going to catch up somehow kill him and then like we'd be moving on to other hitcher antics. Or I thought you know he's like hooting and hollering looking in the rear view mirror I was like keep your eyes on the road maybe he's going to crash and then the hitcher is going to catch up to him. But yeah yeah fucking Wiley Coyote he's going to construct the wall in the desert. But no he like he gets away and John like tumbles down the road and like it seems like he's he's set he's good. In fact it's the next day it's like daylight right when he sees the other car passing. It's the family. It's a family of the station wagon. A boat. Yeah they're towing a boat and like there's in the back there's kids with guns do do. And okay this whole setup I'm like hold on did the hitcher give these kids. No they got a little like toy guns but they he then gives them an actual gun. I know I think they're just toy guns that toys that don't necessarily have the now mandated orange tips. They just look they just look realistic and yeah okay you know but you can't have nowadays you can't have kids waving guns on the highway they'll get shot. So the kids are like bang bang and then there's like a teddy bear in the window and Jim's like smiling at this family and then the teddy bear moves and it's rucker hour and he's like hey I'm here now in this car and so Jim's trying to pull up alongside them and yell like get rid of that guy he's dangerous. And these parents are just what what could you possibly look in parents to dad's got a mustache you know what he looks like a little balding. They're just like what could you possibly be referring to the strange man in the back seat with our children he's fine. What do you mean? So this is like he is like magical because like how did this station wagon catch up to Jim well just okay did this family pick up this random guy. And if they did if a guy pulls up to them and is like oh my god pull over as a parent you would assume oh shit something's clearly going on in the back seat with the strange man with my kids. Or you maybe think that this guy's crazy and thank god you picked up rucker hour he'll protect you from see Thomas how screaming as long as out at you. Or maybe because I feel like it's a little unlikely that a nuclear family in Reagan's America are going to stop by and pick up a hitchhiker maybe they're not real maybe they're penny wise or made the whole family's the whole family on the car and the boat is is penny wise or it's a hostage situation and they're playing dumb you know like he's he's revealed himself as a oh he's already got like a knife to the kids and I don't know oh that's interesting in any case Jim gets like side swipe by a bus because he's like in the lane next to them and a bus like clips his car and he spins out it's the first of many vehicular carnage that we get to see which is fun so he gets going again and he sees that station wagon in the boat on the side of the road and he like pulls over and now I'm yelling at him because he pulls over and he gets out of the car and he's just walking up to the car like dude what the fuck this hitchhiker is going to be in the boat under the car he's going to come get you or he's going to get in your car while you're out there but he looks in the window of the station wagon and we don't see what he sees but he throws up so I understand there's blood dripping on the car dripping yeah but uh dead kids yeah but again not seen nothing but some blood drips yeah it's just dead everyone but we don't see it yeah so he gets back in his car throws up and keeps going and again I'm like hitch in the back of your car and maybe he is and maybe he just doesn't reveal himself or maybe he just pops up at the next location on his own or no because a lot of this movie is see Thomas how going to various gas stations and diners also none of which have people no this is the emptiest string of it's basically cars the only time you see people are in vehicle I don't know if this is some weird dystopia where like people just have to live in cars now and they can't stays like still in a building yeah he stops it like every horror movie gas station it where there's just no one working there's no one he sees no one except for if they're in cars but he goes to like yeah gas station he throws him his keys remember he like finds him and this was when I was like oh so he's not trying to kill him yes because like see Thomas how is looking around in the gas station for anyone and rucker how is there and instead of doing anything he just like has his keys so that's maybe he like hid in his car and then got his keys and then like toss them at him yeah here's your keys get back to what you continue please and then he goes out gets picked up by a truck that's right yes but then see Thomas how it goes to like another gas station and now the truck shows up being driven by rucker how are and he just fucking drives that thing through the building yeah like this truck just comes out of the building knocks over all the gas tanks and and stations and then he like lights a match yeah it's very maximum overdrive yes yeah yeah so like we're blowing up gas stations already first act of the movie and it lights see Thomas howl's car on fire and he drives off but then the next time we see him he's like running up to a diner and I'm like is your car still on fire like what happened to your car he drove off in a burning car listen we there's no point in us trying to keep track of every single car because we're gonna go nuts listen man this kid drives away in a burning vehicle though wait no he has because up until he gets caught later by the cops it has to all be the same car because remember he's driving a drive away car this whole time oh yeah and so up until he gets caught by the cops because they think he's the hitcher and he's explaining it's a drive away car that's why it's a drive away car okay drive away car is like very very uh old timey this isn't really a thing anymore I don't think we're not doing driveways anymore it's like you you oh is that what driveway dolls yeah driveway dolls was you get like someone you may make an arrangement where like someone needs uh their car moved from one place he's going from Chicago to San Diego yeah and you're basically I also need to go from A to B and you drive that person's car from A to B yeah that's that's it I think that's the basic arrangement I've never done that before that'd be pretty cool yeah that was pretty cool unless I guess you gotta be real careful though you can't like fuck up the vehicle at all you can't yeah or unless it's like in driveway dolls where there's like a hidden like it's like a mob thing or like oh that's right that was that's the whole thing where it's like it's dangerous because actually there's the car but they're un unbeknownst to them they're transporting uh contraband so yeah he's but I swear that car catches on fire and he just drives away I think he does because he ends up at the diner the world's brownest diner wood paneling everywhere it's it's like I love wood paneling obviously this whole room is wood paneling but this diner is like everything is like brown vinyl colored it's so crazy everything is like gravy colored I've never seen anything like it yeah it's like the salt and pepper are in little cardboard boxes you just shake yeah yeah yeah everything's brown Jennifer Jason Lee works there she's there early before anyone else uh or she's just you know spending the one hour allotted time not in a vehicle that the society gives you but she's trying to open up the business and he starts slamming on the door asking to be led in and she lets him in because he's I guess he's a cute boy and uh he calls the police and tells them situation and that he'll wait for them at the restaurant yeah because he knows like the cops obviously are gonna find a murdered family at some point on the side of the road yeah and he's like look and the dismembered guy and probably the truck driver he's like I got you I got your guy yeah I know who's doing this it's not me it's not me just so you know you know it's not me but I know who's doing it you just gotta trust me it's the guy yeah I don't know who he is but believe me please well he's waiting for them to show up she cooks him the hottest plate of food I have ever seen in my life right I'm so glad you wrote this down because the plate of food she sets down this is like lawsuit hot this is McDonald's coffee this food is like almost on fire yeah it steams for so long that I feel like the shot wasn't supposed to be this long but they're like dude how'd that food get that hot just show this steam this this shot just sits there and watches this steam like talk about steamed ham this burger and these fries are on fire whoever was like this I don't know if it would have been it would have been props or something but they left it and like the fucking I don't know did they like are those fries on top of dry ice for something for 10 minutes just do kick for 10 minutes and set it out it is the hottest food I've ever seen uh but she makes it up for him and he's sitting there eating it yeah having a good time and there's a finger until there's a finger in the french fries so he's here I guess the hitcher is here yes like looking back at it now knowing what I know it is indicating that he's there and he's fucking with them but like watching this we're like is she in on it yeah for the longest time we didn't trust or we were like who do we trust we're like is the whole town on it is it like a Texas chainsaw thing is it Texas chainsaw the cops in on it too yeah did they hire him to just like go and kill people who drive through their town I don't know yeah that's not the case that's not the case but like literally up until the end we were like wait are they in on it yeah but no it just to indicate that like he's followed him there and somehow put a finger yeah and he also realizes he's got a knife planted on him oh yeah that doesn't look good either I read that it was originally supposed to be an eyeball I saw that too and it was supposed to be um because I was reading interview with a director and also see Thomas Howell which was actually super interesting um but apparently was supposed to be a burger with an eyeball and a note that said I've got my eye on you and they changed it well that's because the script was written by Eric Redd yeah who go and read his wikipedia article if you want yes Eric Redd's wikipedia is um very interesting I will leave it there but his original draft for the hitcher was like something like 300 pages or something yes this like sprawling epic he was like it's it's ultra violent it's gonna change how movies are made yeah and he got the movie made not how he wanted it they they were like we can't do all this crazy violence like it was gonna show all the dead kids in the station wagon it was gonna be very like we're gonna show everything very violent and the the filmmakers were like no we're not gonna do that he did come up with this idea taking a driveway car cross country and hearing riders on the storm while driving in through Texas which this takes place in like the panhandle of Texas dude the panhandle will make you go crazy yeah it's either the panhandle or just western Texas in general just the empty part yes but yeah riders on the storm he was like this song sounds like a cool horror movie and to his credit yes he fucking wrote it he's he got back and he uh he had a seven months stay in Austin where he drove a taxi cab and wrote the hitcher and uh yes I'm just reading from the wikipedia but just so you you know this he sends the script to Hollywood producers with a letter saying if the the story grabs you by the guts and does not let up and does not let go when you read it you will not sleep for a week when the movie is made the country will not sleep for a week that guy that got this guy job that fucking worked uh oh it was 190 pages in length so that would have been a about three hour long movie yes uh that they wisely cut down oh my god and the director I don't think really went on to do too much uh Robert Harmon um 2002's they have we watched that no it sounds like exactly the type of horror movie that we would have watched for the podcast and I would have forgotten like white noise bless craven presents they but this movie was shot by the cinematographer was john seal who uh is an oscar winning cinematographer many time oscar nominated for uh rain man and um the movie came out of retirement to shoot mad max fury road and he won the oscar for the english patient so this is like a very talented cinematographer shooting this and to his credit I was expecting a schlocky no it looks fucking awesome it looks very there are some beautiful like sunset shots and wide like there's some good shit it's crazy how much standards have changed because I was reading kind of contemporary reviews of this and a big criticism of it was that it looked bad and I was like it's beautiful it's gorgeous it looks incredible it's it's crazy uh what's weird is I when we were watching it I had the passing thought I was like this looks like an australian movie to me and probably just because it's it's very like wide open spaces kind of thing and a lot of australian stuff I've seen is like you know outback outback type stuff but it I guess it tracks that you've got like an australian cinematographer who then goes on to do mad max and is apparently very skilled at shooting that type of landscape photography where you can convey a sense of scale and especially like barren landscape photography where there's this sense of isolation and I just think this movie looks so cool this week's episode is sponsored by rocket money organizing finances is stressful for getting a random subscription is especially terrible it's like when you accidentally leave a coffee mug somewhere and you come back to a full on science experiment growing inside it's the worst feeling but that's where this week's sponsor comes in rocket money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors 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suggests and he was talking about like a scene later in the movie where rucker how are on set suggest something that in his head he's like oh no that sounds really dumb oh god that's gonna be so dumb and he's just like sure yeah no go ahead try it and then he they film something and then rucker how are his like no that sucks let's not do that he's like oh fuck oh god thank god because otherwise it just would have been in the movie because I can't say no because he's so scary we're all terrified c thomas howell was apparently very scared of rucker how are on set there he's terrifying yes there was a story because this interview it was an interview with with robert harman in an interview with um c thomas howell it was like a retrospective and and c thomas howell was like I one day rucker how are was like hey come like have lunch with me in my trailer and he suddenly just sat there in silence smoking cigarettes and I was so scared and I finally just like after moments of like we're just sitting there smoking I'm like so like um like any advice on like playing like villains and rucker how are she's like I don't play villains and he said that was the scariest thing he'd ever fucking heard and he just was like okay cool and that was it holy fuck I can't believe people use the smoke cigarettes while eating dude that takes away the enjoyment of eating that's my theory for why like um like 60s and 70s cookbooks are so fucking fucked up you know because all everyone's taste buds were all crazy and that's it's like uh every recipe's like one jar of mayonnaise and like because what were you know everyone's taste was all fucked up with cigarettes and you know and like lead they got quit licking those pipes dude yeah oh also apparently a lot of stuff was improvised in the moment with uh rucker how are like putting pennies on his eyes he was like sneaking that in what and like when he hands him all those bullets there's randomly like a crystal in with them if you notice that's like improvise just little like physical things that would like throw off c tomas howl but he said he loved it because in the moment it would like really fuck with him that's a gift and he yes he said no literally in the interview in the interview he said that is such a gift for sure as an actor because it like really fucks with you in a good way he said he was like a great actor to work with like that that is an example of I think like good uh it's not like quite method acting but you know that's that's a good example of that where you're where you're pushing your co-stars a little bit but in a way that makes sense and yeah helps them yeah and gives them the pubes in the mail or whatever the fuck uh Gressel do you know what derailed c tomas howl's career I don't zorin do you know it wasn't the amazing spider man and no it was not is he in that okay okay no in the late 80s or early 90s he's in a movie called soul man oh I was I was literally just telling Erica about soul man the other day where he apparently thumbs up from zorin one thumbs up from zorin that wasn't my review of the movie that was not my review of the movie I was agreeing where he plays what a struggling law student who tries to get into a university by uh doing blackface and being saying he's black so affirmative action can get him apparently to not go over well in his career suffered for it yeah no kidding if you want us to watch soul man and give a patreon no god leave a comment and maybe we'll do it the original soundtrack includes a version of soul man uh the original song by isaac haze and david porter done by sam more and lou reed no i'm a soul man soul man that's almost like bob dillon how do you do a read he's on the dillon spectrum a little bit you know because he's got the like where he's still kind of talking but that's pretty dillon you're still doing dillon because and then I went to go do walk on the wild but I was about to do the dute to dudes and that's not even him yeah that's that's like background singers right the cops arrive at the restaurant and um they're doing warning shots which shouldn't do you're not supposed to don't think you're allowed to do that yeah because he comes out let's have to come down somewhere and uh they cuff him find that knife in his pocket yeah because they think he's the hitcher because he yeah he's got the knife and he to be fair he's like all he's bloody he doesn't have his wallet because the guys the hitcher took that too yep so he uh he gets arrested and taken to the police station and the guy at the police station is like I don't think that kid's a killer I just put him in the cell anyway yeah they lock him up anyway fuck it uh he takes a little jail cell nap yeah he has nightmares but then he wakes up and he's able to just walk out of the jail cell the cell door's open and it's all quiet what's going on uh there's a dog and there's a dog the german shepherd yeah police dog and then he follows the dog dog's looking at something it's a dead cop uh all the cops in the station are dead rucker how are somehow got in there killed all the cops unlocked his cell door and then disappeared yeah didn't kill the dog though did not kill the dog yeah higher standards than michael meyers he could have killed the dog still at higher standards as long as he didn't eat him yes michael meyers eats dogs yes he does here's your regular reminder michael meyers eats dogs eats dogs free food I guess so then like this is one of the moments where I'm like oh I'm starting to get like this guy is really just fucking with him because clearly he could have killed him but instead he kills all the cops around him now to be clear here see Thomas howl still completely innocent yeah he's done nothing he his hands are clean his hands are clean he's just getting fucked with he hears other cops coming to the station yeah you know what I'm doing get my ass back in that cell not touching anything not touching crawling back up to sleep and then when they come in you oh what officers what what's going on sleeping what where the guys are not touching a damn thing in that station don't get blood on you ultimately is that going to save you no because the hitcher's still just gonna kill up show up and kill those cops the hitcher's still gonna show up and kill those cops too but like you know what does he do instead he gets out of that jail cell touches fucking everything grabs a gun grabs a gun takes a gun and then when he sees the cops coming just runs just runs into the fucking hills have eyes mountains least guilty looking guy ever definitely not the hitcher so then he hides at a nearby another empty gas station another empty gas gas station and he's he's hanging out there and a cop car rolls up to like fuel up and he jumps out pointing the gun at them being like hey I'm innocent throw your guns down no he doesn't that's the thing he doesn't even tell them to throw their guns down unless he did and I missed it but I'm pretty sure that he does not have them get rid of their service weapons instead he's like get in the car I'm gonna get in the back seat and we're gonna drive and this whole time I'm like dude you are getting shot in the face the second there's an opening by one of these cops but I guess not these cops aren't that competent and they yeah he has to connect to someone in charge he talks to the captain over the radio that's Jeffery DeMon but we won't see him yeah until the end the hitcher rolls up alongside him it's a great it is great because you see him in the rear you see him like all the way in the back yeah it's a shot of c tom's howl in the back seat of the car and then you just see this truck speed up on the very good very good because you're just like oh you're like oh fuck there he is sure enough he pulls up right next to them takes out his gun just shoots the cops kills everyone else in the car yeah and so see tom's howl I said like does he uh does the car crash or is he able to like uh take the wheel and kind of I forget I just have him like next showing up to this cafe but then the because the guy uh because rucker howl shoots the cops and then just drives off yeah he doesn't he doesn't follow up yeah and so the car crashes or comes to a stop or whatever and see tom's howl is now like I'm being so fucked with he takes that gun he like stumbles out into the desert and he puts the gun up to his chin yeah he thinks about he's like about to be like oh I'm so dumb and this guy is clearly fucking with me and I can't match him I should just kill myself he doesn't yeah he instead goes to another cafe where the hitcher just like sits down across from him this one does actually have employees there's people here yeah so yeah he grabs a booth and uh then the hitcher just sits down it just appears and sits down across from him yeah and so they get to have a little conversation yeah and finally and then jim points the gun at him under the table and just like I've got you like you can't go anywhere this is it and the hitcher's like all right he puts his fingers yeah and he's like well I got you too yeah and jim thinks it's a real gun and then does the hitcher just be like bang he like makes you know he tells him he's like he's like fine go ahead pull the trigger and he's like yeah I totally will he's like okay do it because I know that gun's empty and he's like it's not empty he's like I'm about to cry like I it's not empty it's totally not empty he's like yeah it is and then he yells bang which like he instinctively just pulls the trigger a bunch of times and it's fucking empty yeah it's heartbreaking yeah dude yeah and jim's like why are you doing this to me and the guy's just like you're a smart boy you'll figure it out and then he leaves but he gives him bullets he's like oh yeah that empty gun here you go you'll need these later yep a bus full of I love Lucy impersonators pull up no it gets on a it gets on a tour bus that that shows up uh what a coincidence Jennifer Jason Lee's on the tour bus yeah and what does he do when he hides in the back and he sees her like going to use the restroom pulls the gun pulls a gun on her in the breast like pulls her into the restroom with a gun on her he's like I made a sin I made a sin I was on a murderer she's like okay yeah definitely uh the police pull over the bus uh he surrenders himself and the police are definitely gonna kill him yeah there's a really tense moment this actually is really fucked up because Jennifer Jason Lee knows the cops like it's a small town um because she was talking to them earlier it seems like they have some sort of I don't know if she's like family friends what uh but he surrenders himself to the cops he gets off the bus there's like a standoff and the cops assume he killed the other cops who he was yeah so this guy's a cop killer at this point yeah and what happens is the the cops are like they're all pointing guns at him and he's he's unarmed yeah his hands are up yeah hands are up and what do they tell him to do they're like there's something on they tell him like there's something on the gun can you or no he's like you spit on me is it you spit on me wipe it off yeah they're like you spit on they tell him to do something they're like touch me like wipe it off they basically they're trying to catch him like catch him out and get him to like motion towards or like touch a cop so that they have an excuse to shoot him so they can just fucking shoot him dead it's so dark yeah and honestly definitely has happened before yeah it's I mean we've seen the fucking red light green light shit before where you get killed for not following yes yes yes yeah and this so it's like really dark intense it is and then uh a shot rings out but it turns out I guess Jennifer Jason Lee can match this guy's fucking crazy because she got a gun and shoots it into the air yeah and is like get away from I guess she just what instinctively is like I don't think he's the guy yeah and she like she says I know you were about to to shoot him only thing is though like they have their guns on him when she fires the gun no way they're not they're not they're not just gonna kill him yeah as soon as they like hear a gunshot you know but uh she does get them to drop their guns yeah and then she gets the cops to give her and Jim a cop car and she's like we're gonna drive to this other town to turn ourselves in and we'll get it we'll get it sorted out because her dad is also a cop oh I missed that okay I think in any case she's confident they can all sort it out and get it explained uh too bad other cop cars start chasing them and start shooting at them and they like shoot the door off their car like he's driving without a door and uh they pull up and they're about to shoot the tires of his car instead of him through the open door even though they were just shooting at him and see Tom's house like hey watch this move and he hits the brakes and so the one cop ends up shooting the other cops cars tires swerves in front and then both cop cars just flip it's awesome yeah we're flipping cars around uh a helicopter shows up and that's when the hitcher also shows up he's like driving yeah and is in his truck and he's driving parallel to them off the road yeah the desert and he's he shoots the helicopter out of the sky he is he is driving a truck at very high speed a helicopter is above him flying at a very high speed he has a gun that he points out his driver's side window a handgun and shoots the helicopter a few times this is like i've been playing that avatar that frontiers of pandora and i'm like this is me taking out a helicopter with a single arrow like this is ridiculous it's absurd it's crazy but it's kind of cool because now we get a helicopter crash it's rule of cool and it's fine and then the the chopper crashes and then more cop cars like run into the chopper the flaming chopper uh wreckage so kind of cool yeah there's also one battle after another highway shot it's like the undulating the hills yeah i i noted it because it was really cool because they're driving up and down these hills in the desert and then as they're approaching one the helicopter like rises yes it's an awesome shot yeah so they end up at a it's so it Nash is her name so jim and nash end up at a motel and he's like hey no phone calls but she calls her dad to let him know where she is does that have any consequences i don't know i mean maybe it's okay do we assume that that's how the hitcher figures but he's in the room magically well let's see tom's house taking a shower yeah well well yes while jim takes a shower the hitcher just kind of appears in the room and like sneaks into bed with her yeah he's like snuggling her yes yeah and apparently this is another change from the original script there was a sex scene between jim and nash originally scripted i think jennifer jason lee was like i don't want to do that i'd rather it be a platonic relationship yeah and and that's also what feeds into the like is this guy yeah because there's not any there's like no because she's like can i sit on the bed with you and so like they're not sitting close to each other at first she asks to get close to him and then he goes and takes a shower and i guess i did note that like we are getting a shower scene and it's the dude and it's the guy which is unusual yeah it doesn't go as far as like like a butt shot or anything but it is like especially for like an 80s kind of action yeah instead of having her take a shower it's him yeah and there's no romantic anything between those two okay it yeah it is unusual how platonic this kind of couple feels but while he's in the shower uh he hears a struggle and he comes out or no he hears like the tv is the sign off because that was back when tv would stop broadcasting and uh he comes out and it's poltergeist uh tv and then that's it there's no one there they're gone rucker howard stole jennifer jason lee and so he runs outside or he very wisely fucking yanks a towel rack off the wall for a weapon i love that so he's got that and he's like going outside and he's looking through all the the it's like a truck stop motel because there's a ton of semis around he's weaving in and out of them looking for them and then he's found by the cops jeffrey de mon is there and jeffrey de mon's like hey you're the you're the kid who called us and you're the kid yeah uh we need your help over here they're like good so good news we know it's not you you're off the hook bad news bad news is we found the guy and he's got uh your your lady friend tied up yeah between two trucks so she's her feet are tied to a parked car it's a parked truck and and then her and the front her hands are like tied to another truck that rucker howard is uh behind the wheel of yes and it's it's revving and he is ready to go yeah he's gonna draw in quarter her with trucks right which is cool as fuck like that's just like a cool like just just thinking of just random ways to kill people in a movie drawing quartering someone with two semi trucks is cool as hell pretty cool it's very cool uh for for this character who is a total innocent it's a bummer it's a bummer it's a bummer but like removed from contacts it's pretty cool and the cops are like we can't shoot him or else his foot's gonna it's like a it's like a it's like a grenade it's like a death switch kind of you know yeah they shoot him the they shoot him yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah ripper and half so c tom's howl gets in there i'm like dude they're like up it's a it's a semi truck so you're really high up there you can you can crawl you can like crouch get in front without him seeing him put little blocks in front of the front tires does that stop i i don't know the physics here you can find something stick under there is there a way to to stop it from going forward is there a way to like can they do anything may because like you know i was thinking like the the spikes but even then it's gonna go forward enough to rip her in half it's there's not like give here you know it's only got to go forward like a little bit a little bit and she's fucked up yeah maybe some like of the the wedge the blocks i don't know i'm just trying to like genuinely is there a way to to stop this fast enough yeah i don't know but i will say again we did have to rewind it when jeffrey demond was like hey we need your help come here because it was it was the last time but i was like the cops because they just approach it so casually and all of a sudden she's like tied up and i was like are the cops helping him yeah it's like wait whoa whoa whoa like everything escalates really really fast and it's just like the cops were looking for c tom's howl but now they're like no man we know he's over here yeah like so things have changed things have changed yes yeah uh so see tom's howl gets in the cab with rucker howl and they're they're talking uh and he's like look i'll give you a gun you finally have you can finally kill me you know uh just do it but jim knows that if he shoots him that truck's gonna roll forward and and tear her in half or dismember her whatever so he doesn't shoot him yeah and then the hitcher calls him a useless waste and he lets that truck roll forward and like she screams and it like the camera starts to pan and then it fades to black it just fades to black and that's when we checked to make sure we were watching the right version of this because everything i'd heard about this scene was like it's the most fucked up thing ever i just assumed you see it yeah and i just think it's incredible that this like left such an impression on so many people people are like you see them cut into people and you don't i think i remember my mom telling me about this movie yeah and this scene being something that like really disturbed her but you it's great yeah it's just it's just what it makes you imagine yeah being so effective and this is a scene that sysgl and evert got really hung up on in their infamous review where they both hated this movie speaking of that sysgl and evert review near the end of it sysgl and this is something i fucking hated about gene sysgl this is what he did i mean he fucking doxxed betsy palmer yeah do you do it again not to the extent where he was reading betsy palmer's actual address uh during his review of friday the 15th playing a fucking kill fuck off yeah no that's outrageous that there's no excuse for that he basically was like and here's the people responsible for making this i always like to say who's responsible for making this stuff and he reads out the names like the production companies interestingly tri star he lists and he's like this is like a new production company which is so weird to hear tri star listed as like a new money like new in the game that's the one the pegasus logo yeah it was just weird to hear it listed as like new in the game tri star whoever that is which i just that's been around our whole lives so uh but then he says silver screen partners and he says which is basically a tax shelter deal and i'm like that sounds weird i want to look into whatever's going on there and i did and i found some weird stuff about a former us president involved in silver screen partners do you want to guess who it was actually a minor controversy during a us election and the hitcher was part of that controversy yes it was uh w but or bush one h w no it was george w bush oh it was w bush yes oh the hitcher was a minor controversy for george w bush during his campaign against gore uh because george w bush was he was a partner a member of silver screen management he was a member of silver screen management's board of directors from 83 to 93 and during his presidential campaign he was all about like media is corrupting the kids kind of shit and so was gore they both were about that especially gore tipper was all that was her thing so they both were all about like we need to be careful of what our kids are watching blah blah when bush runs for president in 2000 his membership on the board is scrutinized uh because let me see when he runs for president in 2000 his membership on the board was scrutinized by the media over his attacks on hollywood's perceived pervasiveness of violence particularly regarding the financing of the cult thriller film the hitcher so that was like brought up as a controversy and then i found an article from 2000 from the la times this is from their archives this is from the the uh ap this is from september 15th 2000 i'm just gonna read like most of this because it's actually super interesting the article's called bush has a tie to media depravity from the associated press george w bush who rails against the pervasiveness of violence in hollywood served for a decade oh my god the toner on this printer served for a decade on the board of company that financed more than two dozen r rated movies including one in which a hitchhiker spoilers rips a young woman's body into his presidential campaign said thursday that bush played no role in silverscreen management company's decision to finance the horror suspense film the hitcher which one reviewer in 1986 described as a massacre about every 15 minutes and another called gizzard slitting depravity gizzard slitting depravity cool governor bush did not have any knowledge or participation deciding to finance that movie campaign spokesman dan Bartlett said like vice president al gores ties to hollywood bush's role at silverscreen management is coming under renewed scrutiny as both presidential nominees try to force the entertainment industry to stop marketing violence to children bush joined the board of directors of silverscreen management in 83 and served as a director until 1993 during those 10 years he earned just over $100,000 in fees and periodic bonuses Bartlett said the film the firm raised money from tens of thousands of investors and helped finance many successful movies in the late 80s and early 90s including the hits good morning vietnam pretty woman and the little mermaid Bartlett said bush's role on the silverscreen management board was not to determine which movies to finance but rather was concerned more about the operation of the business he also drew a distinction between r-rated films and the current campaign debate quote right now the issue is adult movies geared towards children unquote Bartlett said adding that he doesn't believe the hitcher was marketed or geared towards children so yeah uh what a non-issue but i just thought that that was so interesting that the hitcher of all things was like a thing that was like op research so bush helped write the hitcher no so we're gonna we're gonna tie it tie the woman to the semi-s yeah now watch this drive now watch this drive so i thought that would be like the end of the movie but there's a little more black no but like i didn't expect there to be as much left as there was because we get like i mean he gets arrested yes i guess the car i'm surprised the hitcher got arrested i know you think he would just be fucking driving that semi down the highway with the half of jennifer jason lee attached and just uh peeling out but i guess you know at this point he wants to well yeah i'm sure at this point they can just throw the uh the spiky strips yeah in front of that now they get now there's less stakes yeah so he gets arrested and you know again leading to the the homoerotic undertones is because jeffrey de mon even says like there's something weird going on between you so i guess there is enough in this movie uh to kind of support that but because they're like listen man we got him you're good like sorry about jennifer jason lee that sucks but you know you've only known him like a day yeah you know walk it off he'll be fine so you'll you're good uh we got him we're all set sucks about that guy's car that you were driving yeah the driveway uh we're not gonna really vouch for you on that one you're gonna have to handle that yourself but you know at least you're not dead and see tom's howl is like no i haven't done enough dumb shit in this movie yeah he's turning into a lumus type figure where he's like no this man is pure evil and even though he's being brought to prison he will kill like he is evil incarnate and something needs to be done about this so he grabs the cop's gun he grabs the cops gun he just loves grabbing he loves to grab cops guns it's his favorite he takes the captain's gun tells him to stop the car he kicks the captain out of the car takes the cop car and turns it around he catches up to the transporting prisoners and the sure enough hit your got free got free he's shot out of the bus like he's shot out of the back of the bus yeah he opens the back door of the bus and see tom's howl is driving right behind him and hit your fucking leaps from that bus through the windshield through the front of jim's car he like brock samson's it where he just like waits and then like lands in the front seat of the car yeah he's so excited to see his buddy there he's like oh man yes doesn't even have like a little line i didn't write it down but he said something like he says something hey how's it going yeah yeah hi kid but jim finally y'ses up slams on the brakes and just as quickly as rucker howl went into that car he goes flying out of it it's like just like the beginning it's a perfect circle and we're all screaming oh my god just please shoot him we'll just run him over just do something do something and at first he's like he almost can't because i think he knows that's what he wants yeah because he takes the the shotgun out of the cop car and like goes up gets out of the car walks up to his prone bodies like kind of caressing his head with the the gun yeah i guess that's more gay stuff i'm coming around to this yeah i know me too yeah it's saw all over again yep yeah so he's yeah he's kind of caressing the hitcher's head with the gun and thinking about do i kill him do i leave him because he knows deep down that's what the hitter wants the hitcher ultimately wants to die and he wants to die at the hands of like the perfect he wants to corrupt this innocent kid yes he yes he's a killer yes you know he wants to unlock that inside of it he doesn't until like he's trying to walk away i think and then hitcher like yeah yeah he jumpscares jump scares him and then he fucking shoots him turns around he finally does it and that's the the end is like did he did he fully did he corrupt him because i mean there is the mirror ending too where jim is lighting up a cigarette like the beginning the hitcher we see him lighting up a cigarette as he's waiting for a car to pass so it's like is is this guy now a fully corrupted oh yeah now is he a broken man is he gonna wait for someone to drive by and get in and do this whole thing that was another one of evert's beefs with this is he found that very uh cynical and very sad and he was like i just don't like that and well i kind of do i kind of do too um so it's it's a unique movie yeah you know it's because it's not what i thought it was going to be going in and rucker howard just plays the hell out of this this evil just embodiment of evil yeah i kind of see it as like magical allegory of like good and evil and corruption in a very grounded setting like this american like texan and there's nothing inherently fantastical about the way it looks and everything is very like kind of grungy grimy dirty you know but the actual story is kind of surreal which is neat and it's not until jennifer jason league gets murdered that he's willing to go all the way and like put an end to him yeah and like yeah i know that just seeing like what someone's capable of maybe just truly breaking him although i don't know because i mean she like she especially she put her faith in gym without knowing he was innocent she chose to believe he was she saved him from those cops who were gonna kill him like she put her even at one point when they're driving away from that he's like here i'll drop you off get out of here and she's like no if i'm with you they won't shoot at you she's proven wrong immediately the cops are shooting at him but she's like risking her life to like help this stranger who she just met yeah and then she gets ripped in half for it yes yeah the that character in any other story would be treated so much more kindly yeah you know and and you know you could say oh it sucks that her character is there to be killed as motivation but i think jennifer jason league took the role because she liked the character of nash and thought she had meat to the character and yeah was like a realistic person the character that sees the good in someone and and goes out of their way to help and do the right thing and you know stick their neck out for someone is ultimately punished um like just cosmically punished for no reason um it's in in such a cruel way and like why that would make someone finally succumb to like the evil mirror version of themselves it's good stuff i like that i think the more i kind of dig into this movie and talk about it the more i like it does have a sequel as we mentioned uh zoreen you said jake bucey is in it jake bucey is in there okay starship troopers and see tom is how it returns for oh to play the same character i don't know what i don't know what the story of that is and then there was a 2007 remake because that was the time of remakes that sounds a lot goryer and more explicit as was the case at the time do we know who's in that shan bean shan bean is the hitcher oh that could work hold on i gotta that could work i gotta see who else is in yeah who's like the oh don't they make it in nash is now it's a couple instead of nash being a stranger it's like a boyfriend girlfriend i think the the girlfriend is like kind of the lead so fia bush i had to get a bush in there help finance the film all right great that was the hitcher that's the hitcher good stuff glad we finally got to see it yeah uh next episode we will have some special guests yes that's gonna be a lot of fun yeah i don't know exactly what we're doing with them but we are gonna have some fun like very uh storied career very veteran actors with us in person yeah please stay tuned for that i don't want to say much else until until then and then after that we're gonna do a collab with our friends we hate movies we're gonna have them join us again in person we're gonna have a nice run here uh and what were we talking about that oh yeah for that one i think we can say uh mark jones who directed the original leprechaun passed away and uh he directed another weird little guy horror movie called rumple still scan from 1995 yes we're going to watch that and talk about it with we hate movies since we have covered five of the leprechaun movies it's crazy we've done every year is a tradition we go on we hate movies to talk about a leprechaun movie so and there are some of the funniest people ever yes they were on our podcast before to talk about uh the slender man yes and just so you know if you're gonna go listen to those leprechaun episodes their tolerance for trash is much lower than ours it's much lower they watch a lot of non-horror movies and so they are exposed to some amazing films and uh some of them are professional movie critics and so when we're like leprechaun foreign space is actually really good no actually they were they were kind enough to let the confor in space but they were they would not abide by in the hood yeah despite our protestations and defense of it but we'll get them with back to the hood i'm sure yes i think i think that one for sure great but until until next time i'm chelsea i'm james and that's grussell and then that's also one's back there too back there and this has been the demi podcast